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[The Cockatrice]

Does it compare to DOOM Eternal in that sense? I loved the feeling of persecution the enemies gave me in that game, you stop moving 2 seconds and bam, surrounded.

If we're talking about Doom Eternal Nightmare, specifically the challenge levels in the DLC(that took me a million tries to win it), Returnal is easier. Bosses are the only challenge and they require good timing and learning their attacks. Other than that, its a roguelike, its random mechanics and shenanigans will kill you more than anything else. Risking is not always rewarding. I hate rogue-likes and almost always avoid them but I played it on PS5 and really enjoyed it so I doubt you wont enjoy it either. Only other roguelike I enjoyed was Hades.

 

[Captain Toad]

I'm not sure why this is getting the reviews it is considering the stuttering issues. Do PC reviewers just not care anymore or what?

Because you don't base a review solely on that. Returnal is an amazing game. It has performance issues on PC. Both can be true and the latter is much more likely to be improved than the first.

 

[FoxMcChief]

I finally fired this up on the PS5 yesterday. I got my way to the second area. Not sure where all the high praise is coming from.

 

[winjer]

I agree with what you said about roguelites in general(Hades, Spelunky, Dead Cells, Risk of Rain 2 etc), I was bored quickly while playing them. I've been playing this game for 22 hours now. Sometimes I got angry, sure, but I wasn't bored for a moment, whether because of it's atmosphere/story or mechanics . Biomes are based on similar areas, but the order of those areas changes everytime you play (even some enemies change as well). And lots of interesting and fun weapons and traits available. For these reasons, no two adventures are exactly the same. I know, that's the claim of this genre, but I've only been able to enjoy it in this game(Void Bastards was good too). I bought most of the Dead Cells DLC's but I keep playing same three levels in every run and I die. I know it's my bad but still...

I played many hours of Hades and Dungeon of the Endless. These are games that are good, despite being rogue lites. But I always felt they would have been much better games with a proper campaign.
I never really finished Hades, because after a 30 hours I was feed up with repeating the same mission over and over.

 

[FoxMcChief]

Yeah, this game just ain’t for me. I’ll stick with Hades if I want to play a loop type game. Game looks cool. I just don’t feel that drive to keep going. Thank you Extra for saving me some money.

 

[Zimmy68]

Yeah, this game just ain’t for me. I’ll stick with Hades if I want to play a loop type game. Game looks cool. I just don’t feel that drive to keep going. Thank you Extra for saving me some money.

But doesn't Hades start you on the same map every time? I think I died twice in Hades and noped out because of having to go through the same rooms/enemies again.
Returnal is all random. The world you traverse through is not the same the next time you play. The pick ups are different.

 

[FoxMcChief]

But doesn't Hades start you on the same map every time? I think I died twice in Hades and noped out because of having to go through the same rooms/enemies again.
Returnal is all random. The world you traverse through is not the same the next time you play. The pick ups are different.

Returnal handles the level layout exactly the same. They are cookie cutter rooms that can all piece together easily. You will likely see the same 4-5 rooms in every run. That’s fine. Hades does that as well. It’s a staple to the genre. Prefab rooms that can connect.

Im actually surprised there’s not a mode to create a map of your own using the prefab rooms.

Maybe I’m just not a fan of the twitch shooting. Im probably done with the game.

 

[Alex11]

Finished it through all biomes 4 times, but man, that Tower of Sisyphus is whooping my ass, way harder than the base game.

 

[crazepharmacist]

I've uninstalled it. I died at the first boss and was put back to start with just the pistol and all warp points were gone (I thought that if you unlock warp gates they will remain unlocked if you die?), plus all the eneimes were much harder.
The game is gorgeous and i love the atmosphere, i just wish it was regular single player, metroid type game.

