Returnal

[mmmark]

I loved Zombi U. I don’t think it is rouge-like tho. The perma death is the only characteristic. 

[DisturbedSwan]

I should've been more specific, but yeah, ZombiU has roguelike elements to it. Have updated my previous post.

[spatular]

Yeah similar here, I like some of their past games, but not keen on rogue likes so we’ll see, hope it’s good anyway.

[radiofloyd]

 

https://www.gematsu.com/2020/12/returnal-launches-march-19-2021
 

Out March 19th. Looks pretty fucking cool.

[DisturbedSwan]

 

[DisturbedSwan]

Combat Trailer

[DisturbedSwan]

 

[DisturbedSwan]

 

[DisturbedSwan]

All depends how well it does sales wise, it’s a full price release (which I believe is the wrong approach for this) so it could well bomba even if it does review well (I believe Housemarque’s last game bomba’d) but then it is the first big release from SIE since the PS5 launch so maybe people will jump on it because of that? Who knows. 
 

I think Hades last year showed what kind of impact Roguelikes (and/or games with roguelike elements) can have on the industry, especially when they tie in to a really cool story that you have to replay multiple times to reveal the full extent of. 
 

Out of all the games PS has announced so far this is the biggest mystery really, other games like Ratchet, Horizon 2, GT7 etc. Are more known quantities, I’ve still no real idea what to expect from this, which is kinda cool but kinda off putting too, it will take me out of my comfort zone.

 

[one-armed dwarf]

It looks visually repetitive tbh. Hades is the first time I ever played a game like this and didn't really sell me on the genre but I think if you're doing a story based rogue like thing you've got to have a really solid hook. Which Hades has in terrific VA, characters, artwork and brilliant multi-layered combat. This all looks very dark and gloomy. Hard to see the hook.

 

Guessing all the 'shifting reality' stuff is part of their RNG to keep things interesting and different. Anyway I find games like this way too annoying even if they have other aspects that are good. Wonder if that flickering reality thing is a gimmick lots of games are going to be doing for a while.

 

I think the thing about Hades is it shows more the benefits of early access to a game like this and how you can almost perfectly tailor a game like that to account for just about anybody's taste if your approach is just good enough. Or least that's what I take from the Danny O'Dwyer doc. Something about how you can manage the scope of a rogue game makes it a great candidate for EA, more titles should embrace the model if they aren't full scale AAA stuff

[Sly Reflex]

Housemarque are a bit hit n miss. All the Stardust games they did were aces. Dead Nation was OK, nothing special really. Alienation had the potential to be amazing but fell flat compared to similar games, namely Helldivers. Resogun I've not heard anyone have a bad word to say about.

 

I find this game intriguing, but I'm worried that it might not be Housemarque forte. Not that I'll get to play it, I can't see it making a jump to PC, none of the other games did.

[DisturbedSwan]

I think the visuals and setting are one of the best things about it for me, it's just so damn mysterious with the psychological horror elements in there too, I just want to explore that weird alien planet and uncover its secrets. It'll be on the story to keep me coming back death after death though, if I don't want to know more about the Protagonist or her story then I'm not sure I'll stick with it for long. I assume the story will be flashbacks to her life on Earth and how she got to this planet in the first place from what they've shown, but that's a estimated guess. I have confidence in Housemarque to deliver on the combat, it's just that hook for me, what is going to keep me coming back time after time, death after death and that's all on the story and how interesting it is to explore and peel back the layers on this weird alien planet.

 

I've not played one of Housemarque's games since Resogun which wasn't really my cup of tea (just not a huge fan of shoot-'em-ups) but I know Nex Machina was very well regarded. 

 

Found this cool video which shows off quite a bit more of the game and tons of info I didn't know before for those interested. 

 

 

[DisturbedSwan]

Gameplay Overview Trailer

[DisturbedSwan]

 

[DisturbedSwan]

PS Blog: Four mysteries from the new story trailer answered 

 

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Today, we are very proud to debut our new story trailer for Returnal with you all and reveal more information about the game’s story ahead of next month’s release. This PS5 exclusive combines explosive action, roguelike elements, and cinematic storytelling to create a dark, sci-fi action thriller.

 

Storytelling is a big new feature to Housemarque games and we have a bold story to tell. Our goal with Returnal is to tell a mysterious, layered, and haunting story that – like our explosive action gameplay and roguelike twists – is something you discover, replay, and rethink on every play.

 

Our narrative direction and storytelling philosophy with Returnal is that the story should not compromise the gameplay. Instead it should rationalise, deepen, and blend with it. We’ve already touched upon the game’s combat systems, so in today’s blog post I’ll shed more light on some of Returnal’s mysteries and the challenges Selene faces from a narrative perspective . .

