Returnal - on PC now - The Bear and Badger

Minnesänger

Launch Date: April 30th
Price: Eyewatering
Dev: Housemarque
Specs: 4K, 60FPS, RT On
Platform Gimmicks: 3D Audio, Haptics, Trigger Gubbins
Enemy Design: Lots of Tentacles

We have a proper next gen game, ladies and gents, and it is from none other than the pew pew shooty crew Housemarque. So what is it? Will it be any good? Is that price gonna see it sink hard? And does it really make use of any of Sony's much vaunted Dualsense / 3D Audio / AR Fleshlight gimmicks? Well, regardless of whether the game is next-gen or not, I aim to make this the benchmark for our NEXT GEN OPs.

Returnal is a 3rd person, arcade style, rogue-lite soft-Metroidvania. That's a lot of words, but it basically means this. 3rd person shooting. Bullet hell enemies. Constant death and restarts with some upgrades persisting. Certain unlocks that open new traversal and exploration options. And you scan stuff. There's also 1st person story sections, and procedurally-generated biomes. Basically, this game has ALL OF THE GENRES. Just add some dating sim elements and we're good.

You are ~~Ellen Ripley~~ Selene and your ship has crashed on an alien planet. You awake, you find a gun, you find your dead body, you shoot stuff and die, you repeat.

Previews for this game have been positive, highlighting the general feel of the combat as well as the way the game uses the NEXT GEN features of the PS5. This includes:

- Fast Loading
- Use of haptics to convey rain etc.
- Use of triggers (Hold L2 to aim down sights and at the halfway point the trigger will lock. Push past that to activate secondary fire)
- 3D Audio. It's actually using it.

The video below goes over much of this, and talks about the experience in the first couple of hours.

Of course, for some this will not be an attractive prospect. For them, they might be sad that Housemarque are leaving behind their classic top-down arcade gameplay. However, it's worth nothing that the actual gunplay looks quite similar to previous titles, just from a different perspective. The team has, indeed, talked about holding onto their arcade roots in an interview on Eurogamer.

For others, the price will be just too high for something many people are likely to bounce off of. And then there's just, you know, other games. NieR: Replicant just came out. Monster Hunter was a couple of weeks ago. And there's likely games already on people's backlogs or on services such as Gamepass.

I expect i'll bite on this at launch - something properly next gen will be nice, and only Demon's Souls and Astrobot have scratched that itch so far for me. Plus, I do wanna see Housemarque do well, and I'm partial to a punishing Rogue-like. But, will anyone else be jumping in? Anyone excited? Or is the general feeling one of *shrug*?

All this and more, answered in The Comments.

Minnesänger

/// URGENT MESSAGE

/// SOURCE: HELIOS

I feel like I'm losing my mind all over again. I have ascended, returned, failed and fought on. I have lived my life. But I can feel something inside, calling me back. Will there ever be peace? Or, am I destined to spend the rest of eternity here on Atropos? 4 words, running round my head.

Those 4 words, gnawing and digging.

4 words like a song...

WEEKLY~ CHALLENGES~ HAVE~ BEGUN~

// MESSAGE ENDS

.
.
.
.
.
.
.

Welcome, Ladies and Gents to The Returnal Weekly Bear and Badger Forum Challenge NOT sponsored by Housemarque.

What is it? How do you win? Well, read on.

/// INTRODUCTION AND BASIC RULES

So, here is how it will work.

In Returnal there is sth called Simulation Mode which had DAILY CHALLENGES. These change every 24 hours and have a preset set of weapons and modifiers for a run through a reset biome. Select that, shoot monsters with the PEW PEW and get a SCORE and a GLOBAL RANKING!

Just, please note:

When you LEAVE the biome, the run is OVER - it is NOT a full multi-biome run, so BE CAREFUL.

