Housemarque Acknowledges Request for Mid-Run Saves in Returnal

I think having an option for stuff like this is usually the right way to go. Let players decide if they want to enable suspended saves or not, then everyone's happy.

If you're worried about how to play the game or how it's designed, just have a save that can only be used to continue, but not reload. Plenty of games have done this, and I can't fathom why this isn't a feature already, especially with all the QoL advances we've made in games. Souls games have had saves like this for over a decade for crying out loud.

They must be dumb as rocks if it needed the community to point out the urgent need for this in the first place.

I just couldn't really believe I had to put the PS5 on rest mode until the next day, but I did it because I still had to experience my first death after nearly 4 hours of relaxed play ( exploring, reading items descriptions, figuring out lore, pondering on stuff, or just admiring the scenery )

I wish someone would come up with a way to put multiple games into a suspended state so you can easily jump right back into a game at the exact spot you left it. They could call it "Quick Resume".

Oh wait...

Anyways on topic: I am glad I knew this before going out to get the game - the recent developer deep dive video actually changed my opinion on the game and now I want to get it.

However, being a family man (and also having the PS5 as the primary streaming device in the household) means that I may have to wait and see if something has been patched in to support mid-run saves.

I often don't have much PS5 time (I get maybe 3 hours per week), so I would need something like this in order to even get through the game.

If a game is single player, offline, then the developer should always let you save whenever you want. Maybe give you the choice with an Ironman mode or something, but have enough respect for your audience to know not all will play the game the same way. No save-at-will is sooo 90's.

Just saying that even NetHack (nethack.org) had a save feature.... and you could save-scum if you knew how. I don’t recall if Rogue itself had it, but nethack wasn’t much later.

I’ll be passing on it. Playing levels from the very start every time you die is tedious. I like challenging but being back at square one every time you die isn’t fun. Thought this game would be awesome but yeh, I’ve got better things to do cos repetition ain’t my thing

Gungeon’s solution is pretty much perfect. Just use that.

Played for about 3 hours last night before putting it in rest mode when I was done, but now my daughter is wanting to play DMC, so because I can't save, I either have to tell her she can't play (which won't happen, I love her too much), or I lose all my progress. Guess it'll be the latter. But having only those two options is definitely a mistake on Housemarque.

Oh, and when she's done I might be reluctant to start playing again. Because should I play a few more hours so this can happen again? I will want to play some other games as well, so even if I didn't die, there goes the progress anyway.

Souls/Bloodborne have it perfected pretty well imo. Can exit to main menu and return to exact spot at any point. Not just the bone fires.

Just add it as optional along with some other difficulty options for beginners (this would increase reach of the game and sales $$) and then have a trophy subset for those that haven’t used these options. That way more base game trophy screenshot shares etc promoting the game and exclusive trinkets for those in the know for bragging rights. Everyone happy then and will increase reach of the game.

@GamingFan4Lyf I’m in a similar boat, I only get a few hours a week if I’m lucky. I had this pre ordered for quite a while. This news hasn’t deterred me from keeping my pre-order, but it’s certainly going to make it tougher to find the time to play it and really enjoy it. Luckily, I probably won’t touch it until after I beat Nier Replicant anyways, hopefully by then they add a save feature.

Yeah, the lack of a mid-run checkpoint system is my one giant gripe with Returnal so far. I'm all for a challenge, but not when it leads to unneeded frustration. I've also had a few runs where doors bug out and won't open, so that's been very annoying.

Good game, but man its few issues are serious dampers.

I hope they do. Today my power went out and i lost my progress and i was having a great run and then the game just crashed on me and i lost another run. So it needs it. But the game is really great, I’m loving it so far!

YES! This is the only problem in the game for me. After a 1 hour run I had to sleep and eventually died, but I was thinking that if I passed to the next biome I would have to lose on purpose, cause I'm not leaving the PS5 on rest mode lol
At least an option to save and quit between biomes, right after the portal.

