The 20th century house is a building that Selene can find throughout Returnal. In order to access the house you must find the House Key. The building has various sequences that can accessed throughout the story.
Completing all of the sequences and earning the Car Keys will cause the 20th century house to turn to stone.
Sequences[]
Act 1[]
The 20th century house is located in the Overgrown Ruins and various sequences can be unlocked by progressing with the games story.
Sequence 1[]
The first sequence is unlocked when you find the House Key which is required to enter the house. When you interact with the house you will enter it in a first person view and will remain that way when exploring the house. Selene will need to interact with various objects in order to progress the story such as a Journal and a photo of Selene herself. Once Selene has done that she can go upstairs to where a cube is laying on the ground in the upstairs stairwell. When interacted with, Selene will find herself waking up in the Overgrown Ruins outside the house with a Astronaut Figurine nearby to loot.
Sequence 2[]
The next sequence is unlocked after defeating Phrike, once more Selene must enter the house in the Overgrown Ruins. When Selene enters, she will need to interact with various objects which would first be the Journal then the laptop in Selene's office. After this is done the astronaut will appear at the front door waiting for Selene, in the side room Selene finds Octo the squid and a cube on the floor which she picks up. When she interacts with the notepad in the room, she once again awakes in the Overgrown Ruins outside the house with now a Music Box nearby to loot.
- In this Sequence, Selene can also find an open book in her room, detailing some of the adventures of Tali Acheron. The full reading will be detailed at the end.
Sequence 3[]
This next sequence is unlocked after defeating Ixion in the Crimson Wastes region. Selene must return to the Overgrown Ruins and enter the house. She will need to first interact with the journal next to the lamp at the end of the hallway then return to the door and go into the side room. There she will play the piano and interact with the TV until the phone starts ringing in the hallway which causes Selene to go and pick it up. Upon returning to the side room Selene will find the TV showing a bunch of static. Once Selene picks up the cube on the ground she sits down on the couch until something catches her attention. She returns to the hallway and follows the astronaut down into the light. Selene then awakens back in the Overgrown Ruins outside the house with a Spaceship Model nearby to loot.
Act 2[]
In this act the 20th century house is located in the Echoing Ruins.
Sequence 1[]
The first sequence in the Echoing Ruins is unlocked after defeating Nemesis. Selene must access the house in Echoing Ruins and upon doing so she will be now viewed from a child's point of view. As the child she must interact with the walkie-talkie on the shelf, the chalkboard, the astronaut figurine, and the spaceship model on the desk which are all in the room she starts out in. After this is done, the child will exit the room then head down stairs to interact with the phone and listen to the message. Upon heading to the kitchen intending to have some cereal, the child sees the astronaut sitting at a table and talks with it. After the conversation is over the child heads back up stairs and into an office where they find Octo the squid. Selene will find herself waking up in the Echoing Ruins outside the house with the Two-Way Radio nearby to loot.
Sequence 2[]
The next sequence is unlocked after defeating Hyperion. Selene must return to the Echoing Ruins and enter the house. She must first enter the side room that has just been broken into and interact with the record player, which is playing Don't Fear the Reaper by Blue Öyster Cult. She then picks up the cube on the ground near the piano. Selene will then head over to the end of the hallway where the astronaut is. She will then head over to the child's bedroom and interact with a variety of items such as a set of blocks on the ground. Once she is done, she heads down to the dining room and picks up Octo off the ground, underneath the table. Selene then heads back to the side room to interact with the TV. Once she is done, she heads upstairs and walk over to the telescope to interact with it. Selene then awakens back in the Echoing Ruins outside the house with a Child's Watch nearby to loot.
Tali Acheron Book Passages[]
2nd house sequence:
"after having dwelled far too long on what the rejection paper had stated in plain terms. Outside the fog was coalescing into a person standing at the front door. Another unwanted memory. If Tali had made her break with the kind of permanence that instincts told her to risk, she would have burned it with all the rest.
""Throw chaos into the entire system," she said to no one. Her admission masqueraded as bravado, a reaction that had been pushing through the cracks lately. She might regret this tomorrow, and without a bottle of ambrosia or shared bed to crawl into. Doom was heralding her name alone - and she almost welcomed it.
"Now that the environment had shifted to something far more stable, it seemed a safe enough time to start testing the area for reality bubbles. She entered the atrium, adjusted her equipment and scanned the interior.
"Third instance
"No unreality tears in matter or energy.
"Systems nominal.
"She frowned. The final, hardwired statement was lying to her. That status hadn't been accurate for objective years. Still, mock or hope, it was better than complications the crew had no time to recalibrate before brain death occurred. With a little luck, she might survive this dive.
"The adjacent doorway had been wrenched open by a powerful force. That alone was evidence that she was finally on the verge of success despite the implied danger. She passed over the first threshold. A babbling noise came from the darkened monitor across the room. As she approached, it resolved into muffled crying as if submerged countless fathoms below. Then she realized: that was churning ichor! Without hesitation, she plunged her arms inside.
"Nothingness had a feeling.
"As always, there was no physical sensation of moving her hands inside the void-womb, only a phantom memory afterwards... proving... reaching... barely missing the thing that was... a titan! It had to be one hiding. If only she could extend her hand one... more... inch...!
"An echo of violence, like a guillotine on a piano, fell scant feet away from her position. She yanked her hands from the ichor. Her heart hammered, a prisoner within a rib cage. That was closer than last time. Undeterred, frustrated at losing the chance to grab a defenseless titan, she inspected the source of the noise. The air was vibrating in the pattern of a song she hated. Must have been for effect.
"Her fingers danced. She called the song forth, only out of spite and to prove to whatever was watching her: she was in control.
""Acheron!"
"The peal came from the atrium.
""Acheron! Acheron!" The Retribution's XO demanded her attention, frustratingly ill-timed. "Acheron!"
"Tali stormed into the atrium, answered the call and heard nothing. Dead air buzz and the tone of failed connection. Her equipment was being destroyed from the inside out like her. But then a similar drone began emanating from the ichor-filled monitor back in the other room. She returned and watched it. Expectations sinking.
"Yet it appeared: two alternating images of the long-extinct past and the never-to-exist future. Timelines she knew. Timelines so painful, they never stopped weighing down her mind whenever it drifted towards the peaceful sleep denied to her night after night. The price of necro-physics? The images stopped flipping, froze on a single frame.
"The Astronaut stared back.
"Recognizing the background, Tali rushed to the hallway connecting the atrium with"
Pictures[]
The following is 20th Century House concept art.
