The worst thing about Returnal is that the only way to learn how to defeat certain enemies is to make mistakes and it costs 1-2 hours of gameplay. Plus it's too random: you can spend an hour on your cycle still without a decent weapon. Or you may meet too strong enemy on the very beginning in underground "loot room".

The true hardest enemy in returnal is trying to use the grapling over a void

Everything he mentioned in this video is accurate from my experience. However, I didn't notice him using the Rotgland Lobber or the Electropylon Driver. Some may have luck with the other guns, but once you find 1 of those 2, you don't need another- unless its an upgrade into a higher grade of these 2.

Man, always glad to see a new upload from your channel?

And I think u forgot one more thing that really kills pleasure in a playthrough. U grind for hours and hours, get lucky on some perks, nothing can stop you. But then comes biome 4 and says: hold my beer. Gone, everything, every fu.ckin thing just gone. I mean what the hell dude? Couldn't they at least let u keep ur artefacts and your weapon? Just something man.

Its crazy your videos dont get more videos, your reviews are amazing 😊

Was waiting for this!

Late to the party, as a PC gamer, it was released about a month ago on Steam. Best review of the game ever, most important : COMING FROM A PLAYER WHO BEAT THE GAME. No one can "git gud" you back to this. Stuck on Ixion right now, I don't think I am going to continue. It's too tedious to start from the first biome again and loot all the way back to a build that can get me through the bosses. I was just discussing the price tag a few days earlier and basically was saying the same thing you said... Had this game not been "rogue lite" (A fancy term for permadeath or starting from scratch 😄) the six biomes would be over in a matter of 2 hours. They wouldn't be able to justify the price tag. I am extremely sad that I won't finish it, I think every other aspect of this game is perfection. Visuals, combat mechanics, sound design. Such a shame. I am 51 year old boomer and I won't play a game that doesn't respect my time. Congrats and my respect for beating it. Subscribing! UPDATE on June 11th, 2023. I beat the game (see returnal playilist on my channel). My opinion doesn't change, not even a tiny bit. Starting from scratch SUCKS. Other than that, the game is epic.

100% agreed. Thanks for your honesty! With games like that every game critic is like "dying when the last boss has one pixel of health left transformed my life" while in reality it cost 'em 5 therapy sessions.

Properly the best review of a game ever ,I love the game ,but hate it more .and the negative is winning .I have a life a demanding job ,I love playing games ....40 years 😍 but I'm at the stage that it's not worth my time . The frustration 😤..this week was the first time in over 20 years that my controller was thrown over the other side of the room .to the dismay of my girlfriend..I'm 52 and I was shocked that a game could make me this mad ...

Just for Pliny @ 15:43 I'm gonna complete Returnal with a Parasite or other negative "curse" not allowing Silphium to heal. I've already done all 6 Biomes with a starter Pistol, so should be easy enough.

Awesome video once again!

This is a great review Pliny

Very apt review. I fully agree. I love the gameplay. Graphics are excellent. But spending an hour to three hours just to die and make no forward progress, just shits on my tine. Not for me

Bro this may be your finest review. All of your reviews are thought provoking...funny and feel complete. Keep cranking em out bud

I love this game. I have finished a few times, find it so satisfying and is what I go do when I need to relax or get my head straight. I don't think there will ever be another because it just did not get a hit like it needed which is so sad.

Best compliment I can pay a KZfaqr: I virtually no interest in this game. I'm more interested in what my friends are getting out of it. Secondly, I really don't like long KZfaq videos. You however had my undivided attention for this entire video. Excellent review!

This game is incredible. The more I played it the better it became. Masterpiece!

Nice vid! I, however, wish we had more long AAA rogue likes like Returnal. My first playthrough I had a really hard time in each biome until I beat the third boss. It felt really stressful to play, but I quite enjoyed that. I pushed through and finally beat the game with a great feeling of accomplishment. Now, having spent a significant amount of time with the game, I decided to start over with a new save file. After dying once against the tutorial elite, I have now made it to the 5th biome in one sitting without dying. Seems like the knowledge and muscle memory I got from playing the game made a bigger difference than advanced weapon traits. I now wish there was a way to make the game harder... Can't wait to see what Housemarque does next! In the meantime I hope we get to see some "Returnal-likes" from other developers.