@Porkman85 Hahaha as blunt as that statement is, I understand the sentiment. It's a massive oversight that could have easily been avoided.

Great game ,I dont mind its set up and its not as hard as I thought it would be ,but I just had a crash when I had really levelled up and had some cool stuff,not happy.

@nessisonett gungeon is awesome. And their save at the end of every boss battle is useful. I believe it's in returnal, it's just that it takes hella long to get there.

@RBMango haven't thought of that aspect. To play for awhile, only to have a bug mess it all up. I'd be furious if I put in 2+ hrs only to have a door not open or sequence not trigger.

How about random save crystal drops or something one per biome ?

I honestly can’t believe this isn’t already implemented. How is there not a temp save, a save and quit option at the reconstructor and at the beginning of a biome that’s a one time use that deletes itself? Enter the Gungeon and Hades has entered the chat.

Forsake your loved ones. Wet your pants. Get good.

It’s pretty inexcusable to leave this out. Once they add it in I’ll buy the game.

@PhhhCough I just had this happen again on a really good run I was on. The door to progress won't open and the door behind me is now locking me in too. And Housemarque knows this is a frequent bug, because they said the solution was to delete your save file.

C'mon, guys....

Thanks for playtesting the game for me, early adopters! Keep finding those quality of life improvements for when I eventually get to this game!

Not even considering a purchase until this gets added

@GamingFan4Lyf The thing I'm jealous most of Xbox isn't game pass, is quick resume. I hope is at least being looked at by Sony engineers, just being able to quick resume 2 games would mean the world to many of us.

@AdamNovice Not putting in a save option didn’t just fall thru the cracks, it was a conscious decision. They believe this is the best way to play the game. For me personally, this game will be skipped until they put it in, due to the lack of time I get to play games. I do want it but will wait!

I agree about not AT least having the feature in your ship or right outside your ship would be nice. The real odd thing is not having a quit game in pause menu… weather save or not i just never feel good about closing it by shutting off console. BUTT also people uk we all paid 70$ and i think something like this is by design to make some what of challenge or get your moneys worth out of the game. Food for thought… o yea and this game isnt a demon souls like difficulty so dont believe that ***** for a second… gg returnal see you next cycle

I am 37 with a wife a kid and work 10 hour days. Please let us save. I have bills and responsibilities!!!

And this is why I tend not to purchase games on release date.

Here I am 2 hours later, just to say that the 3rd phase of the third biome's boss is kicking my a**! Holy heck I had a 3h30 hour run or something close to that! Imagine if I had to leave or power went out...

@RBMango yeeesh, that sucks. Hope everything else about the game rocks.

Why does everyone want every game to be exactly the same, I really don't get it. This isn't Demon Souls, get over it, its completely fine how it is. The entire idea behind this game is to have your character die. How do people not understand that?.

@PhhhCough Yeah, I like the game aside from its few serious problems. I'm not usually a roguelike guy, but Returnal's got a compelling gameplay loop and atmosphere.

@R-Fresh I don't think this is about difficulty at all, it's about safely being able to suspend the game and return later. Unless you save scum then difficultly remains the same.

@vapidwolf That sounds like a cool idea and it still makes it a luxury to save then.

@mrobinson91 Just make it one save between bosses then or biodome.

"Of course, this is a roguelike and some would argue that save states work against the purpose of the genre,"

Fine if you have no commitments, but quite simply, with a family, no saves, no buy. Even if i didn't, this would be unacceptable. I have a job. i have other commitments. I just do not have 3 hours to play a game any more.

This is the reason i am not buying this game, which i am genuinely interested in. Its not the challenge, or the price. Its just the basic and fundamental ability to save which should have been included from the beginning.

It should be an option. Anyone wants to play “hardcore mode” can. Everyone that does not picks a different setting.

I think it's a good idea but have an option in the menu to turn on or off saves. That way people who want saves can have them, and those who want to play without, can.

@AgentGuapo Nope. I have the money in my account ready to spend on the game tomorrow if they implement it.

