The L2 trigger acts as your precise aim button as in many shooters, but when you press it the resistance kicks in about halfway down, ‘locking’ it. Special note must also go to the way the game makes clever use of the DualSense’s adaptive trigger functionality to essentially add extra buttons to the controller. ![]() Returnal makes excellent use of the DualSense controller. When it all comes together and you’re sprinting from room to room gunning down alien scum, there are few experiences as compelling as Returnal. Player movement is fast and responsive, and the shooting controls are suitably tight. Success, then, involves learning each character’s attack patterns and dodging them as you attack them (preferably using the dash dodge move, which is extremely satisfying to pull off and gives you a split second of invincibility). “Returnal is relentless with its action and has that ‘one more go’ factor that’s crucial in a game where death is designed to be a regular occurrence.”ĭeveloper Housemarque is perhaps best known for its shoot ‘em ups like Resogun, Alienation and Super Stardust, and while a third-person action game may not immediately sound like a perfect fit, it actually feels surprisingly like a shoot ‘em up too (Housemarque is referring to it as a bullet hell game, and we can see why).Įach of the game’s different enemy types has its own specific attack style, and the majority also have a tendency to fire off huge rounds of bullets at you in a certain way. The sword then stays with you forever, essentially unlocking the ability to perform melee attacks in the process.Īll this would be a bit pointless if the game itself wasn’t engaging or entertaining, but Returnal is relentless with its action and has that ‘one more go’ factor that’s crucial in a game where death is designed to be a regular occurrence. Only once you find the sword weapon elsewhere in the stage can you then cut through this wall and move on to the next section. Without spoiling much, an important section in the first biome is stuck behind a huge, glowing ‘xeno wall’. This adds a Metroidvania element to the game too, as these are often required to clear some of the main objectives. While dying causes you to lose practically all of your items and weaponry, there are some permanent upgrades that, when found, are kept forever. Permanent upgrades introduce a Metroidvania element. Although the map is randomised each time, the game still has preset objectives that guide you through the game and its plot. To beat the game, you generally have to find and defeat the boss in each biome then find a way to travel to the next one. As in many examples of the genre, it’s possible to have a ‘lucky’ run where everything goes your way, as well as the opposite. The weapons and items you come across are different during each run, and the enemies you encounter in each room are also randomly chosen (though they do at least fit the biome you’re playing in). The rogue-lite element is more obvious in other ways. ![]() It’s an interesting balance that keeps things fresh while still ensuring the player can adapt and improve over time. The result is that while the game technically feels different with every play cycle, over time you do still begin to learn the best strategies and secret areas in each of the rooms because you’ll eventually start encountering them multiple times. ![]() “The aim of the game is to not only make your way through Atropos’s hostile landscapes and battle the grotesque creatures that inhabit it, but to find out what’s going on and discover more about Selene’s backstory.” While this gives the impression of a procedurally generated game, in reality it’s not quite that complex: after each death, the game chooses from a selection of pre-designed rooms and shuffles them around, joining them together in different configurations almost like pieces of track in a train set. ![]() When Selene dies, however, you’re shown a (skippable) cutscene of her ship crashing again and find yourself right back at the start of the game, but this time the planet has changed and the world map is now completely different. Each of these areas is a preset, pre-designed area, and the first time you start playing you’ll think nothing of it – as far as you know you’re playing a typical third-person action adventure. Each of the planet’s six biomes (stages) is made up of a series of areas separated by doors, similar to Hades or the Metroid Prime games.
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