I died 132 times before finally defeating the final boss. One hundred and thirty-two returns to the crash site. I've never been so close to giving up on a game before. Don't even get me started on Tower of Sisyphus, I can't get further than phase 2. This game aged me 15 years

Ah yes one more thing: trophy hunting is a pain in the butt bc u gotta play every freaking level at least 15 times (and pray u don't die), sometimes even 25 times. So I let it go though I love to get the platinum. Edit: got the platinum anyway lol

I think this game would benefit if it was designed more like Sifu in terms of progression. Incentivize replaying levels over and over to get a better scores and then move to the next level and do the same thing for the next level. This would help get rid of skipping over levels and bosses to beat the next one. Instead, replay one biome at a time until perfected. Would take a redesign im sure but i think it would make progression less frustrating and more satisfying overall.

If you use everything tool and mechanic you got from the Developer it is a easy game. Focus on 2-3 weapons for the beginning and play only them when you get it for leveling. Look for the hidden datacubes to unlock new items also feed the Monument at the start with either. The way more you die you will beat the bioms faster and faster because you know what happend and you learn step by step how to handle each enemy. The next thig is you have to be moving the whole time trough the areas if you stops and Standing around you will die. Move with the dash and use the hook to get distance between you and the enemies. When you in dash nothing can hit you and how longer you press the button you will even longer dash or jump, try it. The cursed items...i don't pick it Up because the negative effect is to bad. You have to lock at your play style whitch negative effect you can handle. It is absolute deadly when you would choose an item with a great buff an get an extra cooldown on your dash, jump or melee attacks. It is absolutely not worth it so let it there. The sword is soooo powerful an it one hits the most small enemys. And the big ones you will stun them and they show you her weak points. Customize your controll settings that was the absolutely game changer for me. Read, use and try the items there are so many powerfull things for each Situation. But you are right with the rng element that can be anoying but for the most time i get usefull items and after some runs you get the op items one by one and I had so many OP runs belive me. Finally yes it's hard and the rng sucks but if you know how to play and use every mechanic, it comes so much easier and you will have more and more fun. I played it at the beginning for one and a half month then breaks me Biom 5 and i put it in the corner for one and a half YEAR!!! Then i come back and Destroyed the game completly!!! Yesterday i beat the final Boss with No Hits. From my 170+ hours Gameplay the first 40 hours was so very hard but the the other 130 hours it's pure fun. You have to breake the cycle before the cycle breaks you. So maybe give it a second chance. And when i ready the comments i am absolutely sure that the most poeple buy the Game because it was Hyped and they never read some information bevor. For example i don't buy and play Baldurs Gate 3 because the Fight mechanic round by round ist Not my. So why should i buy it when i know i don't Like the fight? Just why it is Hyped and everybody play it? And after 20 hours i say thats a Shit game because i coldn't handle the Fights, No. I would never buy a Game only why it's hyped and not my genre.

100% spot on review, also, the bosses become progressively more difficult and not only unrewarding (no health or loot, you simply gain access to the next area) after barely beating the 2nd or 3rd boss the storyline kills you anyways and forces you to restart in the next area from square one. Overpowered enemies that swarm you and youre forced to 100% each area to build up your health as you pointed out, you cant simply return to the level you died in quickly. We are talking about dying after easily 3 hours and then being told to start all over again with the pistol and baseline difficulty. As you pointed out, unlike other actual Roguelike's, you never have the chance of an overpowered run, youre always outmanned and outgunned and only by sheer luck will you actually beat the game.

