Topic: Returnal

@LtSarge That's actually a very similar final impression of the game as me, including the fact that I felt that same combination of frustration and satisfaction at the end that didn't make me want to go and search out that final act.
That being said, there's a difference between you and me. Beating the game took you 15 hours? It took me over 60 (60 hours, 67 deaths). So well done!

@LtSarge Well done on beating the game, it sounds like you made it through without many of the issues I remember facing when I played it on release. I think I must have gone through 50 deaths or more in order to finish all the acts and then a few more to the platinum. I enjoyed it so much I was happy to keep playing though and I can highly recommend going back at some point and finishing that final act plus having a go at Tower of Sisyphus.

@Thrillho Housemarque did rebalance some areas, especially the drones in B3. I think it was listed in the patch notes but there was plenty of discussion on the HMQ discord regarding the changes. That's not to take away from Sarge or anyone else who's finished it recently as it's still a very challenging experience even with that rebalancing, it's just not totally stupid in a few areas where most average gamers like myself must have spent most of our time dying.

@render Oh my g- those drones were awful.

Most deaths in Returnal were totally fair, but some were too cheap and unfair. I don't think the devs fixing those makes the game easier; just means the game has gotten more skill based and less luck based.

And there is me with 180 hours to get the platinum. Goodness knows how many deaths! 😂

Sarge mostly likely finished the game quicker than my end game run for the platinum!

@JohnnyShoulder 180 hours is insane! Hats off to you.

@Kidfried Those drones were my #1 enemy, they were just brutal. I remember one room I walked into in B3 had two of those malformed automatons and what must have been 20 drones. I had another experience where I was crossing the long bridge over to the tower and up came a good number of the damn things. I should have kept running but instead choose to stay and fight, it did not end well 😅

Because of those incidents though beating Nemesis and getting to B4 was one of the defining moments of the entire game for me, and the breaking point as after that found the rest manageable. Oddly when I went back to B3 on later runs I actually quite enjoyed the atmosphere now that I no longer feared for my life.

@JohnnyShoulder And just to think there were people that never got to see those house sequences because they never died 🤣

@render I’m sure it was clear but tongue was firmly in cheek when saying it was easier now. I didn’t know they’d tinkered with the drones but they were ridiculous overpowered.

I do wonder if the suspend feature would have helped me particularly too as the best runs were partly from getting gear I liked but also being in the zone. But conversely, there may have been some runs I messed up due to tiredness.

Oh, and I think these were my stats from finishing act 2;

And then from finishing act 3;

@Thrillho No worries, I gotcha that it was tongue in cheek 😉

Those are some impressive stats. I don't think I took a screenshot of mine which is possibly for the best. I like to think I got good value out of the game dividing the price by the number of deaths I had and hours spent. I can't wait to see what HMQ follow this up with. Not saying I want another Returnal as I like that it feels like a standalone game, but more that this was an evolution of what they had done before so can they evolve that again.

@Thrillho I think it took me at least 50-60 hours to finish the game through Act 3. Maybe longer. Although I also would never take away from the props for anyone who beats the game more quickly, I agree that having an actual legit suspend/run-save feature would have been a game changer. I recall many-a-time when it was late in the evening, and I needed to go to bed and I was a couple hours into a decent run, but I just started taking chances and playing sloppy because I knew it would be a couple days until I had time to play again and so what was the use of leaving the PS5 in sleep mode to try and salvage this run. So I basically threw caution to the wind and did a suicide run so I could shut down for the day.

@Th3solution Yeah the leech rounds made a huge difference towards the end of the game. I'm honestly glad that I stuck with the carbine. I did try all the new weapons whenever I would get one but the carbine was the one I was most comfortable with.

I think it's great that the game offers so many different types of weapons. It allows the player to experiment and find the weapon that fits them the most.

@JohnnyShoulder It took me a while to realise that the traits had that much of an impact on the weapons. I unlocked a trait for the carbine which lowered its rate of fire but the shots did more damage. I wasn't a huge fan of that at first but I became used to it later on. I do prefer the higher rate of fire for the carbine.