@Uromastryx Why should I have to play it for over 3 hours straight because there’s no ability to save and pick up where I left off? That’s not game design. Dark Souls let’s you save and quit at any time with the same philosophy. They failed to put a basic feature that can be traced back to over a decade ago. Why should this game decide my schedule instead of me?
How is saying you’ll lose profess if you want to turn off your PS5, play another game, or let someone else use it “game design”? How? What’s the philosophy behind telling a family member they can’t play because you can’t save? How does it make the game better?

@AgentGuapo uuuh, no. Once the game has saves and a price drop I’m getting it.

@Jaz007
OK great dark souls let's you save wow fantastic, its game design because they designed it like that, it wasn't a failure to leave out this..decade old feature it was designed and chosen to be that way, How you say it makes it like they completely forgot about it or something which is a dis-service
It adds to intensity of the game knowing when you die its all over like many other games have this albeit an option if it was an option here nobody would choose it, so that would literally kill the entire Game design. Developers make games to be played they are not designed around general peoples personal lives.
Also this is a feature that was talked about before the game released, why the uproar now ?

Give people an option to have save points or play without, before a new session begins.

Maybe add an "exit and save" option, so people can save and exit, but the save is gone when we go back later.

@mrobinson91 yeah I think the save scumming worries are why it got left out. There are online leader boards I believe? So I don't know if the integrity of those could be affected by scumming.

But I think they just need to let that go, and add a save and quit.

Well, maybe when I ‘git gud’ this will pose a problem but after 5 hours and 7 deaths I’m yet to beat the first boss...

I’m not even mad, it plays so well that I’m happy to have another few runs before getting out of the first biome

Erm have some of you tried talking to your kids and asking them not to play on your PS5 until you say it's okay?

I know kids can be a bit brattish about such instructions but it's your PS5, your rules.

😉

Another day, more whining. I get this one though, it would be good to introduce some way of saving without losing the essence of the game. I am becoming very interested in this game, shame I haven't got a PS5 yet but it's definitely been added to my wishlist. Hopefully by the time I do get to play it they'd have added a save function.

😝

I love the game. But I feel like I wont be able to finish it. Most days after work I only have about one hour to play. My fiance also use the PS5 so restmode for 24 hours isnt an option. This makes me frustrated. A save and quit option would make it much more accessible for me.

@Kidfried
Well the gaming community has become privileged apparently forgetting that gaming is a luxury, so low and behold it doesn't have something or might be too difficult of course the developers will help them(sarcasm off) because remember that single group of whine bags will probably take it to twitter for a pitch fork hunt along with this cancel culture were living in right now

@Scratchy_Seal I'm in the same boat, game keeps kicking my arse but I love it. So atmospheric and plays so beautifully. Not sure if I'll ever see the end but never had so much fun dieing in a game.

@Uromastryx because games of this ilk are usually not this good and usually not 70 quid,so id say saves should be implemented to some degree they don't have to take anything away from what they envisioned, also I'd go as far to say they're should be difficulty sliders in all games , if demon souls had one im sure the game would sell more ,who cares if its not what the dev intended, its our money and we should all be able to get all the enjoyment out of a game, regardless of our personal circumstances.

Everyone arguing against saves here seems to miss the point.

Nobody is asking to remove Permadeath, there's almost certainly zero chance Housemarque are going to implement saves you can manually load, let alone after you die. What people are asking for is simply for there to be a single save file - it could be automatic every time you enter or exit a room, or just when you transit between biomes, or it could be manual triggered when you quit the game (an exitsave), but whatever is implemented, it would allow people to cut their play sessions short in order to let the (single player) game fit around their life.

Housemarque aren't entitled to anyone's money. It's fine for anyone to decide that the lack of a feature such as this means they won't buy it. It's also fine to share that you might have been looking forward to playing the game, but without a given feature you won't be buying it. Sony doesn't do refunds, so people are understandably cautious.

Obviously Housemarque have said they've heard people's request, and it's up to them what they do about it. I don't see what people think is entitlement.

