Returnal Review: Groundhog Day with Guns
Grief. Guilt. Trauma.
We've all probably dipped our feet in these thing. The feeling of losing a loved one. The guilt that we could have tried to have been better. The cell we trap ourselves in with regret and guilt can be overwhelming and paralyzing. It's not a fun place to be and it's not an enviable place to be. But it's natural. It happens. And we have to deal with it because time still goes on. As many proverbs, songs, and famous people have mentioned, "Time heals all wounds."
There is this sense, as humans, that we have the mercy of forgetting for small moments. It helps us get through the days and helps us move on. I am not discussing the idea of forgetting permanently, just more about the distractions and responsibilities that help make time move without dwelling in despair. With the ability to focus on positive responsibilities, we can move away from the bad times. Like a ship set sail, we are constantly moving and changing, whether we like it or not. But with enough support and enough time, humans tend to overcome their grief and come out stronger and more wiser than before.
But what if the bad times repeated? The unimaginable horror of reliving your worst moments of life over and over again is a torture beyond compare. In my non-scientific opinion, I tend to think that is where grief and loss can turn into trauma. And it's a horror that Housemarque has implemented beautifully in their latest bullet hell game, Returnal.
In Returnal you play as Selene, an astronaut (space explorer) who intercepts a distress signal called "White Shadow." When trying to land onto a foreign planet, her ship gets shot at and crashes down on the world below. Without a ship to take off with and no supplies, her only choice is to investigate this White Shadow. Things get interesting when she starts finding dead bodies and recordings scattered around the world. The crazy part? Those are her bodies and her voice in the recordings. Has she been here before? Is she re-experiencing the same cycle over and over? Is there even a chance of escape?
Selene explores the gorgeous but oppressively dangerous planet of Atropos. The game really got me with the environments and world design. Everything from the enemy designs and the Metroid-style door animations got me psyched. I low-key feel like even Selene is a play on Samus's name (both start with S and have two syllables). The games setup is very much like Metroid, Samus receives a distress signal to investigate a hostile planet. The Sentients (the alien race in Returnal) even seem to have a certain Chozo vibe as well. The good part was that Returnal made it a point to be meticulous in what they took from the Metroid series, which allows the game to be unique and hold it's own weight without being labeled a Metroid clone.
It's always a good thing when the game sucks you into the environment and story before you hit the fire button...
But speaking of gameplay. Gosh, this game just clicks a lot of buttons for me. I have been terrible and generally dislike rogue-likes but Returnal is the first one I beat. And I ended up beating it again. The games mechanics just streamline whole lot of things and the third person shooter and tight controls help with making the easy to learn but challenging to master. Your gun is your main offense and defense, it's what really makes or breaks your run. The dangers of Atropos require Selene to ALWAYS BE MOVING. As with most rogue likes, not getting hit paramount to killing your targets. While the game has a steep difficulty curve and some frustrating skill checks, it really rewards you for staying alive. The weapon progression and skill system provides a nice power trip the longer you stay alive. Each weapon has traits that can be unlocked the longer you utilize the weapon. These unlocks are permanent can be found on that same gun the next time around. This is one of the ways Returnal helps you if you're failing over and over again. Some of the weapon traits later in the game are straight up overpowered which is great considering how hard the game is in the beginning.
Returnal rewards perfection in the early part of your run by giving some mercy and forgiveness towards the end. I found that the longer I didn't get hit and the longer I stayed a live, the more powerful I became. The more powerful I became the longer I stayed alive. Its actually a very addictive cycle that starts to wear down the risks of entering new and optional rooms. In a game where one death returns you to the beginning, it's refreshing to have confidence that you can still explore without ruining your run.
Once you get the hang of things, the game shines with it's challenges. It's always amazing to know that with so much going on, I know exactly what I am doing. Unlike a lot of roguelikes, Selene can backtrack to other parts of each world and even fast travel which adds a layer of strategy. I realized very late that it's easier to blaze through each room and defeat all the enemies I could before I strategize which items to get to help me in the next area.
Returnal doesn't really hold your hand. It doesn't explain a ton of things and thankfully it can usually be picked up via trial and error. The problem is that failure happens a lot. The game has one checkpoint until you reach the credits. Thankfully, there are shortcuts and such. But having a fast route directly to the boss isn't always the best option. Strategy is key. I found that trying to explore around the map helped me get better weapons, items, and more health upgrades. This paragraph would probably turn off a lot of people. I struggled half way through the game because I couldn't even make it to one particular boss in particular. Full disclosure: I wanted to give up at this point or cheat. But the game forced me to learn its rules and to try new things. The feeling of accomplishment wasn't something I had felt in a video game since the first Dark Souls.
This brings us to the bugs. The last part of the game that I'd like to discuss. I experienced quite a few bugs and crashes that happened on my playthrough. This wouldn't have been a huge issue if it wasn't for the fact that you can't save. If a crash sneaks up on you doing a great run, you can't go back to that point at all. You're done. You have to start over. This killed a few of my really good runs and is the most frustrating thing about the game. It can easily put people off. But thankfully I didn't have too many of them.
I could go more into the malfunction systems and the Astronaut that haunts you but that would make this review needlessly long to make the same point: I urge anyone who has a PS5 to play this game. $70 bucks is a steep price, but I like how one-of-a-kind it is and it has enough challenge and lore to keep me coming back if I ever fail. I'm also sure that it'll be on sale at some point, making the cost of entry less of a concern. I'm hoping Housemarque can patch out some of these bugs because, despite being rare, they might cause a lot of people...grief.
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