Going Platinum: It Was a Pleasure to Grind Returnal for That RNG Trophy 1
Image: Push Square

Platinum Trophy #32: Returnal

Date Earned: 27th September 2021

Dopamine Index:

Occasionally, people have said to me that I'm quite skilful when it comes to games, having finished so many, including some toughies.

While I can't deny I've beaten some difficult games in my time, I don't think I'm any better at playing them than your average gamer. What I do have in my corner, though, are two things: patience and stubbornness.

If I'm enjoying a game enough, I'll push through it no matter how much resistance I face.

A good example is Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. I reviewed it, meaning I played it before launch, and before any wikis or guides were available to offer help. I don't have the platinum Trophy, but I did roll credits through sheer force of will (and because I really loved it).

Another tough game — one I do have the platinum for — is Returnal, which I also reviewed and finished prior to launch.

I died a lot playing through Selene's time-looping nightmare, but through practice and determination, I made it to the true ending. It was so worth it.

Returnal is a challenging game, but overcoming that challenge is so rewarding and fun to do. It comes down to extremely strong fundamental action, something for which Housemarque has a knack.

With this game, the studio really levelled up in other aspects as well — the storytelling, music, and general presentation all contributes to a great game.

The Trophy list doesn't cause a lot of strife, but there is one objective that may prove too much for some, and that's to complete each biome's survey.

Doing so basically involves finding all the various collectables in each of the game's zones, which doesn't sound too hard until you remember this a run-based game with randomly generated level layouts and item distribution.

In other words, there's no real guarantee you'll find what you need to complete each biome survey.

I think the odds of finding undiscovered collectables has been increased in the years since Returnal's launch, but even so, the only option for Trophy hunters is to simply keep playing and exploring standard runs until you finally get everything.

This can take a long time. I know this, because it took me a long time.

I think the best compliment I can give Returnal is that I didn't mind hunting down those last few Xenoglyph Ciphers one bit.

I don't know how many runs I had to go on for this extracurricular mission, but I took pleasure in every single one, because the game is just a blast to play.

Shooting those crazy glowing aliens and dodging those crazy glowing bullets is so simple at its core, but the feedback is great, and it constantly tests your skills and forces you to pay attention.

It may have taken me many more hours to do, but eventually I did get everything I needed for those surveys, and I loved every minute. I was rewarded for my patience, stubbornness, and genuine love for the game.

I'm not sure it was the best decision to put collectables-based Trophies in a game like this, but it gave me a decent excuse to keep playing much more that I would've otherwise, so there's that, I suppose.

Cheers, Returnal.

Do you have the platinum Trophy for Returnal? Tell us in the comments section below.