Every week I will post TWO DAYS (e.g. wednesday and friday). Those two days are the days that will count towards The Returnal Weekly Bear and Badger Forum Challenge NOT sponsored by Housemarque. When you finish your run on one (or both) of these days, post your SCORE AND RANK in this thread. The highest GLOBAL RANKING (not cumulative - just your hightest rank from either run gets considered) from a forumite is the WINNER for that week. Then, next week, 2 more days are picked. In the event of a tie-breaker where 2 players have the same high-rank, score will be used to decide winner.

/// HOW TO GET A BIG SCORE

In SIMULATION MODE your job is to score points in a single biome. The best way to score points is to INCREASE YOUR MULTIPLIER. How does this all work?

Well, the following things mean MORE POINTS:

- killing baddies
- discovering areas and getting loot, keys etc.
- showing skills (this means hitting weak points, getting high adrenaline, not dying etc)
- doing it quickly (speed is not essential but the longer you take...)

The following things mean FEWER POINTS:

- taking damage and losing adrenaline
- getting rekt to death
- missing locations and secrets

/// REASONS TO TAKE PART IN [REDCATED EVENT NOT SPONSORED BY HOUSEMARQUE]

The reasons are simple:

1. Pew pew pew pew pew
2. The winner each week will be declared The PewMaster, and each month i'll look at the PewMasters and pick a PewMaster General. The pewMaster General will be immortalised (for a month) in the thread title (space permitting).

/// HOW TO TAKE PART IN [REDACTED]

After clearing the first biome you should be able to take part, however it's possible that certain biome challenges will not be unlocked until you've done those biomes. That's another reason for having 2 daily challenges count towards the weekly challenge.

In order to join - go to your ship and look at the TERMINAL next to the GIANT HOLE that you CLIMB OUT OF to start a run. That's the terminal that gives you access to simulation mode. Every day, it will have a new challenge. Just do that.

When you select that terminal you will see:

LEFT SIDE

- Challenge location (the biome where the daily challenge is set)
- Challenge modifiers (there will be multiple buffs and debuffs added to your character for this run)

MIDDLE

- Weapon (the weapon for the challenge is preset)
- Weapon Traits (the traits are also preset)

RIGHT SIDE

- Leaderboards (scores are displayed here)
- Timer (it shows how long remains on the dailyt challenge until it is replaced by a new one)
- Launch challenge button (press this to start. Completing the challenge gives 5 ether!)

So yeah, just press that button and do the challenge. Then, when you're done, post you score up in here.

/// QUESTIONS THAT WILL PRESUMABLY BE FREQUENTLY ASKED BY FLESHBAGS

Question The First:
I suspect [dodgy forumite] will cheat and lie about their score. Why don't we have to post screenshots?

I think scores from friends may be visible (will need to check this), but even if not I prefer honour rules. I'd ask that you SCREENSHOT a score you plan to submit (in case of accusations of deceit) but I'm not going to ask for screenshots to be posted. They're faff and an obstacle to participation.

Question The Second:
I missed the first day this week, should I just skip this week and come back next week?

Nope. Because we're just going by highest single global rank across the 2 days, you can absolutely just join one time in a week and still win the entire bloody thing. One good run is all you need. Just give it a go.

Question Three: Question With A Vengence?
Why don't we have a running league system with points and...?

I'm gonna stop you right there, elf. The reason we're not going that is simple - it's too much fucking hassle and math. Also, it discourages people from joining in if they "arrive late" as they would have fallen behind. Returnal is all about starting from scratch, so every week and every month we do exactly the same. We all return to zero.

/// FINAL MESSAGE

PEW PEW

Minnesänger

To take part in the weekly challenge, make sure you add my PSN ID (michaelbritten) - this is just so I can see final global rankings. I will not* send you random messages that just say pew pew.

Weekly Challenge Results:

WEEK ONE

Pewmaster: tin 1,481,379
2. Wario - 1,011,788
3. b0r1s - 875,257
4. Skade - 654,577
5. Minnesanger - 553,747
6. Elf - 551,360
7. Jon B - 70,013

WEEK TWO

Pewmaster: JonB

WEEK THREE

Pewmaster: hylian_elf

WEEK FOUR

Pewmaster: JonB

WEEK FIVE

Pewmaster: JonB

WEEK SIX

Pewmaster: hylian_elf

*I may in fact send you random messages that say pew pew.