 

1. An unauthorised recon mission gone wrong

 

Our story follows Selene, a Greek-American ASTRA deep space scout who is a complex and layered character that is driven to a fault, intelligent, and resourceful. For the first time in her career she goes against orders to travel to the alien planet Atropos to follow the “White Shadow” broadcast signal. Upon arrival she crash lands in an alien forest. Here she discovers the ruins of an alien civilisation filled with statues, gates, xeno-tech, and alien corpses. But she’s not alone. The planet’s surface is teeming with hostile creatures that attack Selene on sight, as well as other threats left by the world’s former inhabitants

 

Across Atropos everything is hostile, alien or mysterious, leaving Selene to be one of our sole human elements. So it was important for us that our lead was a compelling, complex character that players would root for and want to understand better. I am very happy to share that Selene is voiced in a raw and grounded performance by Jane Perry (recently Diana Burnwood in the Hitman Trilogy), while her visual appearance and facial capture is performed by Anne Beyer.  

 

We wanted Selene’s suit to be in stark contrast to the dark and outlandish world she’s stuck in. Bright and clean design is a canvas to show her journey on, and allows you to track her movement in both dark environments and bullet hell combat.

 

The ASTRA Scout Suit is an impressive piece of technology but it does not make Selene impervious to damage, nor do the fighting for her. We did not want the player to feel safe in a suit of armour but survive through skill and fast thinking.

 

2. How the world changes to challenge you

 

During her first scout, Selene scans xeno-tech, defends herself and finds useful resources, but eventually she succumbs to the elements and dies only to reawaken again in her ship’s cockpit moments before the crash. On leaving the crash site, she discovers the world has changed its layouts, making her journey to the “White Shadow” signal different on every cycle and rebirth. It’s an endless cycle where even death is no escape.

 

With Selene, players uncover this mystery together and have to fight through the hostile creatures, traps, hazards, and more hostile elements of Atropos. It is a story that you have to piece together with Selene and interpret through our environments, sound design and pure story elements. We show some of these environments in our story trailer and there’s even more unique environments and creatures to explore, understand, and overcome during Returnal.  

 

Each environment is a special location that has new creatures to encounter, more story to discover and much more. As you can see from the trailer, the Overgrown Ruins is a maze-like oppressive forest, filled with the remnants of the alien civilization that rearranges like a puzzle on every cycle,. In comparison, the Crimson Wastes is an open red desert with new hostile threats and story layers to uncover.

 

Every location on Atropos shuffles and changes on each death and rebirth, giving Selene and players a new challenge with every replay. Fortunately Selene is very resourceful and can utilise the xeno-tech to find shortcuts, while making permanent progress thanks to certain items that withstand the cycle. Other items also allow her to fight longer and harder with every cycle.

 

3. Relive other cycles that aren’t your own

 

During your journey through Atropos you discover the story of the alien civilization through a set of holographic statues, which are called Xeno-archives, and the disturbed writings found on Xenoglyphs, which tell the same story from another point of view. Xeno-archives are purely visual that need to be deciphered, whereas Xenoglyphs are written and need to be translated via language samples collected across Atropos. It is a new way to tell a story and we’re very excited for players to try to uncover the mysteries of this alien civilization.

 

As shown in our trailer, Selene also discovers her own scout corpses across Atropos. These corpses can feature projections of other players’ deaths (via our online systems), or Scout Audio Logs that are left behind by other versions of Selene, that she cannot remember recording. The projections show other players deaths in Returnal, at the conclusion of which you can decide to scavenge the remains for items or revenge their death, triggering events that are best discovered when you play. Story content from audio logs is handcrafted storytelling, whereas the projections are all created via other players’ deaths and found across all of the environments in Returnal.

 

4. Uncover a deeper mystery in first-person

 

Last but not least, as you noticed in our trailer, Selene also discovers a mysterious house that is strangely familiar. Returnal is primarily a third-person action experience, but Selene and players can also choose to go inside this house on Atropos in atmospheric first-person story sequences where she confronts strange and familiar events inside that you need to piece together…

 

So Returnal is not just a sci-fi action action thriller and roguelike. We also have a bold, dark cinematic story to tell. It is a mystery to decipher and replay, like our gameplay mechanics come every cycle. For me it’s a story about self-discovery, progress and breaking the cycles we put ourselves in.

Thanks for reading and we can’t wait for you all to play Returnal on April 30.
 

Stay well and stay safe all!

 

[DisturbedSwan]

 

 

[Sly Reflex]

Astrapos sounds like they shortened the term "Astronomical Piece of Shit".