The very people making blanket accusations of others who disagree of acting in bad faith seem not to be putting in the minimum level of effort required into understanding the situation and therefore be considered to be acting in good faith.

@Tunmats 'frustraded' Dave Nice and Mike Smash would be so proud 😁

I don't really think you need a safe option at all. Once you beat a boss, you always can get to the next biome. Even when you start from the crash side getting back to the Gateway that takes to the next biome doesn't even take a minute.
Don't see the big deal. Gamers soft these days.

@Col_McCafferty unfortunately kids are little bas*@rds 😂 and they would only use stealth

@Juanalf yeah quick resume is only great when it works,some games don't,some game crash when resumed,the idea is good but at the moment it isn't the greatest thing as of yet.

@vapidwolf
I dont disagree with you, but games with this sort of "difficulty" are few and far between.
Sure they could implement it at a later stage like kill a boss stone appears for one time save then becomes inactive, but the point here is each time you die you get new items, enemies, areas so if you don't die you won't see the world fully that has been designed thus removing alot of design.
Most reviews also say if your not up for rogue like games it's not for you so if you somebody goes and buys it after the fact then complain its kinda baseless after been warned.

But for example in a game like this or dark souls the platinum is sort of prestige its something to be proud of (of course if that's your thing) and if developers decide to just make it easy to achieve it means nothing, thats just one aspect but I'm sure you understand it where I'm coming from.

@vapidwolf Changed it. English is not my native language 😅

@AgentGuapo This is 100% false in my case. The game looks really cool and I want to play it. However, I don’t have the free time to put in 1-3 hour sessions consistently so until there is a save it’s not a game I can feasibly play.

Games should respect your time. All games should be instantly saveable. It’s for accessibility. The power could go out. The internet can go down. Your family member might play on the system in-between while you are out of the house. Etc.

@theheadofabroom I completely agree with you. The internet makes it very clear that people aren’t able to think critically anymore so you get the comments that you’re talking about. It also leads to a whole host of issues beyond this instance.

Well Housemarque are historical very good at supporting their games so I guess we'll see something.
Personally I think 'save and quit' is the only way to go for the game.
However they will have to hide the save file somehow so it can't be saved to a memory stick or cloud to prevent save scumming.
And cloud backups are part of PS+ so then there's a terms & conditions problem there perhaps.
Could be a can of worms.

Great game btw!

@ElMarko "Playing levels from the start everytime you die..."

Uh... Isn't that how a lot of games work?

A lot of people are overlooking one key thing when they are talking about other games that are roguelike or difficult but still can save anywhere. All those games, and anything with a save function, is abusable. In Dark Souls you can reload every death in you really want, no idea if anyone actually does this but lots of people abuse it to get all ending trophies in one play through.

Having said that I couldn’t care less what other people do in their (mostly) single player games. Housemarque obviously does care though, and they take this very seriously apparently.

Honestly I almost didn’t buy this game because I knew there was no saves mid-run, and it’s probably my most anticipated game of the year. So yes it’s a big deal to some people. (I have a toddler and a baby, and both are likely to go absolutely bananas for no perceivable reason at any given point in time)

@theheadofabroom Spot on. I really dont understand what people are getting worked up about or are not understanding here. Its not unreasonable for people to ask for this and im tired of people saying its moaning.

I'd agree that saves would not be necessary if each run was only around 15 - 30 minutes, but when we are potentially looking at 3+ hours (depending on skill etc) , that's not time most people can generally commit to playing

Everyone knows this is a roguelike, and no one is asking for the death loop to be removed or for the challenge to be dialled down. Literally all people want is an opportunity to save so they can go to bed, sort out kids, go to work, whatever the reason might be. Other roguelikes have worked out how to include the option, so why not Returnal.

That has literally zero impact on the core design of the game. Which some are arguing we want changed which simply isnt the case.

Will some 'save scum' as i believe its called? Possibly, but who cares at the end of the day. Its an offline roguelike which, unless i am wrong, has no online leaderboards.