It was honestly quite hard to experiment that much with the weapons as I got closer to the end of the game. I would try the weapons but I didn't want to risk dying because I wasn't used to the weapons. I think starting a new playthrough would give me more of an incentive to experiment properly.

@Thrillho I got the impression that the biomes in the second act were more or less "remixes" of the first act's biomes. In the first act, I had no problem with B1, had the most problem with B2 and got through B3 relatively unscathed. It was kinda the same experience with the second act. No problem with B4 (although it was very long!), struggled a bit in B5 and struggled the most in the last area of B6 with those powerful enemies but it wasn't too bad overall.

Unfortunately, I won't do act 3 (but you probably already saw that). Who knows though, maybe I'll return to the game in the future.

@render If I ever go back to Returnal in the future, I definitely want to try out the other weapons more like the Hollowseeker and Dreadbound. I had no idea that Dreadbound had hidden potential because I didn't like it at all when I tried it out. So I absolutely want to give that one another try.

@Thrillho I'm sure they've made the game easier since launch. But I still found it to be a very challenging experience overall!

I think I might actually save it and go through the game again in the future. I think it'd be fun to explore all the biomes again with all my permanent upgrades this time around. But I definitely want to move on to other games now. This game just stressed me out so much lol.

You're right about the enemies that cause malfunctions, they caught me absolutely off guard. Luckily I had a few consumables that fixed the malfunctions, but I eventually ran out and the malfunctions caused me to lose two artefacts, which sucked. Could've gone so much worse though!

@Kidfried @render @JohnnyShoulder @Th3solution Your comments make me wonder if the devs actually made the game easier since you guys played it lol. I still found it to be a challenging experience, but maybe it was even harder before. Granted, I didn't finish act 3 or go for the Platinum.

I went back and looked at my stats. I died 9 times during my playthrough, which is quite a lot for 15 hours of playtime I think.

God I love this game…!

Surprised to hear there doesn’t seem to be many fans of the almighty Hollowseeker? That weapon carried through Act2 and Act3 - I was deciminating bosses with upgraded ‘Portal Turret’ (?) trait.
I also loved the Electro Pylon Driver.

I just wish HM had included a suspend feature from Day1. Having to beat this game without suspend was a very stressful period of my life, and one that still leaves mental scars lol

@CJD87 Special shout-out to the Pylon Driver. It was another one I really liked. It showed up too late to really get enough use out of it and it seemed like it’s drop rate was low for me even after I unlocked it. But when I could get one, it was the perfect “shoot and hide” type of weapon.

@Th3solution For sure, and once you get that bad boy upgraded it is near unstoppable! Amazing for boss fights, allows you to focus on dodging and moving... while the pylons take care of the DPS

I'd love to hear the contender for 'worst weapon'? For me it was 100% the Shotgun, I'd rather chance it with the starting pistol

Juat noticed this bumped to the top of the forum feed. Went back over the last week of everyone's comments. Has me itching to play again. I still play at least once a month and do a tower run. It's funny over time how your weapon choices change. When beating the game the hollowseeker got me through it. Portal, turret, and phasing rounds were killer. Pylon Driver a close second. Now as I level up others my least favorite weapons are moving up my list. The shotgun now one of my favorites. This game does such an amazing job with its secondary weapon upgrades, many times completely changing how the weapon is used. This game is a never delete on my hard drive. With the tower mode it is a perfect quick jump in type of game for a quick run.

@Elodin Yeah it has me itching to play it again! Definitely the best feeling game to play on PS5, but also can be quite stressful at times.

@LtSarge It's a nice game to pick up again every now and then. Getting into a bit more relaxed game right now is probably a good idea after all the stress.

And I noticed you had many deaths to vs your playtime. Whereas I had a way longer playtime but not that many more deaths. Who knows what it means; it's a difficult game pre or post whatever patch regardless. Now go enjoy something lighter!