Selene gazing up to a statue above the pit.

Returnal Review

Returnal, a 2021 PS5-exclusive title from Housemarque, is a Roguelike dungeony bullet-hell third-person sci-fi horror shooter with high-risk high-reward gameplay—the Soulslike kind where you smack your head against the wall ad nauseum, because git gud—coupled with a beautifully dark and mysterious Lovecraftian story, immersed in madness and existential dread, told through dead versions of yourself that will have you guessing through the very end.
Selene surrounded by bullets while fighting Ophion boss
Returnal begins with a crash landing on another planet where a woman named Selene, seeing her ship in shambles, tries to send a distress call to get back home. The dreadful atmosphere is something straight out of a Lovecraft novel. All the flora and fauna have tentacles; some of them try to kill you while others want to platonically wrap themselves around you… You venture through a few rooms, dodging until you inevitably die to tentacles, then you have a nightmare about a gigantic tentacled creature and mysteriously wake up back at the broken ship; thus The Cycle is introduced. Selene wakes back at her ship every time she dies while trying to uncover what’s going on. The dark and symbolic story is told through cinematics, immersive environments, and ancient cryptic messages which need to be translated as you progress through the game.
I started off trudging through Tentacle World armed with only a pistol—which was about as effective as it sounds against tentacle-bearing aliens—all the while searching for the great and mysterious “White Shadow”. After spending some time learning the controls (i.e. dying), I finally dodged enough tentacle-dog sneeze and blue balls to unlock some real weapons. Hey, look at me go. Wait a minute, this one is worse than the pistol; what, did you think I wouldn’t notice? Eventually, I happened upon the Rotgland Lobber and began turning all of my enemies into melty pools of goo while I ran away to find a safe place to hide and watch the show; oh, how I love DoTs.
Many of the items in the game that you can pick up tend to grab you and insert themselves into your body like some sort of parasitophobia nightmare. It’s a bit unsettling at first, but after a while, you’re walking around like some sort of alien pincushion. No tentacles get inserted, though; it’s not THAT kind of game, so stop thinking about it!
Picking up items is not as straightforward as it sounds, either; you need to strategically weigh the risk and reward of most items before picking them up because you can’t drop them. Many items are afflicted with Malignancy which adds a debuff to Selene until you satisfy some requirement, such as killing a number of enemies or using some keys. This can be especially punishing if your max health gets reduced right before a boss fight; so, make good choices.
Selene evading bullets while fighting Ophion boss
Returnal has one of the most immersive atmospheres in a game that I’ve seen in a game in a long time. The dark, mysterious ruins of an ancient planet, the ominous ambient music, unsettling sound effects, ever-changing levels, and challenging gameplay create a tense setting ripe with a suspension of disbelief.
At a few points in the game, the style even changes up a bit and becomes a first-person atmospheric horror, similar to the original Playable Teaser, and there’s an ominous astronaut who is terrifying.

Conclusion

A deep, symbolic, and tragic story, paired with immersive Lovecraftian environments and thoughtfully challenging gameplay make this title a difficult game to put down. If you like Dark Souls (or Elden Ring), bullet hells, roguelikes, Lovecraftian dread, mindfuck moments, or tentacles, you should play this one.
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