100% agree with everything you said. At least they added save points🙌🏽

Spot on review, and I really hope Housemarque see this. Loads of reviews just seem to gloss over the fact it’s unnecessarily time consuming and frustrating, or think people aren’t good enough players. I experience Groundhog Day with my job - I play video games as an escape from that (although I really liked Deathloop…). Glad I didn’t pay for this and I downloaded for ‘free’ with PS Plus or I would be reeeeeally pissed off.

It’s my favorite ps5 game. Got it on sale for 30 bucks. It’s worth 70 for sure. It’s the only platinum I have ever gotten on PlayStation at all.

I absolutely loved this game when I played it on PC recently but I respect your opinions in this video. Definitely some valid points - Granted I think some of this was fixed (save system added) and I'm not sure if anything gameplay wise was changed between the PC/Console versions

Great video and very well presented! I disagree with a lot of your opinions on it though, I don’t think RNG plays such a huge factor. You can use ethers to cleanse malfunctioned chests and parasites are completely optional, depending on your play style they may or may not impact you. There are also certain weapons and artefacts that do make the game very straight forward too - leech rounds being one of them. Almost all rooms can be completely avoided too, it’s only a rare few, if you find yourself in a room which is too hot to handle just move onto the next room and come back to it later when you’re beefed up more if needed.

Great video.

damn i keep hearing this about this game am i the only one who thought this game was over the top a good game only thing i had a problem with was the many times i cringed because i lost and had to start all over but like any game u have to get great at it which turned out fucking amazing at the end it was a dope ass game

I love all the soulsborne games, and other souls like titles and saw Returnal and thought hell yes! After multiple attempts at the second boss, I'm just not enjoying myself one bit anymore. Very redundant to just re clear the majority of the game every time. Love the graphics and gameplay mechanics so much, this is my first rogue type game and yeah, guess this genre just isn't for me. Dying after an hour long run just totally reset is just not my jam. I despise quitting a game I set out to beat, but this just isn't worth the headache for myself. Cheers to all that have beat it, my hat is off to you and your patience lmfao. My blood pressure needs a break.

I really liked returnal, and after seeing this video im really intrested in twin stick shooters now. What other housemark games would you recomend?

I disagree with some points here. Returnal does have an overpowered run. It's called the Electropylon Driver. And a full run can game 30 minutes or less. When you skip a level what you really miss are health upgrades because there is always a weapon appropriate to the area level in the starting area of every level. For example the last level always spawns a level 24 weapon next to the beginning. The RNG sucks balls for trophy hunters, but it's fine for everyone else

Returnal DLC ! Let's go! Survival mode and co op new tower and lore let's do this! So pumped!

I rolled credits last night. Game is satisfying af.

This game has so much replay ability. Especially with tower of Sisyphus dlc. Once you achieve mastery something weird happens.. much like Selene, and the whole Atropus dilemma, i just keep going back for more and more and more. It's not like you master the game and become satisfied. I want to keep playing and playing and playing. I've put over 100 hours and counting into this beauty.

Great video sir! I love the game, but your points are well made and sound. The game save situation is clearly ridiculous and needs to be fixed asap. I say fixed, I do not credit anyone with terms like re-design in this regard: I say this as a former senior games designer and producer from development. Forgetting which... I Play for parasites early game, so that the run is either dead early or great early run. I also pushed for defensive parasites and ignore many others and also spend obolites on integrity increases.and the asto figurine. The idea is to be in position early. I take malignant resins but no chests or chunks as the RNG means you don't often get malignancy with just the resins. I stop accepting resins once mid/late run. I also avoid any room that looks like it might lock if I can't see the lie of the land outside. I don't always play fast, I judge it based on my current standing on the level and sometimes let doors do the blocking. Also cheesing with the lasso thing - go with a long range weapon and cheese at times, sometimes taking out powerful enemies from miles out where they don't agro and cannot do much.. No guarantees of course, but you can get op through most of some of the levels I think, if the run is good. I also go big for the hollowseeker weapon, or if forced the carbine. I never ever do malignancy risks late game. Just some things that felt good to me. Anyway excellent video!

