Returnal is an action science fiction horror video game developed by Housemarque and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment. It was released exclusively for the PlayStation 5 on April 30, 2021. The game is sold on physical discs as well as digitally on the PlayStation Store.
In Returnal, the players take on the role of Selene, a deep space scout working for ASTRA. While on a mission, she defies orders so she can track down a mysterious signal codenamed "White Shadow." Following this signal causes her to crash-land on a planet called Atropos. On Atropos, Selene must face the horrors of a time loop that re-awakens her in the same place every time she dies. Every time this happens, the world changes around her and new obstacles and challenges appear.
Returnal is a third-person action shooter game with elements of roguelite games in terms of the intention of dying and replaying a loop over and over again. The third-person action also incorporates "bullet hell" aspects that have become familiar in prior games developed by Housemarque. As Selene, the player has access to many weapons and abilities to help explore the environment and take on the many dangers found on Atropos.
Apart from the action, Returnal also has storytelling elements which let the players find out more about Selene, the world around her, and what is going on on Atropos.[1]
The role of Selene is played by voice actor Jane Perry, with her visual appearance and facial capture based on the likeness of German model and actor Anne Beyer.[2]
Downloadable content[]
On March 22 2022, Housemarque released a free update titled Ascension that introduces online cooperative multiplayer, which allows up to two players to complete the game's campaign together. The co-op campaign doesn't introduce enemy scaling or other features with the co-op to make it harder, but simply allows other people to play with each other. People who wish to participate can host a public cycle for strangers or a private cycle for friends and invited guests, or can simply join another person's available cycle.
The update also includes single player content named The Tower of Sisyphus, an infinite ascending gauntlet of increasingly dangerous phases, with each containing twenty floors. The first phase looks like a normal tower, climbing up linearly through floors and encountering enemies. The second phase is scattered and spread out in the sky, teleporting to separate, higher platforms as you go up. The third and repeating phases are similar to the second, but feature an orange sky and organic growths throughout the platforms. At the end of each phase, you face a giant floating boss called Algos, who is a mass of skin and flesh with a skeleton in his center and large, purple eye above it. This purple eye is the only place where Algos can be damaged. As you go through more and more phases, you fight through all of Algos' forms, up to three. The second phase sees Algos tearing out spider-like legs from his body. The third phase sees Algos using these spider-like legs to tear out parts of the top of his spiked head, giving him large, skin bat ears. After defeating Algos, you gain a Permanent Malfunction to make future phases harder, and are able to purchase items at a Fabricator before moving to the next phase.
In Ascension, two new endings are also found by playing through the Tower of Sisyphus and visiting Zahariel Hospital via lying down on a hospital bed. Zahariel Hospital changes every time you visit, expanding on the themes of the original story while diving more into Selene's mother, Theia, and their relationship. The contents of the Hospital reveal several things, such as the existence of a child in Selene's family called Alex (whose name is crossed out in a child's drawing) and Selene likely being responsible for Theia's death and the fire that burned down her house. The Hospital also confirms other things, such that Theia's relationship with Selene was abusive and likely carried over to her relationship with Helios, and there were two car crashes (one with Theia and Selene, where Theia's injuries (exacerbated by her saving Selene from the crashed car) result in her became paralyzed from the crash, and the other with Selene and Helios, where Selene, mentally unstable, leaves Helios in the crashed car). The first ending, unlocked by finding six Poppies in separate runs through Tower, sees Selene bring a bed-ridden Theia a bouquet of Poppies and Theia offer Selene a hug, which they never used to do. Upon hugging, Theia vanishes and Xaos appears to whip Selene back to the bottom floor of the Tower. The second ending, only available after the first, is found by returning to the hospital and to Theia's room. After a prompt to lay down on Theia's hospital bed, Selene finds herself in an empty space filled with other corpses of herself. She takes this moment as an earned break in the cycle before being sent back yet again.
Finally, in the Tower of Sisyphus, a new item can also be found called a Disgorger. Disgorgers are high-damage weapons that can be used instead of your held weapon for a short period of time. After beginning to wield a Disgorger, its charge will start to deplete, which depletes even faster while firing it. While teleporting from room to room, a Disgorger's charge does not deplete. Disgorgers seemingly stack either a lot or infinitely and various different types of Disgorgers can be found while playing through the Tower of Sisyphus. However, picking up a new type of Disgorger will convert all held Disgorgers to that type. Finally, depending on whether or not you finish the game before getting the Disgorger, the dialogue Selene says upon picking it up will vary, with early game Selene rationally analyzing it, while endgame "crazy Selene" calls it a twitching gift pulsing with power.
- Types of Disgorgers:
- AST-AC-032: Dire-Beam Disgorger
- Unleashes a focused beam attack that inflicts catastrophic damage.
- Fires a constant green beam at enemies.
- Unleashes a focused beam attack that inflicts catastrophic damage.
- AST-AC-033: Blight-Wave Disgorger
- Launches a devastating swarm of target-seeking projectiles.
- Fires yellow projectiles that swarm in on enemies.
- Launches a devastating swarm of target-seeking projectiles.
- AST-AC-034: Quad-Swarm Disgorger
- Unloads an overwhelming barrage of rapid-fire blasts.
- Fires red projectiles in a spinning pattern.
- Unloads an overwhelming barrage of rapid-fire blasts.
- AST-AC-035: Absolution Disgorger
- Releases an explosive shot charged with destructive energy.
- Charges up blue rounds that explode on impact. Impact and blast radius both greatly scale with how long the shots were charged before firing.
- Releases an explosive shot charged with destructive energy.
- AST-AC-032: Dire-Beam Disgorger
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