![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() These range from shield bursting beams to homing rockets that, despite being on a short cooldown, really take Returnal’s combat to the next level. But it’s the alternate fire options on them that really make them fun. They feel great to shoot with, and at first appear to be fairly standard guns a semi-automatic pistol, carbine rifle, shotgun and so on. From this early point, though, the challenge feels about right, difficult but not unfair, and having reached the second area’s boss recently I can tell it’s not going to be the relative cakewalk that the first felt.Įnemies may have fun flurries of attacks up their sleeves, but Selene also has a highly enjoyable arsenal of weapons to play with. But all in all I haven’t played enough loops yet to know just how lucky I got. I wouldn’t say I had to play outstandingly well to reach that point but had picked up a couple of useful abilities and items along the way that made life easier, such as the ability to create shockwaves of damage every time I jumped. My first run lasted around 90 minutes and took me all the way to the second biome, Crimson Wastes, after defeating the first boss, and only ended once I came up against a threatening new enemy I hadn’t yet encountered. On the whole Returnal is challenging, but from what I’ve experienced it’s not overly punishing. Anyway, there’s no Kurt Russell, but Selene must’ve had a hurt muscle or two along the way as this area, especially towards the end, pushes the difficulty up a bit. The second biome you enter is in stark contrast to the first and consists of red-sanded desert with elements from the 1994 Stargate movie that I have a bizarrely good memory of despite only seeing it once at the age of 7. Housemarque of HadesFinding the familiar in the wholly unfamiliar is a running theme so far in Returnal. To do that, you’ll have to battle through waves and waves of enemies, bosses and light platforming sections in order to discover (or escape) your fate. As a space pilot who can’t escape the planet she’s crash landed on, no matter how many times she dies, it’s your job to find out what’s really going on here. It’s hard not to think of James Cameron’s action-packed sequel Aliens when here, and that’s in no small part thanks to our protagonist, Selene. The first area I explored is a dark, wet unwelcome part of Atropos (incidentally the same name as one of the Greek goddesses of fate and destiny), an alien planet littered with ruins and echoes of a lost civilization. Love for the Alien films is as clear as those stars in the sky of Returnal’s opening, whether that be the xeno-like creatures you fight, glowing green console screens, or Promethean architecture that registers high on the H.R. From that moment on, though, it’s easy to spot which sci-fi series has stamped the most impact on Returnal. ![]()
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