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Returnal - PS5

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    Returnal - PS5

    So it's a third person action roguelike in space.

    The Good

    The gameplay is tight and addictive. Clearing every room is a joy. And it needs to be, because you have to want to keep coming back again and again.

    Exploration too is a joy. Finding secrets and little things that may swing the odds in your favour a bit feels good. There's a lot to learn on this front too. Building up your character during a run isn't as straight forward as you might expect. You need to experiment to learn it really.

    The haptic feedback in the controller is brilliant. Astrbot levels of brilliant. Love it.

    The Bad

    Unlike a Souls game you can't grind to win. Purists might tell me that's the point, you have to get better at the game, but I'd prefer to be met half way here. If peeps want a super challenge on Souls they can simply choose to compete with zero stats and a loin cloth.

    Unlike Hades there aren't enough permanent upgrades. Every run in Hades feels rewarded at the end as you can invest (up to a point) in something that will make your next run a little smoother. Add that to your growing skills and you feel like you have a reason to dive right back in and smash whatever just gave you a hard time.

    The runs are long and there's no saving mid run. I still haven't beat the first boss. I spent 90 minutes building myself up and getting to it last night only for it to be over too soon. Now I have to muster the will to go back in and rebuild myself somewhere near strong enough to have another go. That takes time.

    The Ugly

    There isn't any. It's a great looking game. The alien planet is full of atmosphere and all the bright shots flying around look amazing against the environments.


    So there are things I like and things I don't so much. Maybe I'm not up to a game that requires this level of dedication at the moment. But what I will say is right now the combat is enough to keep me coming back as its so much fun. And fair play to Housemarque for not copping out on a game they could have made more casual/market-pleasy.
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    #2
    As much as i want this it just seems too harsh for my current play time to justify. Hades had that perfect mix of progress and difficulty, you were always working bit by bit towards some permanence, this is just brutal right now.

    Hopefully it gets an “easy” mode eventually where you get to keep the weapons, right now its just to harsh for me personally.

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      #3
      I suck at this game apparently, not even made it to the first boss and the ingame currency (olodites?) seems sparce so I’ve bare,y had the chance to buy anything. But I still want to play it though. Even at baby-steps.

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        #4
        I’ve played Bloodborne for an hour and never played the Souls games but I’m absolutely in love with this. 15 hours in and only got to the second boss once. Hades was my game of last year so I am a bit of a convert to this new style of game.
        I initially wanted some of the unlocks to be permanent but now it feels like that would have cheapened the experience a bit. You will get better, and that progression feels sweet.
        I did have it crash the first time I beat the first boss and was a bit miffed by that but I love the gameplay so much it wasn’t a big deal. Top top game so far.

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          #5
          I'm loving the atmosphere in this. It's dripping with tension and the action can get really fraught at times.

          My biggest gripe - if I want to play a different game I have to lose all my progress. Annoying

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            #6
            There would probably be save game exploits if you could save it. You have to commit to the run!

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              #7
              Best use of the ps5 so far, and so great to have a game where you cant save all the time, and rewards repeated plays, like games of old no saves , you actually have to play the game to get better at it.

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                #8
                Absolutely stunning game. Had a handful of runs and got to the boss twice and died twice, but I need to keep having another go. The second time I foolishly fell off a ledge resetting my adrenaline level outside the boss room. So I went in a bit underpowered. It's like Metroid, Hades, Prometheus, Alien with elements of bullet hell game. So so good.

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                  #9
                  The more I read and see (via the TeddyUKmeow stream, of course), the more I think that I should leave this for a while.

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                    #10
                    How come, [MENTION=9333]kryss[/MENTION]?

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                      #11
                      Despite the gripe I feel when downed by a boss after all my efforts to reach it I can't leave the game alone. Just did slightly better on the first boss and the runs themselves are always fun.

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                        #12
                        Copied from the general play thread for my six pence - I can definitely see how it's going to have its fans and it plays smoothly and well, like there's a much more fun game in there desperate to come out. But keeping expectations in check helps too. The game is absolutely not a Sony AAA title, bar the framerate it reeks of PS4 AA. It's incredibly repetitive too, the Souls style system of dying and working your way through again really drawn out here by how samey everything is. Being a shooter with platforming elements it feels intuitive to play enough but after a weekend of play I'd be hard pressed to recall having fun with the game at any point. It's going to be a niche game making that £70 price all the more bemusing. It'll certainly be some peoples GOTY but nah.

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                          #13
                          Originally posted by hudson View Post
                          How come, [MENTION=9333]kryss[/MENTION]?
                          I think for the points that [MENTION=345]Neon Ignition[/MENTION] makes above.
                          I've not really been big on Rogue-likes, Luftrausers aside, and not being able to stop when I want to doesn't really fit my lifestyle right now. Yes, I know I can pause the game.
                          I'd be lying if I said that price wasn't part of the problem.

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                            #14
                            Really valid points above, £70 is steep and this is not a God of War/ Last of Us game. However I do think I'm going to get more game play hours out of it than those ones (I'm guessing a pound an hour based on progress so far!) I'm at the second boss and was about 3 hits from getting past it last night and had been living on my last sliver of health for about 2 minutes. I love that I can play in 2 ways, slowly slowly max out everything and explore every room or cain it to the boss and see what happens. No saves but the way progression unlocks keeps me motivated to keep going.

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                              #15
                              Originally posted by kryss View Post
                              not being able to stop when I want
                              I don't think that needs further justification. That's an error, not a design choice, unless it's a multiplayer game where you can't reasonably stop.

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