Man that’s where the fun is. You try again and hope you have a better run with better pick ups and weapons. By the time you finish the game, you’ll be wishing there was some kind of new game + mode where the difficulty is even higher. I envy being you right now. I wish I could go back in time and be at the point where you are now and play this game for the first time again. Reinstall it dude and give it another shot

 

[ChoosableOne]

After 35 hours of playtime, I "really" finished the game. It was a great experience. When I got back into the game for the real ending, I tried to play the last 3 biomes as slowly as possible, because I didn't want it to end right away. But I must say, carbine and leech ammo make this game very easy. After seeing this, I couldn't spend much time on other weapons because the game is extremely difficult with them. I don't think they have that balance well. Maybe I had such a hard time with other weapons because I played with keyboard-mouse and auto-aim turned off, because I've seen those who say that a few other weapons also make the game much easier.

I'll take a break from the game for a while, maybe play it again another time. Playing a game from start to finish excites me for the second time(first time was Sekiro), normally I can never play a game twice(I didn't play Sekiro twice). In that respect, I found this game very successful. I highly recommend it for action/TPS lovers.

 

[Eiknarf]

I finally fired this up on the PS5 yesterday. I got my way to the second area. Not sure where all the high praise is coming from.

Is it a frustrating game? I literally held off on buying this for my PS5 because of constantly reading how frustrating it is -

I was so excited for it but read that there are extremely long runs without save points and they take a really long time and the game recommends using rest-mode to take breaks. Seems unnecessary.

People don’t typically have hours at a time to commit to a game session.

But even if they do, frustration is still frustrating

So again, does the fun outweigh the frustration?
Is it “Bloodborne/Dark Souls” difficult?

 

[FoxMcChief]

Is it a frustrating game? I literally held off on buying this for my PS5 because of constantly reading how frustrating it is -

I was so excited for it but read that there are extremely long runs without save points and they take a really long time and the game recommends using rest-mode to take breaks. Seems unnecessary.

People don’t typically have hours at a time to commit to a game session.

But even if they do, frustration is still frustrating

So again, does the fun outweigh the frustration?
Is it “Bloodborne/Dark Souls” difficult?

I wouldn’t say it’s frustrating. I just don’t feel like the runs respect my limited gaming time. I’d rather play more Horizon 2 where every second of what I do matters. As far as loop games, I’d rather play more Hades.

I also bounced off of Deathloop really early too.

 

[ChoosableOne]

Is it a frustrating game? I literally held off on buying this for my PS5 because of constantly reading how frustrating it is -

I was so excited for it but read that there are extremely long runs without save points and they take a really long time and the game recommends using rest-mode to take breaks. Seems unnecessary.

People don’t typically have hours at a time to commit to a game session.

But even if they do, frustration is still frustrating

So again, does the fun outweigh the frustration?
Is it “Bloodborne/Dark Souls” difficult?

" but read that there are extremely long runs without save point"

You can "suspend" your run whenever you want. Just select "suspend cycle" when quitting and continue where you exactly left off when you load it up again.

"does the fun outweigh the frustration?"

After few hours, yeah. First 2 hours great but then the hard times begin. This difficult period lasted 5-10 hours for me, then I grasped most of the mechanics and started to overcome the difficulties of the game. If you collect health items when your life bar full, your life pool expands. There is also a room where you can respawn with all your items even if you die (you can activate it for a certain fee in each chapter). You can also come back from the dead, for once, with the astronaut item. After encountering bosses, shortcuts/portals that allow you to reach to boss rooms faster becomes available. I learned all of this a little too late.

"Is it “Bloodborne/Dark Souls” difficult?"

At start, it's harder than those, it seems impossible to beat a boss. But as you progress, it becomes way more easy, especially if you find decent guns/artifacts on your runs and explore every room you can find(without skipping biomes). Finding leeching ammo in this game has similar results to finding "Rivers of Blood" in the Elden Ring. After a while, my health bar wasn't even halved in many bosses, and I enjoyed

Spoiler

this

great music as I was bouncing around

Spoiler

Hyperion(fourth boss).

 

[Eiknarf]

I wouldn’t say it’s frustrating. I just don’t feel like the runs respect my limited gaming time. I’d rather play more Horizon 2 where every second of what I do matters. As far as loop games, I’d rather play more Hades.

