Housemarque Provides an Overview of Returnal in 30-Minute Gameplay Video

I'm very tempted, it looks like a fantastic showpiece for the console. But I've struggled with the rogue genre in the past beyond the Spelunky games, and Spelunky 2 really pushes my patience to the edge (though I am still playing it almost daily, goddamn Derek Yu, you bitch). But to get the most out of rogue games you really need to commit time to them, and though I really like them I've fallen off so many in the past (Dead Cells, Enter the Gungeon, Into the Breach etc) I'm really hesitant on the genre now. I haven't even picked up Hades yet, and that was GOTY for so many people last year.

It's a bit late because I just bought it yesterday but okay, lol.

@Welsh_Will At first I think like that too, getting annoyed because it's really hard to finish this kind of games. But now I think it's more like the experience, the journey playing the game, not to finish but to play it until I'm satisfied with the game, it improves my experience playing rogue game tremendously.

Anyone know how to start completely fresh please?

I can't seem to find anything in the menu.

@Wiggo delete your saves for the game, I guess (in the PS5 storage management)

@Wiggo I would guess delete your save game, even though you can't actual save 🙂

@Voltan I'll do that, but hopefully they implement a dashboard option. Seems a tad extreme lol.

Thanks very much

Still can’t find my digital deluxe weapons or items. Why did I spend the extra money!?

You know, this video actually changed my mind about the game. It's not as "bullet-hell" as I thought it would be (except for bosses). It's actually seems closer to the likes of DOOM Eternal in terms of combat.

I may actually get this, now.

@Lightning_FF13 I see what you did there.

I really hope the long time frame between runs (and thus potentially multiple hours lost) isn't a deterrent to finishing it; it looks like the game will be really enjoyable.

I tend to play games on their maximum difficulty, so I am no stranger to try, try, try again.

I bought it today in a store . Wanted a physical copy of this game because I'm not sure if it's for me. So I will sell it if it starts to drive me crazy with it's difficulty. Can't wait to try it and then die and die and die. I got a returnal wristband with the game.

@velio84 I wondered about that. The large outlet reviews like IGN have mentioned the lack of save as the biggest gripe in an otherwise stellar experience, so it seems it would be an easy fix for that. I know it would go against their creative vision, but like you said, it’s a small studio that needs to maximize sales and public goodwill.

Perhaps there could be a classic mode without saves and a supplemental mode for those who want the ability to save. Or maybe add a save limit like twice per biome to keep the tension high they they are going for. Lots of possible approaches

@2cents
They’re hidden behind the final boss for you to collect when you complete the game! 😉

@Dobbos
I’ve done the same. At least there’s some money to be had back if I can’t get anywhere with it.

@Th3solution Saves would undermine the Roguelike-ness. You could, for example, save mid-run, back up that save, resume, and if you die, just restore the save and try again.

There is no good solution. As much as I would like to have saves, I also understand why they don't exist.

@thedevilsjester Yeah, I also feel similarly - although I’ve yet to pick up my pre-order and boot it up, in theory I don’t mind the issue of not being able to save since that’s some of the point of the genre. However, I think the runs are quite a bit longer than the average roguelike, and therein lies the issue. It’s one thing to lose 30 minute to an hour and have to start over, but this game is so much larger and apparently longer runs that can spread into 2-3 hours. A few reviewers have said that instead of feeling hungry to start the next run after a death, they instead felt drained and defeated and had to just take a break from the game after an untimely death. Even with that, the praise has been strong and universal. I think reviewers and gamers sometimes feel like they have to find something to criticize, so maybe this is it. It’s not stopping me from being excited to try it out.

My game just crashed after a 3 hour run almost making it thru 2nd biome... oh well needed a break but this is huge let down. I wasn’t for adding save points if this is the developers vision but with technical issues like this it would make the option worthwhile..

Someone help please, I bought it physical, Amazon sent me a code to redeem for preordering so I redeemed it yesterday when the game hadn’t arrived yet but now I can’t find the things I redeemed

@2cents my game crashed as I entered the first boss, on my first run about 1hr in, so so sad