excellent roguelike, it's really challenging and fun
I've debated for a long time whether to play this game, afraid that I wouldn't like the roguelike style. While roguelike still has a long way to go before becoming my favourite genre, as I am fond of permanent character development and builds, this game is nothing short of phenomenal and is easily one of the best first-party games available on PS5.
The game looks and runs fantastically, and particular praise should go to the excellent sound design. Returnal can also be notoriously challenging, where mistakes are heavily punished and good runs can be quickly ruined by even minor missteps. Luckily, the suspend feature that was retroactively added, together with the almost non-existent loading times, makes everything more manageable.
The completionist side, however, can be extremely tedious, with heavy RNG elements and repeated runs for collectables that contradict how the game was intended to be played.
The game looks and runs fantastically, and particular praise should go to the excellent sound design. Returnal can also be notoriously challenging, where mistakes are heavily punished and good runs can be quickly ruined by even minor missteps. Luckily, the suspend feature that was retroactively added, together with the almost non-existent loading times, makes everything more manageable.
The completionist side, however, can be extremely tedious, with heavy RNG elements and repeated runs for collectables that contradict how the game was intended to be played.
I do not think this game is as hard as some people are making it out to be, it is just very unforgiving when you die. Like if there was saves right before the boss fights then people would die maybe a couple times but then beat, like they are not actually that difficult. It is just the loss of so much progress that makes it "difficult". Anyway, it is a very fun game. peaked at the Nemesis boss fight tho
Although I absolutely love Returnal's visuals, story, themes, and ambiance, I'm not at a point in my life where I crave roguelikes.
As such, I'm abandoning the game for now, and I hope that eventually I feel like returning to it; the story is intriguing, and the gameplay extremely satisfying, but it couldn't hook me enough for me to justify one hour-long runs where I might get nothing out of the story right now.
As such, I'm abandoning the game for now, and I hope that eventually I feel like returning to it; the story is intriguing, and the gameplay extremely satisfying, but it couldn't hook me enough for me to justify one hour-long runs where I might get nothing out of the story right now.