I also bounced off of Deathloop really early too.

Oh Deathloop? That’s another one on my “should I buy?” list?

What’s your take on Deathloop

 

[FoxMcChief]

Oh Deathloop? That’s another one on my “should I buy?” list?

What’s your take on Deathloop

Cool world. Game play was ok. I didn’t like the loop mechanic though. Again, I didn’t feel like that game respected my time.

 

[Poppyseed]

Beat this game today. Ironically, the third boss gave me the most trouble, and then I one-shot every boss to beat the game after. The PC version still has issues, and seems to get more and more hitch-y as time goes by, almost memory-leakish. It needs a performance patch, that's for sure. Otherwise, stellar game. Really, really good. Atmosphere is top-notch, music is perfect, and the DualSense controller with this game is such a treat, though there are a few bugs with it not always working correctly every time you boot up in terms of haptics.

 

[Tomi]

Patch is up
Stuttering is gone, preformance is epic now!
Enjoy

 

[ClosBSAS]

Patch is up
Stuttering is gone, preformance is epic now!
Enjoy

Awe shit time to replay. Beat it at 30 hrs. Now I need to do it again

 

[SmokedMeat]

Just picked this up today! On sale at GameStop during their Pro Days, for $31.49 (Pro Member Price).

They let me use my $5 PUR on it as well so $26.49, and I burned $15 worth of points to knock it down further.

I’m hyped for this!

 

[crazepharmacist]

They fixed the stuttering? Even with ray tracing on?

Why aren’t more people talking about this!

 

[Puscifer]

They fixed the stuttering? Even with ray tracing on?

Why aren’t more people talking about this!

I had no clue there was it's such a great experience!

 

[Hot5pur]

I got this game yesterday, somehow already have 9 hours on it. By some miracle managed to get through the first biome on my first try, but then died a bunch of times later.
The game is difficult but also rewarding because you learn how to get better. It's a weird mix between Remnant and Furi.
The roguelike system works well enough. Biomes have shortcuts within them, and once you finish a biome you effectively can start from there even if you die.
The story is....a missed opportunity. Why devs try to pretend they are expert writers or cinematographers is beyond me. Just make an interesting plot with a twist and don't try to be this weird cryptic thing.
Graphically and gameplay wise it's solid. You don't feel the time pass.
However, this game launching at $70 (on PS5) is a bit funny. It's by no means an AAA title, like I said, more akin to Remnant level of quality.
Enjoying my time with it, tower is also pretty good. If you like difficult but fair games and you are ok with being patient and learning, it's worth a pickup.

 

[Eiknarf]

I got this game yesterday, somehow already have 9 hours on it. By some miracle managed to get through the first biome on my first try, but then died a bunch of times later.
The game is difficult but also rewarding because you learn how to get better. It's a weird mix between Remnant and Furi.
The roguelike system works well enough. Biomes have shortcuts within them, and once you finish a biome you effectively can start from there even if you die.
The story is....a missed opportunity. Why devs try to pretend they are expert writers or cinematographers is beyond me. Just make an interesting plot with a twist and don't try to be this weird cryptic thing.
Graphically and gameplay wise it's solid. You don't feel the time pass.
However, this game launching at $70 (on PS5) is a bit funny. It's by no means an AAA title, like I said, more akin to Remnant level of quality.
Enjoying my time with it, tower is also pretty good. If you like difficult but fair games and you are ok with being patient and learning, it's worth a pickup.

I took immediate notice to your use of the words, “difficult but fair”, and became happy.
I was just checking my local stores for a pre-owner copy. Neither had one. But maybe I’ll trek a little further.

I was (wrongly) under the impression or assumption that it wad perhaps unrelenting - I knew it was difficult. I just can’t stand being frustrated in my games

 

[Hot5pur]

I took immediate notice to your use of the words, “difficult but fair”, and became happy.
I was just checking my local stores for a pre-owner copy. Neither had one. But maybe I’ll trek a little further.

