I’m calling this post an impressions article. The reason for that is I’ve actually managed to log in quite a lot of time into playing Returnal but I’ve yet to finish the game.

When Returnal was first announced I was impressed with what I saw but then news started creeping out that this was one of those bullet hell rogue-like games that I have rarely found myself enjoying. Sure the game looked pretty and the gameplay looked pretty amazing to me but the term “Rogue-like” kept creeping into the back of my brain. As did the idea that it would be one of those incredibly difficult games to complete.

After speaking with some friends who managed to get the game early we chatted about it and I asked the simple question. “Will I hate it?” The answer was always an unequivocal “Yes. This game is not for you.” So there it was. Confirmation from some very good friends of mine who know my temperament and my gaming affinity. This game wasn’t for me. So why was I still watching videos of people playing it knowing full well it’s not for me?

When I was offered a review code right around launch, I reached out to my rep and I asked if I should accept it. Not because I didn’t want to give it a bad review but because I was a bit nervous about whether or not I could be objective enough to provide enough insight about the game. My rep told me that they appreciate the thoughts and comments from anyone no matter if they were positive, neutral or negative. I opted to accept my code and geared up for my adventure.

Returnal is a third-person rogue-like shooter game developed by Housemarque and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment. The game puts players in control of Selene, an Astra scout who crash lands on the planet Atropos in search for the mysterious white signal and finds herself trapped in a time loop. Think Groundhog Day meets Alien without the fun loving Bill Murray. Soon after waking up, Selene ventures out to explore the planet and is shocked when happens upon her own dead body and learns that every time she dies, time seems to loop back to the moment she crashed, sending her back to her starting point. The planet also appears to be alive as it changes the path before Selene with every death loop.

Graphically, Returnal is stunning. It’s a really a beautifully crafted graphical showcase and it feels more “next gen” than most games currently available. When you take a world that looks as menacingly pretty as Atropos and you throw in the Dual Sense controller and a kick ass headset, Returnal is a feast for the senses. The world feels alive and as beautiful as it may be it does not like you and it wants to kill you.

If you’ve ever playing a twin stick bullet hell style game, then you’ll feel at home here. It’s essentially that but in a fully explorable 3D environment. And to be honest with you it controls and plays amazingly well. It’s not overly complex and just feels great. Movement is slick and silky smooth, guns and secrets are plentiful. There’s a lot to unpack in Returnal.

When people say this game is hard. That’s no understatement. I knew there were no real save points and that it could be a 3+ hour journey before you could get to a save point. The game changes the paths from point. When you die or your system shuts off, you start over from the very beginning and the maps change. Knowing this, I would just set my system to sleep mode so I could come back and pick up where I left off. I was coasting. I was taking my time to explore the world and battle my way through finding weapons, honing my skills. I was 6 hours in and about to take my fight to the first boss when it happened. My game restarted because a patch was pushed down.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Feeling a bit defeated and bitter, I started my journey over again and I’ll be honest, I thought it was going to be awful but it wasn’t that bad. Sure I had to start over again and that sucked but the new configuration of the levels kept it feeling fresh and engaging which I did not expect. For the next 3 or 4 days I attempted to get back to a point where I felt I could take on the first boss. Multiple times I died. Multiple times I restarted but eventually I got there and the feeling of accomplishment was immense.

My impressions are this. Returnal is an epic success for House Marque. From a technical standpoint it’s an amazing showcase of their development team. It needs to be more accessible to those of us who want to play the game at out pace. I would like to see save points added and even some difficulty play would be nice. Iknow people are going to dump on my opinion about that but honest, I have kids and a family. It’s tough to find 3+ hours to play a game just to get to a save point. It’s also unfair to tell the family not to touch the system because I’m selfishly tryingto save my spot in the game without a save point. In the end, I have to say I’m quite enjoying my time with this one. I’m more than a little surprised to say that. It kinda reminds me of something my mother always used to say to my brother who was a very picky eater: “Don’t knock it until you try it! You might be surprised” seems to be a pretty appropriate phrase.