And i am not sure even then save scumming would a problem, because as others have correctly said - the game is designed for the player to die regularly and then start with better and more powerful kit. So all save scumming would achieve is make your game exponentially more difficult and mean the player is missing out on content. So if there is no value to doing it, people will still play the game how it was intended.

@PossibLeigh no

Why are people hollering and moaning about this? Pretty much every single rogue-like game has this set up and have major plaudits from both gamers and the gaming press and no one complains about progress being wiped and having to start over - Returnal is actually more forgiving as you keep upgrades/weapons and get a save point half-way through and don't have to repeat bosses.

It's the same people who were crying out for Sekiro to be more "accessible" (having difficulty levels) and wanting Demon's Souls to be easier. Housemarque should stick to their guns and have Returnal as the game they developed (I'm playing it and it's not that difficult). People will just have to realise that this game and the Soulsborne titles are in a sub-genre that aren't for them - there's plenty of other games out there!

@ElMarko Yes.

@Profondo Agree with much of what you say. There seems to be a knee jerk reaction to rogue lites and likes that is unwarranted.

However, I'm this case I think a save state is a fair request. Runs can take hours, rather than the minutes of other roguelites.

@Rob_230 The daily challenge runs have leaderboards, but it should be easy to just disable the save state function for challenge runs, which are shorter than an actual run anyway.

I've been thinking about this and part of the problem may be the quite radical way the game opens with no title screen. Tough to reconcile going into a save state with that game intro.

@Tunmats noooooo,don't change it ,it made me laugh 😆

@Uromastryx yeah I dont disagree ,just wish the option was their for people ,maybe disable trophys i dunno but at least they get to see all the game,personally I don't find it as hard as demon souls ,I cant even kill the tower knight 😂

Game looks really good but I held off because of the save situation, if they add that in I will take the plunge.
Also with resident evil then Ratchet and clank out very soon, with money etc need to pick my games wisely.

@Rob_230 I suspect for most, like me, it's not that of having any issue with people asking for a save option, more the tone of some of the posts. I'd be more tempted to give it a go if I could save regularly, because I'm rubbish at this sort of game, fairly elderly, have kids and not a huge amount of time. But the feature is not there, so that's that. I don't have the faintest desire to bitch about it or believe I'm entitled to have my situation catered for.

But more and more people seem to think that if something isn't done to their liking or preference, it's fine to publicly put it down to incompetence or malice. That comes across as self-entitled and plain rude to me.

The whole topic was about the developer taking on board the feedback around saving, surely that's cause for celebration?

And no, it's probably not a simple thing to add to a game that was designed not to have it. We get that in the commercial world as well. 'Just add this, how hard can it be?'. 'Harder than you think' is often the answer!

Just my opinion.

@PossibLeigh most games make you start right back at the very beginning when you die? You’re talking crap mate. Go away

@ElMarko Your original comment said replaying levels from the start. The vast majority of games at least ask us to do that. It's only recent open world action RPGS that don't punish failure in some way.
Whilst geographically you do "go right back to square one" in roguelites like Returnal, there is always meta-progression made. You've also learnt more about the environment, the enemies and the world around you, which is the real progression. In that way it's no different to a long, punishing stretch of something like Dark Souls.
And, like Dark Souls, shortcuts open up to help you get back to where you were quickly. I've just realised that a new piece of equipment has allowed me to skip straight from biome 1 to biome 3. In 15 minutes I'm back to making the kind of progress you're referring to.
It's fine to prefer games like Valhalla, that spoon feed you rewards and spectacle with minimal challenge (I like them too), but some of us also like to work for our victories.
The risk / reward level is higher in roguelites, hence they are a more intense, gripping experience.
The ignorance around the genre is winding me up, so apologies for splurging at you. Mate.

EDIT: Forgot to say that I am actually in favour of a suspend save state for those who lack time, but the game IS designed to mitigate these things as much as it can.