I was (wrongly) under the impression or assumption that it wad perhaps unrelenting - I knew it was difficult. I just can’t stand being frustrated in my games

It is subjective so I worry if I mislead you into thinking it's "fair" but it ends up being kinda grindy.
The game is good in short bursts, and it's fun to revisit old areas as you get more skilled, as you end up taking more risks.
In general I'm mixed on rogue likes/lites. I somehow liked Rogue Legacy (haven't tried the second one yet), but hated Hades (boring and pretentious dialogue).
I like dead cells, not so much enter the gungeon.
Huge dark souls fan.
If Remnant from the ashes and Furi had baby, and that baby was raised as an adopted child by FROM software, you'd end up with Returnal.

 

[Buggy Loop]

Returnal™ - Returnal - April 25th Patch is Now Available - Steam News

Greeting from Atropos! We have a new update today that adds NVIDIA's DLSS 3, including Reflex. Break the cycle on PC and find the April 25th patch notes below! - Neil PATCH NOTES: Upgraded to NVIDIA DLSS 3 Implemented NVIDIA Reflex Potential fix for falling out of the world in co-op when...

store.steampowered.com

Patch for DLSS 3 & Reflex

 

[Kagoshima_Luke]

As long as this update didn’t break the mod I have installed, replacing random middle aged woman with Samus.

 

[mcjmetroid]

http://[URL]https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1649240/view/3704816118039887605?l=english

[/URL]


Patch for DLSS 3 & Reflex

Ok I might go back to this soon. I just found the performance very poor when I tried it especially in area 1.

 

[Tomi]

No stuttering at all anymore

Best game ever!

 

[AndrewRyan]

Played a while on the new patch. At first it was buttery smooth but then started to micro-stutter after around 20min. Didn't spend too much time tinkering though and read you should manually compile the shaders from the settings menu. Love this game!

 

[Puscifer]

Just came to update to say the long term support on this games been amazing!

I'm doing another playthrough right now with DLSS 3.0 and seeing this with it's responsiveness at 200FPS with Raytracing is W I L D

Loved it on PS5, Loving it even more on PC, so far my personal game of the generation and feels like everyone who latched onto Bloodborne in terms of it being their PS4 game Returnal is *MY* PS5/PC game of the generation.

 

[Holammer]

Grabbed Returnal when I pre-ordered R&C. Put in 11h thus far and got to the second biome.
I'm impressed with the performance. I have a brand spanking new CPU, but the GPU is an ageing 1080, which still gives me a pretty solid 60fps (VRR cleans up any hitches) @ 1440p with 80% resolution scaling and most settings at Epic. Basically DF's recommended optimized settings.

It's a good game, real fancy looking and it's clearly built to be a showcase title. However, Risk of Rain 2 remains a better experience.

Spoiler: Red portal

 

[hlm666]

Bought this to add another game with frame gen that I could do some tests with geforce now. Then refunded out of pure spite because it's blocked from geforce now, game runs fine and all on my local machine but this shit is getting old.

 

[Clear]

Game is a masterpiece.

Every part works beautifully, and its one of the very few games where not only is the moment-to-moment action extremely fun and satisfying, but the overall impression left by the story, psychology, and world-building leaves a lasting impression.

My only complaint really is that some of the trophies -specifically the survey ones that require you to find every glyph- are a little too grindy due to the way the online integration skews the map generation away from some of the rarer rooms. Take it offline and the problem is mostly solved, but its mildy disappointing to need to take that step.

 

[ConcealedBlaze]

Probably the best game of the generation so far for me. It’s between Returnal and Elden Ring

 

[mili2110]

I hope housemarques next Game will be a spiritual sucessor to Returnal in some way.
Returnal is my game of this gen! Maybe I will double dip when I get acheap steam key.

 

[Calverz]

Double dipped and got a steam key. Game is great on pc. Yet to try on ultrawide but maxed out it looks amazing.

 

[nikos]

Returned to this game the other day. I left off at the second biome back when it released. Managed to finish that and the third biome in one run. Game is so good.

 

[Zheph]

Im glad to see the positive feedback, still the best game so far this gen IMO