[DisturbedSwan]

 

[DisturbedSwan]

PS Blog: Returnal: hands-on preview

 

 

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Explorative platformer, action thriller, psychological horror: everything you need to know about the PS5 exclusive

 

Gillen McAllisterSenior Specialist, Content Communications, SIE

 

Returnal launches on April 30. This PS5 exclusive is the result of four years of meticulous crafting by Housemarque, the Finnish studio known for the twitch-based thrills of the likes of Super Stardust, Nex Machina, and acclaimed PS4 launch title Resogun. Returnal takes the DNA of that illustrious arcade heritage – tight controls, compact gameplay loops – and splices it with compelling character drama and a cosmic mystery in the dark, uncharted heart of deep space. The result is a third-person sci-fi action thriller and the team’s biggest, most ambitious project to date. 

 

Ever since last year’s first reveal, you know some of what to expect. Housemarque has touched upon Returnal’s combat; teased its story. (If you haven’t kept up to date, don’t worry: we recap below). Now, after spending several hours with a near-complete version of the game, we have a better sense of how these and more come together. And, in addition, how Housemarque is leveraging the PlayStation 5’s features for an impressive next-gen debut.

 

A broadcast signal of unknown origins draws Selene, a Greek-American ASTRA deep space scout to an unmapped world. Her arrival onto Atropos is a violent one: an explosive accident mid-orbit sends her ship Helios spiralling into a crash landing. This sequence is an excellent early showcase for what the studio’s got in store for us with the DualSense controller’s haptic feedback: every metal-crunching impact is mimicked on the controller. When a flaming Helios roars across the width of your TV screen, you feel that fatal flyby through your hands.   

 

With her ship downed but her suit’s systems still active and tracking the broadcast, Selene sets off, armed with only a sidearm and a scientist’s tenaciousness. Between the signal’s origin and her are multiple biomes, each a labyrinth of interconnected areas. In each location remnants of an ancient civilisation and highly aggressive creatures await. Selene must adapt artifacts from the former to survive the latter. And when she fails to do so, two inevitabilities: you resurrect at the site of the crash, and this weaponised world has reshaped itself around you.  

 

A great example of DualSense controller’s adaptive triggers at work: L2 will lock halfway when pulled for a zoomed in Focus Aim (this also highlights enemy weak spots in red). Pull fully down to activate your weapon’s alt-fire mode. You can monitor alt-fire cooldown with your HUD and keep an ear out for a specific audio ping that plays when recharge is complete. But there’s a cool detail that’s DualSense controller specific: If you keep the trigger pulled after discharge, you’ll feel a low-level vibration that’ll steadily increase in intensity, matching the weapon’s alt-fire recharge cycle. 

 

The procedural generation and roguelike nature of Returnal are both gameplay and story hook. Each cycle will reorder every biome’s areas and their contents. Variations that paired with the game’s brooding, bristling score make exploration ever-dangerous, even as you grow proficient in navigating through this world as Selene. 

Let’s talk about her. 

 

The ASTRA scout isn’t a trigger-happy supersoldier. Thoughtful rather than cavalier, she has a scientist’s mind and an explorer’s tenacity. She’s also human. That steadfast persona slow unravels, sold convincingly by Jane Perry’s grounded vocal performance. Uncertainty slowly creeps into the edges of her analytical monologues, while recovered audio logs – voice recordings of another self (is it future, or is it past?) that tease upcoming encounters – unsettle with their increasing erraticness. 

 

In the field, Selene’s nimble. Dash-dodges to leap across chasms, avoid – even pass through – enemy projectiles. A coloured HUD radial around the character marks direction and proximity of attacks. She can mantle. Early unlocks of a blade and hookshot open up melee and faster traversal options. The hookshot’s generous reach on marked grapple points zip you across wide areas. 

 

Within any cycle, dealing damage but avoiding it yourself builds Adrenaline, a mechanic that stacks up to five levels, each tier unlocking an enhancement: increases to weapon damage, vision (enemies marked by a red circle), strengthening your melee attack and more. Get hit once and everything resets. It’s a great incentive to stay sharp and promotes high-level play. 

 

Weapons recharge rather than reload; during that time a trigger tap right to instantly recharge and earn a damage bonus (Overload). Mess up and your weapon jams. Every weapon has an alt-fire mode and an additional unlockable ability once you’ve downed enough enemies. Both are pulled from a large pool of possible attacks, leading to an extensive range of potential weapon builds. 

 

At the bottom left corner of your on-screen HUD are suit integrity (health) and weapon proficiency bars. Integrity can be replenished or extended with collectables. Your weapon proficiency bar dictates the power level of the next found weapon, be it an enemy drop or unlocked chest. That too can be increased through items collected. Weapons range from familiar analogues (pistol, rifle) to otherworldly types (the Spitmaw Blaster fires a corrosive fluid that eats away at enemy health over time). The audio on these things packs a punch: blasts echo across valley floors and reverberate in tight quarters. Fun fact: Those reverberations are in real time, using a mix of 3D audio and ray casting, dynamically changing based on your position. 

