Thoughts on Returnal (No spoilers)

Hey everyone. I just finished Returnal, and wanted to give some thoughts about the game's design.

This is the latest game from Housemarque. Until now, the studio has made indie-level arcade games like Nex Machina and Super Stardust HD. But with Returnal, the studio has gone full on "Triple A", with a blockbuster new PlayStation 5 exclusive.

It's got big Metroid Prime vibes, with a female protagonist, a mysterious alien planet, ancient ruins, and a story that unfolds through scanning objects. And it has some Dark Souls flavour, with tough bosses and the threat of death constantly hanging over your head.

But, ultimately, the game's biggest inspiration is the current crop of indie-made roguelikes, such as Enter the Gungeon and Binding of Isaac. Death sends you right back to the start of the game - but the planet is now rearranged into a new randomly-generated layout.

And that's pretty fascinating! Outside of Prey: Mooncrash, the roguelike formula has been almost exclusive to the realm of indie games. So it's fun to see that same structure and design language, but with ridiculous production values and full 3D environments.

So, how does it play? Here are my main takeaways from the last 30-odd hours of playing.

The combat is a lot of fun.

It's very fast and mobile - often reminding me of Doom 2016. You'll be dodging through huge waves of projectiles, and juggling lots of different enemies with distinct patterns.

There are also cool combo elements like adrenaline (killing enemies in succession without taking a hit grants various boosts) and overdrive (active reload from Gears of War). Plus, swapping to your alt-fire when it recharges to instantly ice some annoying enemy is always a thrill

Housemarque's legacy as an arcade game studio is very apparent here. And, ultimately, I never got bored of the basic combat loop in the game. (In fact, the first thing I did after finishing the game was give it another go - just to have another taste of the combat).

The game's all about risk and reward.

You're constantly having to ask if you want to push your luck. A big part of this is the "malfunction" system.

Essentially, items like health pick-ups, chests, and money can be infected with malignancy. And picking them up has a chance of giving your character a nasty malfunction like "alt-fire charge increased by 5 seconds" or "lose money when you take damage".

But you can fix those malfunctions by performing some small task (like melee five enemies).

And so ultimately the game is always taking new twists and turns. You have to decide whether it's worth risking a malfunction to get some health back (and interesting decision) - and if you get one, now you'll need to play in a different way to remove the malfunction (an interesting new way to play). It's just constantly engaging.

The game is not super different from run-to-run.

The main point of a roguelike is that every run is unique. But in Returnal, that's not really the case.

Many key areas are exactly the same, every time. And the game is built from pre-made rooms that are randomly put together: but there aren't too many rooms, so you'll see the same ones a lot!

At times, it doesn't feel like a roguelike at all - just a normal game with very far away checkpoints. Which can make it feel like a bit of a slog to replay certain sections.

Also, your builds are going to be pretty similar from run to run. Sure, there are lots of items that change your character (and even a few opportunities for synergies) but they're very mild. Compare this to something like Binding of Isaac or Dead Cells and it's not even close.

I guess the main differences are in the weapons. Outside of some basic guns (a pistol, a shotgun, an assault rifle) you'll unlock some wacky new weapons that can really change how you play. However: I found them so hard to use effectively that I mostly just stuck to the boring stuff. Whoops!

I really dig the meta-level progression.

Every roguelike developer has to take a stand on meta progression: which is to say, how much stuff persists between runs? Do you save almost nothing (like Spelunky) or let the player make massive permanent changes to their character (like Rogue Legacy)?

Returnal finds some interesting middle ground - and I think it works quite well.

The main thing you'll see is permanent new abilities (like a hook shot that lets you grapple up to high platforms) that allow you to open new areas on future runs. Another big one is shortcuts that allow you to skip early areas - and, more importantly, boss fights.

These are only unlocked after making significant progress, like beating a boss or reaching a new area.

The outcome is that you get a roguelike where you feel like you're making capital P progress on runs. Beating a boss is a really big deal because you don't have to do it ever again (if you don't want to) and you've got a permanent upgrade that will make the next run more interesting.

But! You only get this when you actually overcome the game's major challenges. So you can't just grind to victory or trade time for success - you've got to succeed! It kind of takes the thrill of beating a boss in Dark Souls and grafts it into the roguelike formula.

There's a few other bits and bobs on the meta level (you can unlock new items that will be added to the random pool of items you might find, there's a permanent currency with a few uses, and you can unlock weapon perks) but I never felt it strayed into grind, or making me feel like I was becoming more powerful over time - rather than through my own increase in skill.

The optimum way to play is to be slow.

So, we've talked before about this idea of designers protecting players from themselves. And I think Returnal is a good example of what can happen if this is missed.

Ultimately, the best way to play Returnal is to explore every single room and find every single item. If you're not absolutely scouring the map for stuff, you're simply giving up opportunities for more health, more power, more money and more abilities for no good reason.

And i'd argue that this has some quite negative effects on the game.

One is that it's easy to get quite overpowered. In my final run of the game I had a 300% health bar, loads of powerful abilities, and I went into the final boss with two chances to revive myself on death. It was a tad anticlimactic, to be honest.

And two is that it makes each run extremely long. My final run of the game took like three hours, and it was exhausting!

Now, this is something most roguelikes already have an answer for. Spelunky has the ghost (an un-killable enemy that appears if you stay in a level for too long). Classic roguelikes had a hunger system. Dead Cells has chests you can open if you get through areas quickly. And FTL has you being chased by enemy ships

But Returnal doesn't have a solution. There's nothing to pressure you in to moving on (or reward you for playing more quickly).

And look - I'll admit that it's quite fun to get more and more powerful. And that the stakes for that three hour run felt incredibly high! And sure, you do run of the risk of stumbling into a super hard room and getting yourself killed. 

But for the most part, it made the game a bit of a slog to play and made me not want to even attempt a run in certain circumstances. Where most roguelikes are made for short runs, Returnal turns into huge, dedicated, multi-hour sessions. And the lack of mid-run saves only exacerbates this issue.

Overall…

In conclusion, I did really like Returnal. The arcadey gameplay, the risk vs reward systems, and especially the meta level progression. It felt really satisfying to beat a boss and feel like I had planted a flag - now one step closer to beating this thing.

There's other stuff I like too - but it's too spoiler-y to get into. Let's just say, there are some surprises in there.

And while I stand by my complaint about the game's lack of pressure, it wasn't enough to put me off from playing the game almost every day since it came out at the end of April.I really enjoyed this game, and it will almost certainly be showing up on my game of the year list for 2021.

Let me know your thoughts on the game in the comments below.