While Selene and I keep returning to Atropos, caught in our own endless cycles, this time, the cycle brought me somewhere new: Rogueliker.
I’m Ricardo Esteves, a Portuguese journalist with over 20 years of experience writing about video games.
Mike and I worked together at Gamereactor a few years back, so when he presented his project to me, getting involved was a no-brainer. His suggestion for my first piece: “review your favourite roguelike.”
And so a new cycle begins, both in real life and in Atropos.
Returning to Returnal
The sci-fi atmosphere, the incredible 3D audio powered by the PS5’s Tempest technology, the highly detailed graphics, and the sensation of raindrops through the DualSense – it all screamed “true next-gen” to me.
I know, it sounds like hyperbole, but that’s truly what I felt the first time I booted Returnal back in 2021.
It was the first game that not only looked but felt like something the PS4 could not deliver, and honestly, very few games have matched that feeling since.
It was not all about first impressions, though, as the game continued to impress me.
A Sucker for a Good Sci-Fi Mystery
Alien, Event Horizon, Arrival, and Interstellar are among my favourite films of all time. I love a good sci-fi adventure, even more so when there’s a grand mystery at its core.
Returnal, to my delight, is exactly that: a strange, atmospheric sci-fi drama wrapped in themes of trauma and guilt.
You play as Selene Vassos, a space explorer who crash-lands on the strange alien world of Atropos while pursuing a mysterious signal known as the White Shadow.
As the game progresses, Selene discovers she’s trapped in an endless loop, restarting each time she dies.
Stranger still, she encounters the corpses of alternate versions of herself from previous cycles, sometimes accompanied by audio logs of their thoughts and discoveries.
What’s Up with the Astronaut?
There’s more to Atropos than glowing flora and fauna, as Selene will also encounter strangely familiar objects and places from her own memories.
Both the regular 20th-century house and the eerie astronaut were heavily featured in the trailers, and they are closely connected to what’s going on.
You’ll get to explore the house in a first-person perspective, via short (sometimes scary) sessions that reveal pieces of Selene’s past.
These sections are usually linked to the mysterious astronaut, whose true purpose and origin are only revealed much later in the game. Well… partly, anyway.
That’s something you should know about Returnal’s plot: it won’t give you all the answers.
The game is purposely ambiguous, only offering enough pieces for the player to form their own theories. If you’re expecting everything to be tied up in a neat bow by the end, you will be disappointed.
I, however, love what they did with the story, both thematically and structurally. There’s even a great mid-game twist that truly blew my mind, but I’ll leave that for you to experience.
The most genius part of the plot, however, is how it ties to the gameplay loop we associate with roguelites.
The Plot Becomes the Game
As we established, Returnal is about a space explorer trapped in a never-ending cycle that repeats every time she dies. When she does, everything changes, as areas appear in a different layout than before.
The plot and premise of Returnal mirrors how a roguelite works. Each time the player dies, they restart next to Selene’s ship, with a newly arranged map waiting.
The map isn’t fully randomized, as the game contains fixed areas, but the order and layout in which you encounter them will change. These areas include optional sections and secrets that can only be accessed after unlocking specific abilities.
When you die, you lose most of your progression, including weapons, items, artifacts, and regular currency. You do, however, keep all abilities, keys, and Ether (a special resource), so you’re never truly starting over from scratch.
In fact, once you’ve unlocked a new biome by defeating a boss, you won’t need to face that boss again to return there.
A Double-Edged Parasite
While artifacts are items that grant boons for an entire run with no drawbacks, most bonuses in Returnal come with a cost.
You’ll encounter strange parasites that can attach to Selene’s body, giving you both a boon and a debuff.
While a parasite might increase your protection by 15%, it will also reduce all healing items’ efficiency by 30%.
This choice will also be long-term, as parasites cannot be removed unless you find specific machines during your run, and they are scarce. At least with parasites, you know exactly what you’re getting.
Malfunctions are a different story, as they impose unspecified debuffs on Selene. You can be afflicted with a malfunction by opening infected chests or picking up infected items, each with a low, moderate, or high chance of triggering.
Malfunctions can range from increasing your weapon’s special attack cooldown to scrambling your map, and they can only be removed after meeting specific conditions, such as using any two items or killing a set number of enemies.
Essentially, you’re making two wagers: first, on whether you’ll get a malfunction at all, and second, on whether it’s something mild with an easy clearance condition.
I really enjoy these two systems, as both parasites and malfunctions will keep you on your toes.
Sure, they can make your life easier, but they can also severely hinder you if you miscalculate… or have bad luck.
A Shooter at Its Heart
While structurally Returnal is a roguelite, its core gameplay is that of a third-person shooter with heavy bullet-hell elements.
Some enemies will try to attack you up close, but the vast majority, including bosses, will bombard you with all manner of projectiles.
Big orbs, small orbs, expanding energy rings… they’ll be coming at you from every direction.
At times it feels like a psychedelic fever dream, and only fast reactions and sharp instincts will get you through the shifting maze of moving orbs.
Thankfully, you can fire a few of your own.
Loop and Load
There’s not a huge variety of guns, but you can expect around 10 basic archetypes, including pistols, assault rifles, shotguns, snipers, rocket launchers, and so on.
Each weapon can roll with different alternative firing modes and traits, such as homing shots, alternate firing patterns, or explosive rounds.
Once you unlock a trait by levelling a weapon, it stays unlocked for all future runs, rewarding you for sticking to archetypes you enjoy.
That brings us to weapon proficiency.
By killing enemies and collecting certain items, you’ll increase your proficiency level for that run, which determines the base level of weapons you find.
Finally, there’s the Adrenaline system, which builds up to level 5 as you kill enemies without taking damage.
Each Adrenaline level grants you specific bonuses, but the moment you’re hit, it resets.
Breaking the Cycle
Before I conclude this cycle with Returnal, it’s worth noting that the game has gained several features since its original PS5 launch.
These include quality-of-life improvements, daily challenges, and even a co-op mode that Housemarque to change up the dynamic.
Speaking of which, I haven’t played this one in co-op, so I can’t speak to that side of the game, but I did play Returnal on PS5 and PC, and both versions ran flawlessly.
Some players might struggle with the steep difficulty curve or the length of individual runs, but both of these early criticisms have been eased by the quality-of-life updates.
Overall, I can easily recommend Returnal, especially if you’re comfortable with roguelites and third-person shooters. It is also a must-play if you appreciate atmospheric worlds and enigmatic sci-fi storytelling.
Four years after my first crash-landing on Atropos, I’ve now completed my second cycle, but like Selene, I know it’s only a matter of time before I return.