@PossibLeigh oh I know the genre. I knew the genre when it came into existence. It was boring then and it’s boring now that why it disappeared largely

@Dekutheevilclown No, you can’t. Not unless you upload your data the cloud and redownload it. Bloodborne auto saves if you kick a pebble. You can’t save scum at all. You can continue from where you left off. You can’t reload it. It only works to continue. Returnal needs something similar, where it works to continue but not reload.

@Profondo No, it’s people who want the Sekiro and Souls save system. Those game let you quit and continue, but not reload a save. Same thing.

@Uromastryx Let me explain this further. When you play Bloodborne, it auto saves if you kick a pebble. Meaning you can’t reload the game if you die, everything you do is permanent and you can’t take anything back. We’re not asking for saves you can reload or access manually whenever okay. We’re asking for a save that let’s you save where you are in a run that will delete itself upon reloading it so you can’t abuse it. The game design is kept. It lets you live your life without removing any challenge or game design. It was as not designed how you are saying, it was an oversight in basic features.
Do you understand now? For someone so adamant about this kind of game design, you know very little about how other games do this. If still don’t understand, google the concept of an Ironman save.
Also, do you play other games with this game design principle? Or is it not your thing. I’m asking seriously here, because you don’t seem to play other games like this.

@PossibLeigh Rogueliter are deigned that way, but most games either had a checkpoint system that was more forgiving than this or were really just frustrating. PS2 days was a mix, PS3 era it ended quickly. And open world RPGs certainly didn’t start the trend. Linear games started the checkpoint thing; when there was an open world RPG it just let you save anywhere.
Honestly, open world RPGs are a much more recent trend and I’d wonder how far back you really look or if you have “old day rose tinted glasses” to not remember the FPS era.
And most of the time, 15-20 minutes was the most it took.
Returnal works (save suspend aside) because it was designed that way, but some games really just had problems.
I think an example of the old save systems and proper design is DMC. First one is fine with it’s more rigid system and having a limited number of continues, I beat it fine. DMC3 ramped up e difficulty and didn’t implant checkpoints until the SE. I can confidently say that DMC33’s difficulty balance would ruin the game using DMC1s save system. The difficulty spikes a lot compared to the first one, and the same system just wouldn’t work or add a single thing to the game aside from needless frustration.

I've used rest mode on PlayStation for many years. It probably only gets turned all the way off when an update resets it. Launch PS4 going strong. I don't see any of this as a big deal.

@Jaz007 Sorry, I'm not sure which comment of mine you're replying to, but it sounds like you agree with me?

I'm well versed in the roguelike and roguelites genres, and the way other genres generally handle death / saving etc... FPS is not my favoured genre, but I was there when it all began, No worries.

As I play Returnal more I'm realising it's designed to mitigate the slog as much as it can. I can now get from biome 1 to biome 3 in 15 minutes, for example.
I'm still in favour of a save state though, if it can be done without spoiling the brilliantly designed immediacy of the front end.

Games used to be brutal due to technology limitations, but these days, more accessibility is a good thing.

@ElMarko And not liking a genre is fine, but your initial dismissal was Flawed. Also to say the genre has disappeared in an article about a game in the genre is a bit odd isn't it? Wasn't Hades also one of the biggest games last year? 😜

Absolutely ridiculous. Use rest mode if you can't hack it/the mother shows up at your door. This is the issue with making flash looking roguelikes - people who don't understand the genre get silly about it.

At least you can pause 🤣

@JapaneseSonic Sure, I'll put in 3-4 hours easily. Been playing since 8 this morning up until 3pm, and haven't died yet. But you know what? I'd like to play something else right about now but I cant! Because I can't stop and save the game.

What's the difference to you by me putting it in rest mode and doing something else as opposed to saving it where I left off and being able to use my PS5 to actually play other games??

What about my next run? If I'm at 7 hours now without dying, my next run might be 20. I work weekdays, so I'll have to go all week without playing another game, or my daughter not being able to play while I'm at work.

I can't see how that doesn't make sense to those who are against having a save.