 

Built on top of all that are multiple, interconnecting game systems that spice up every cycle. Artifacts give you buffs for the duration of your current run (deal 10% more damage to a low health target, or use slo-mo when in alt-fire mode, for example). Consumables are one-off activations (healing shot, shields). Parasites, living, scuttling entities that’ll latch onto your suit if picked up, best example the gamble of Returnal’s modifiers, always pairing reward with risk. One may increase the stats of the weapons you find next, but your melee damage is reduced by half. A specific alien device can remove all parasites but costs Oblities, the planet’s version of currency dropped by enemies on death and unearthed from rocks that glow a tell-tale yellow. 

 

You’re forever outnumbered, but quick reactions and core feedback loops make for satisfying combat encounters. 

There’s a vibrant diversity to the alien species intent on killing you as soon as you enter an area. Multi-tentacled quadrupeds, leaping biped juggernauts, squid-like flyers, armoured lurkers… their ferocity and attack patterns are scaled such that with quick wits and reactions they’re survivalable, regardless of which combination or number you face. Many fire projectile cascades. There’s an echo here of bullet hells, but brightly coloured as they are, you’re never caught unawares. I have to speak to the game’s 3D audio design, which, if you’re wearing a compatible headset, lets you better pinpoint enemy placement around you. While wearing the Pulse 3D Wireless headset for PS5 on one cycle, I registered the sound of an enemy approaching from the rear. I whirled round, freezing my aim exactly where it was spawning, taking it out before it could pounce.

 

All that is arcade pedigree shining through. Controls are tight. You’ll never question your combat options or traversal abilities, be it repositioning in arenas packed with enemies or exploring.

Returnal offers daily challenges for which there are online leaderboards. Selectable from the Helios wreck, these will give you a set of conditions to meet and a specific weapon. You have one life to make your mark on the global ranking. (You don’t need PlayStation Plus to take part in these.) 

 

While you’re never far from a firefight, Returnal is as much an explorative platformer as it is a shooter. You’re not ploughing through a set number of small arena-style kill boxes in quick succession. Level design is hugely varied and you have breathing room to explore. For the majority of your playtime, a good two-thirds of the screen real estate is dedicated to the world around you. Yes, that’s also to best assess threat placement during combat, but it also captures the colossal scale of the alien civilisation. Smaller touches outside combat sell the atmosphere. The indistinct call of wildlife in the far distance; writhing grass that’s one of the planet’s non-aggressive lifeforms; the dirt smears that gradually accumulate on Selene’s suit; the steady patter of rainfall felt through the DualSense controller’s haptic feedback. 

 

Doorways open to claustrophobic alleys, multi-floor structures, tiny caves, partially-destroyed bridges. Hidden catacombs and side rooms are rife. Traps, interactive alien devices – and the items needed to access them – are nestled here and there (such as Fabricators, which generate items, or the Reconstructor, a one-time resurrection machine you’ll return to on death, keeping you in the current cycle with loadout intact). Unreachable spots will taunt you until you’ve found and incorporated the right alien tech to access in future cycles. You’re given a general compass direction to your central goal, but you’re otherwise free to explore as much or as little as you like. Further exploration and backtracking will help you upgrade equipment, unlock sealed sections and delve into the lore of the long-dead civilisation. Alternatively, focus on combat and stack the odds increasingly against you. It’s your choice. 

 

Your mini-map (which, like most of the HUD, can be hidden if you customise it so) marks different doorways: golden path, side rooms, mini-boss challenges. Icons also denote collectables. Retrieving those can be a puzzle. Note: HUD customisation includes colour-blind options, letting you switch the colouring of loot drops. 

 

Every biome is visually distinct, with its own challenges and creatures (though once encountered, ultra-tough ‘Elite’ versions of enemies will start to bleed into other locales). Progression is non-linear. Each biome has a main ‘boss’, but once overcome, you’re not locked to facing it down on subsequent cycles. Stumble into the right area, and you can travel straight to another biome. Here’s your PS5 console’s SSD at work: passing through a portal into another part of Atropos seems as fast as walking through a door. Resurrections are also quick: a few seconds of flashback and you reawaken at the crash site.    

 

Explorative platformer, action shooter, roguelike, psychological horror. Returnal splices these disparate strands together with elegance. And there’s so much more to talk about. But like most things, they’re best experienced first hand. And you’ve not long to wait: 29 more days until you crash land on Atropos and attempt to break the cycle yourself. 

 

 

 

[DisturbedSwan]