Returnal is on the brink of release on PlayStation 5, and the good news is it's an excellent arcade shooter. Housemarque's latest is its biggest game by far, and it combines the studio's arcade expertise with a third person perspective and rogue-like elements to great effect.
For our review, we played the game without the day one patch, and noted some tiny performance hitches and bugs here and there. However, the update is rolling out right now in time for launch (obviously), and it promises to make a slew of fixes to the experience.
Weighing in at 10.4GB, the patch is pretty beefy, but it seems like it'll be an important one. It apparently makes further optimisations to performance, adjusts some gameplay balancing, adds a little more visual and audio polish, and fixes a number of bugs. The patch will also include a couple of extra tutorials — viewable in the pause menu, by the way.
The game runs very well without the patch, so we're excited to fire it up with the update installed to see the changes. Will you be playing Returnal on launch day? Break the cycle in the comments section below.
Comments 43
10 gigs is like an hour long download with my internet (not bragging)
10GB isn't much at all for me. It takes roughly 3 minutes or less to download.
This game looks amazing!!! I just wish I had extra funds right now investing so much money lately no time for video games smh
@RubyCarbuncle That explains why you’re not bothered about £70 games then 😂
Yes, yes I will
Put a ring on it already, Sony! Then do the same with Sumo Digital, Bluepoint Games, and Quantic Dream!
Heard some trophies don't pop, hope it's fixed in this patch.
Well, I bought it. Wish me luck 😆
@nessisonett Nah I've had GB Fibre Optic this past couple of years. Ireland was quite behind in that until now and it's surprisingly pretty cheap. €45 a month for absolutely no download limits at all.
I actually hate the Price Hike with PS5 games considering the amount of money they're making now but I'm a sucker when it comes to games like this and atm I don't exactly have very much to play on PS5.
@RubyCarbuncle Fair enough, I actually didn’t realise Ireland was so much better in the fibre optics department, feels like we’ve been promised fibre for years now with no progress!
@2cents probably 15-20min for me.
@nessisonett I know the feeling. I was stuck on DSL for years when nearly everyone I know was on Fibre but that said they live in Dublin and I live out in the middle of nowhere.
So they should've delayed it but decided not to because they wanted the money
@TheCollector316 Not necessary for all of those as their current relationships are rock hard but I would be pretty excited if they got Sumo, if anyone can give Sony a great exclusive arcade racer is them.
@Would_you_kindly The game was delayed and this patch was available before the release. Also apparently the game already ran pretty great without it anyway. What’s your point exactly?
I was actually planning on getting my hands on the game, but now this. it put me off! I guess I will wait. who knows, maybe they will release a version with all the updates on disc. I will not pay 70$ for this!
I wish I can download the patch now while waiting the game to arrive.
@get2sammyb what's with the Laurence Fox adverts on the site? That guy is a dick, do you get a choice over some of the embedded adverts? If you do, get rid of that please!!
@2cents
That’s not really a brag mate to be fair.
The patch will take me around 8 minutes to update.
My internet speed is over 200 mps so it makes light work of even the biggest download.....not bragging mind! 😉
Played it last night for the first time after the patch and it ran brilliantly. Such a beautiful immersive game. Got my arse kicked and still trying to figure out all the mechanics, but what housemarque have managed to do with this game is amazing. The game just bleeds quality, bigger developers could learn from these guys.
With this game and Ratchet & Clank coming soon PS5 console sales will go even more mental! lol
@Amylian4Games
Lol, if you’re put off by games having day one patches I guess you haven’t played much the last decade! Plus, by all accounts, the game runs great anyway so just don’t download the patch if you really have such a moral objection.
I thought Sony said they didn’t release their games till they were finished?
LoL at all the Sony's pre release PR with new ways to patch +new compression = less data to be transferred for patching. I mean yes, 10 GB is less than the whole game.
Seeing a whole lot of embarrassing comments here, take your childish rhetoric elsewhere chumps, I got a date with Atropos to attend.
@deathaxe
Very nice mate. You’re correct. I would struggle to go back to 30-50mps now as you really get used to such high speeds and any downloads/updates don’t phase at all.
Enjoy your 500mps speed when you get it.
Wow that’s incredibly fast!
@Robinsad are you alright ?
@deathaxe 'uncivilised country with data caps' youve just described america well done 😁
Can't wait to play this tonight, going to be playing it all night tonight, will give snooker a miss tonight as I just want to play this. Looking forward to a true next gen with 3d audio.
What happened to the time that games were actually finished on release. It's a good thing they can take out bugs etc after release that they missed. But it shouldn't be a standard. Can't wait to play it tonight though, the more I see of it the more excited I get.
I'm really looking forward to playing it tonight after work, but very concerned that many trophies don't seem to work at the moment. I heard some of these are difficult to re-obtain too and can require starting a new save file.
@get2sammyb did you guys notice any trophy issues on your playthroughs?
Im buying the game regardless but with bigger discs the patches should get smaller. Push out the digital release and wait to release the game untill the big patches are done.ao yes this isnt a plus in my eyes.
Played it yesterday already and it's so awesome.
Don't know what's the problem with the patch and buy later complains. Even if a version comes out with the patch pre installed, without going online, you're doomed either way.
Was this available at midnight?
I played 2 hours and the game is awesome! I got effed up by the first boss and then by some horde like room. I love all the systems and initially I hated the fact that you only carry 1 weapon but now I see why they did it and it's fun to trade weapons ocasionally.
Have they patched in any form of quick save for during a run?
I ask as this is the main deal breaker for me at the moment, as I don't have many occasions to sit and play for 2 hours straight these days and wouldn't trust putting the PS5 into rest mode!
@blinx01 I don't think, this will happen, since the game is thought to be a half Metroid, half Rogue Lite.
And even if hate Rogue Lites, I like Returnal.
@Nintendo4Sonic
I've seen some feedback saying the developer is aware of the lack of save mid run, so I think they might look at a solution for this.
Was hoping maybe they'd added in the day one patch...
I just put the disc in and the patch is 15 GB
Is it a newer one or is it because I didn't have some previous one already?
Demon's souls took me 6½ mins to download the full game.
Has anyone watched the More Cherno channel on ratchet and clank yet?
@Voltan that they should release a game that doesn't need a 10gb day one patch
@blinx01 seems I was wrong. They're really thinking about this option.
I want this game so damn bad. But I'm getting Mass Effect in two weeks. Decisions, decisions.
Happy to hear the game got patched so fast, and it seems to have crushed most of the bugs/glitches.
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