Once again, like many have stated already. Not asking for a save where if I die I pick up right back from where I died (I don't mind having to start all over), but for a save just like putting it in rest mode so that I still can play other games.

@CroCopTeam I can’t follow the hate people are getting for wanting a save either. No one is saying they deserve special treatment or anything like that, read as “entitled”. They’re asking for a function that is in basically every game. I don’t think people know what the world entitled means as it’s being conflated with having a different opinion and asking for something different.

@GamingVeteran I get what you’re saying. This game is like a modern day quarter-muncher. Die lots, get good.

But Housemarque has crossed over into story-driven game territory with this one, only if just by a bit. A more liberal checkpoint system is necessary due to the sheer length and depth of Returnal.... versus arcade games which lacked the length and didn’t require such a thing.

The replies I’m reading the most are from busy people who are otherwise quite interested in Returnal. It takes multiple hours to reach the checkpoint and these people don’t have that kind of time for one session. Some of them bought the game already, some won’t until/unless a resume feature is implemented.

Returnal definitely doesn’t need a modern, robust save system and I think that’d be a bad thing for this game. It just needs a more liberal checkpoint system or a simple resume, delete the save, type of system to address time constraints. I feel like it’s a legitimate request.

They need to fix this and offer a ‘suspend run’ option ASAP. Tried one time to do the sleep mode and my F-ing power blipped off - what are the chances?! Can’t believe they didn’t think this wouldn’t be a problem for people...
Otherwise great game though!

Returnal looks so intriguing to me. The thing holding me back from buying and playing it is literally the inability to save. I can't play the game straight through. I'm not the only person in my house using the PS5, so it is entirely possible I'd lose progress when someone else launches a game.

I'm so torn on this. I play a lot of rogue likes and I appreciate the option, but if it's core to the experience as-designed, I also get why they chose not to include it.

I played a ton of Risk of Rain 2 and that never had a suspend or save feature. I didn't like it less because of that, it only added to the tension.

Would it be nice? Sure. Is ire absolutely required for me to enjoy it? Not at all.

I beat 3 bosses in one run today and tbh by the end of it I was wishing this was an option - I was almost ready to put the console in rest mode and hope no updates happen overnight 😉
I think that run lasted for over 3 hours.

I suppose this would be even more useful for anyone who is not the sole user of their console.

@Jaz007 You basically just said "no, you can't do that, unless you do it this way"

You can also use a USB stick which is even easier.

@Dekutheevilclown If you go to a bunch of effort to work around. That require to quit the game, find a specific point, and overwrite your save data. No one is going to do it. It has quite literally not been a detriment to Souls game so far. Or any game like this.
At that point, we might as well bring up the fact that you could hack or mod the game if you tried hard enough.

Alternate title- fans of Returnal have never played a roguelike before. I hope Housemarque doesn't give in and add a save point

@Jaz007 I think that's true but in the context of Returnal its relevant. Right now in returnal you can create a respawn point in a specific random room, once per run, at the cost of 6 of the rarest in game resources. If there is a save and quit option it's literally less effort to copy your save to USB, outside the boss room, and create your own checkpoint for free.

It should only be a one time load save. Once you load that save, it's gone/deleted and can't be reloaded.

I encountered a bug yesterday after a 2.5 hr run and the exiting door wouldn't open so I had to end it and lose all progress.

As a parent, I only game after the kids have gone to bed, but sometimes there's a wake up or Im needed, so a save option would be nice for that.

@Dekutheevilclown No, because Souls isn’t meant to have any sort of takebacks. They worked hard on that auto save to make sure you couldn’t quit faster than it auto-saved. Same design idea.
The minority of the people who will cheat like that is nothing compared to those who have lives that will not let them have a 4 hour run without quitting. Losing your run so a family member can use it or something similar is much more against the games design and difficulty’s purpose than that minority of cheaters.
That’s still a lot of effort to use that save too.

"Save and Quit" would be a welcome addition, IMO. I don't get much time to play and I like switching up games from time to time without having to worry about lost progress.