Topic: You cant save anything in Returnal?

Hi!

I hear people talking about one cant save in Returnal, and when one die it take you back to the start of the game each time??
I thought it was similar to Demon Souls where one only Get thrown back to the start of the map/mission?

If not how many hours could it take to finish it, and what is the chance to find time and finish the game in ONE single run without dying at all? Game must be 15-30 hours long, isnt that too long to Play this non stop and if one fail after lets say 5 hours non stop one start at the very beginning?

Need to know this before preordering

@Pieterslk It’s a rogue-lite. The game is structured in ‘runs’ so if you die you go back to the beginning. You can’t save in the middle. You do unlock sorta shortcuts as it goes on though.

OK, so that's not exactly it.

Whenever you die or quit, you start over and the world around you changes (the map is different). You lose your weapons, consumables and stuff but there is stuff you keep - for example if you find the grappling hook that gives you new traversal options, next time you'll start with it. Same thing with your melee weapon and a few other things. These are autosaved as soon as you get them.
There's also apparently some forms of currency that carry over to the next run and you have to make choices between spending it or keeping it to unlock better stuff in another run.
Probably most importantly - your weapon proficiency upgrades are permanent, which means you'll be able to find better weapons the longer you play the game.
Also, if you defeat a boss and unlock the next biome, there will be a way to skip the boss fight next time you play.

So basically - you will start over a lot but it's not exactly starting from scratch. There will still be a sense of progress and the story is also somehow tied to this process of replaying the game multiple times.

This is all based on what I've seen online, haven't played myself yet

@Voltan Yeah, so it’s basically the exact same as every rogue-lite ever. I’m confused as to how people haven’t picked up on the progression structure yet considering it was said all the way back when it was announced that the game was a rogue-lite.

@nessisonett To be fair, I guess many people stay away from rougelikes/lites for various reasons so they don't know much about them - and Returnal at a glance looks nothing like them anyway.
All the preview materials do a pretty good job explaining it though.

Thanks for reply, so it means we keep some items like grappler and rarly some upgrades, we also run trough the maps with unlocked shortcuts and we can skip bosses we already beaten. That is a good thing!

Omg i am so unsure to grab it today and wait for the timer to unlock the game when we hit midnight, pity thing i need to buy RE8 next thursday.

Re8 is a game i know would be enjoyed from beginning to end.
Returnal is getting me very curious but i feel it’s a "risk" to buy it for me personaly to like and enjoy it. Looks fantastic and we need more of next gen titles.

People saying it take 2-3 hours to finish a full run, how different is the second run, and it have multiple endings that way since it should take 25 hours to finish the game?

It is very good explained here https://www.kotaku.com.au/2021/04/how-saving-in-returnal-actu...

@Voltan That's a great explanation. One slight correction weapon proficiency is not permeant. It resets every run.

@nessisonett The ignorance around the genre has taken me by surprise as well. But I suppose this and Hades are the only high profile examples. I've known about them since BoI, but I guess we can't expect everyone to be as eclectic as us.

@PossibLeigh Yes, it's the weapon traits that unlock permanently - I got that wrong but I wrote it before actually playing so close enough lol

Haha, fair shout. Impressively almost 100% correct without even playing the game!