GooberTheHat

What is the price?

Minnesänger

£70 - the AAA next gen standard price point. You will, of course, by able to find cheaper versions elsewhere.

b0r1s

I wasn’t excited but the last few videos have me more and more convinced this is for me. Last night on the IGN first 17 Minutes video I spotted there were sections that she couldn’t access and I was like ok we have some Metroidvania here which is confirmed in that vid in the OP.

Also I have £40 sitting in my wallet so mentally I can justify spending “£30” to get the game :-D

acemuzzy

I love 2D housemarque - reassuring to hear folk talk positively about this, but I'm feeling dubious about the main gameplay loop tbh.

Hopefully misguided concern. If it's as next gen as the OP then that will help.

Kow

Eyewatering, apparently.

Oh, way too late.

Kow

Anyway, looks shite, of course.

acemuzzy

Gotta get a moove on

Armitage_Shankburn

This is a proper thread isn't it.

I'll get it for a chalice

Minnesänger

b0r1s wrote:

I wasn’t excited but the last few videos have me more and more convinced this is for me. Last night on the IGN first 17 Minutes video I spotted there were sections that she couldn’t access and I was like ok we have some Metroidvania here which is confirmed in that vid in the OP. Also I have £40 sitting in my wallet so mentally I can justify spending “£30” to get the game

Well, at 30 quid it would be rude not to, no?

Minnesänger

Armitage_Shankburn wrote:

This is a proper thread isn't it.

Threads of this quality were impossible before the advent of the PS5 SSD.

Armitage_Shankburn wrote:

I'll get it for a chalice

Fucker...

Syph79

Nice OP.

Oh god I’m going to buy this, aren’t I?

Bob

Syph79 wrote:

Nice OP. Oh god I’m going to buy this, aren’t I?

Me too.. Kotaku say it feels like a proper PS5 game and shooting is rock solid...

I need something to get me excited for PS5. Hope it's sensible money at launch.

stonechalice

Looks great but hectic.

Bob

https://kotaku.com/returnal-feels-like-an-actual-ps5-game-1846735864?

A sort of pre- review handson.. or preview if you will.

Minnesänger

Pre-view? It’ll never catch on.

stonechalice

Handson

Armitage_Shankburn

I'm here for the Booty Mr Handson. A man's butt.

Syph79

Syph79 wrote:

Nice OP. Oh god I’m going to buy this, aren’t I?

Yup, just bought it.

Bob

stonechalice wrote:

Handson

Never bottle the magic of Mmm bop again.

Blocks100

I'm not a fan of the creature designs tbh.

JonB

Yes, I've got it for review and it's fine to talk first impressions, apparently.

First impressions are very good.

Feels like Metroid by way of Alien/Prometheus at first. A bit of Hades in the structure, and lots of Roguelike upgrades and items. But level design is more intricate, a blend of procedural and crafted arenas, and with all the slickness and charging around, battles can end up feeling more like 2016 Doom.

Minnesänger

That’ll do nicely.

digi

If I had a ps5 I'd be all over this.
Housemarque are amazing.

hylian_elf

JonB wrote:

Yes, I've got it for review and it's fine to talk first impressions, apparently. First impressions are very good. Feels like Metroid by way of Alien/Prometheus at first. A bit of Hades in the structure, and lots of Roguelike upgrades and items. But level design is more intricate, a blend of procedural and crafted arenas, and with all the slickness and charging around, battles can end up feeling more like 2016 Doom.

Why are you doing this to me?! I don’t even have a PS5.

Bob

I've just gone DAY ONE PEOPLE!

Take my £70

Moot_Geeza

Where's the wow I was right thread? I said this would be great.

Curtis

Roll on next week.

stonechalice

Where are people getting this from?

Howdy, Stranger!

Categories