Returnal Reviews
Housemarque's Returnal is a shining example of what the studio is capable of, packing tight gameplay together with an interesting world.
In Returnal, Housemarque builds a game on both euphoric highs and confounding lows.
Its roguelike runs are too long and it needs a way to save in the middle of them, but Returnal's third-person shooter action, clever story, and atmosphere are excellent.
Demanding but excellent combat and gorgeous visuals sit awkwardly in a half-baked roguelike structure.
Returnal marks yet another high quality PC port of a PlayStation exclusive game and is a must-buy for anyone that hasn't already played on PS5.
At its core, Returnal is one of the most satisfying third-person shooters I’ve played - it’s Hades via Vanquish. It forces you to meet it at its tempo and doesn’t relent. It makes Doom Eternal seem like Baby’s First Shooter. It’s gorgeous, frenetic, and endlessly replayable. I just wish success wasn’t so tied to luck, which only exacerbates any frustrations you have when repeatedly trekking through areas you’ve already beaten. Even after the credits rolled, I felt satisfied, but that satisfaction was also mixed with relief - the ordeal was finally over and the chiropractor's elbow has been removed from the small of my back.
Returnal can be messy, tough, and perhaps a little too uncompromising for a $70 game. And yet, despite the moments of pad-clenching exasperation, it remains a moreish experience even after you've plummeted its depths.
What should have been a hotchpotch of other people's ideas, made worse by frustratingly high difficulty, is in reality one of the most cleverly designed video games of recent years, with superb action and endless replayability.
One of the best PlayStation exclusives of recent years is an inspired mix of bullet hell shooter and roguelike dungeon crawler, that somehow still feels like nothing else on console or PC.
Returnal brilliantly meshes roguelike mechanics with precise combat and enigmatic exploration, making for an excellent game
Housemarque’s PS5 exclusive elevates the time loop genre
Returnal blends elements of shooters, roguelikes, action games, and horror to redefine bullet hell and conjure a mysterious, moody masterpiece.
Returnal feels like a next-gen game.
In fact, the whole game is a tremendously satisfying experience. From the wonderful alien design, to the slow-burning storyline and its blank-faced staring astronaut, to the satisfying array of weapons, and perhaps most importantly, to the way the statues crumble when you hit them, this is something utterly solid, and eternally compelling. And unless my rig proves a fluke, finally a console-to-PC port to celebrate on day one.
Returnal is a mostly thrilling sci-fi action romp that suffers from a lack of scale at times. In the moment, I'm completely fixated on my run, upgrading like a fiend, and dashing around for iFrames like I was playing a Capcom game. But after that run ends and I'm looking at the bigger picture, Returnal can feel a little smaller than it actually is. Keep that in mind before you take the pricey plunge.
As it did with the PS3, Vita, and PS4, Housemarque has once again provided Sony with another launch-era hit and in doing so has created a rewarding, replayable, and revolutionary game that’s hopefully the foundation for other future AAA titles that are as clever with the roguelite blueprint.
Thanks to a recent patch that fixed the majority of performance issues that I was having, I can happily call Returnal on PC the “definitive version.” It has the looks, the performance, and the best controls, ready to reward those who waited for the PS5’s timed-exclusivity period to end with a compelling, mysterious story and top-tier bullet hell gameplay.
It feels immensely satisfying to be sat here in 2021, eons after playing Super Stardust HD on PS3, and see just how far Housemarque has come. Offering a visual bullet hell spectacle, a showcase for the DualSense controller and a rewarding sci-fi narrative woven around the roguelike loop, we can say with unflinching confidence that Returnal is the PS5's best game to date.
Returnal was not one of the most anticipated games by PS5 users, and it is because of this that it is a big surprise. Housemarque has carried out its most ambitious project and, although it has slight shortcomings, it is one of the games that until now best takes advantage of the features of dualSense, PS5 and that is a great must for any player fan of shooters or roguelikes.
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