This game is the hardest game ive ever played. I remember i thought i defeated the enemy only to have him respawn.

I thought the difficulty was just right for my speed. Had it been harder, or easier, it might have turned me off. Granted some players can go through it without dying because they are so used to hard rogue-likes. Others are more casual and have a hard time regardless. For me, it was just the right combination of uphill battle and getting good. This is the only game in recent memory that, approaching Nemesis to finally beat it, my hands were sweating and felt like claws after the fight was done.

There are easy mode runs, especially with electropylon driver. Great review

I used to dont like Rogues, but after play games like Slay the spire, Spelunky or Returnal i finally realice the point of this kind of design and i really appreciate now. This make the relation between game-player unique (for good or bad). I remember heard Derek Yu (creator of spelunky) at some conference talking about "spiky design" and it was so interesting. I understand and share mostly of your complains, i mean, crashes in a game wich have no save points? Thats not okay. About the balance i think is fine, not perfect, but fine. Sometimes you find a parasite and think "i'll never pick up this, is pure garbage", but in the future, in other run, with other build, you find the same parasite and think "okey, maybe now im interested in this shit". The randomness could be frustrating but is there for makes you feel that you are not in control. If you dont like this kind of design is ok, but i wouldn't say thats bad design. About the story, is true that is ambiguous, and cryptic and doesn't conclude, but i really liked it. Parenting trauma, suicide, guilt... Thats not the themes you expected to see in a Sci-fi shooter game.

$70 is why I only got the game today. They have also added a save feature.

Fully Agree. I was insanely disapointed from myself instead have fun and learn story

i was not the deographic for this game, maybe that is why i loved it so much as I didnt have the baggage to cloud my opinion from previous roguelike games. I knew what i was getting into when i started but had fun nonetheless. so i completely disagree with all your complaints. git gud.

Played this game for the first time this year. Beat it 2 times to get 2 different endings in 11 hours with 14 deaths only. I can't agree with a lot of the stuff said here. The game does have some flaws but I never felt like the game was unfair when I died. It was always due to something I did or didn't do. A lot of the criticisms presented here seem to be from a skill perspective which is only something subjective and not objective evidence by the fact that I do not really share the same experiences.

Great video, I agree with everything. Just beat the game couple days back.

Just in the last two months i finished Sifu and Demon Souls, they were hard, but i learned to master them pretty quickly but returnal was a nightmare, can't even reach to the 2nd boss, it's really pure luck, even healing in this game is based off luck which is really mental breaking after sitting so many hours and get killed and lose everything just because you decided to enter an extra room, it's total nightmare experience that depress me every time i think about it

That very first run is the same for everyone. Its supposed to be impossible because they want to show you the core mechanic of the game which is restarting. I wonder if its possible to beat it though..

Its not that hard got it 2 days ago and just beat it u just gotta get a good run going wuth good artifacts and parasides that revive u and give u more heath

The more I played, the luckier I got. Returnal is perfect.

I like you comparing the sopranos ending to the lack of. I like you comparing the sopranos ending to the lack of one here.

13:30 bro, you barely bothered to dodge. Yes those encounters suck, but that wasn't the games fault there. Outrun the red projectiles and close the gap to melee and stun. Then unload on the weak spot. Rinse and repeat.

Honsestly the critisicism against melle attacks seems odd every enemy pretty much roars and strikes a pose first and dodging is just dodge into enemey on litterally all of them i never found them hard to dodge but they force you near a strong enemy i always presumed this was intentional

Well, they've definitely fixed the crash issue. I've played the game for 24 hours and haven't experienced one crash. They also gave us the option to save the game. I'm not sure how much they have changed the game since release. If nothing has changed in the difficulty sense, I don't think the game is luck based. You don't have to pick up any of the parasites or malignant items. You're actively hurting yourself picking a lot of those parasites up. The game is heavily skill based. Maybe that is a bad thing for a AAA game that is marketed towards a large audience, though. Strong reflexes and good movement will get you through it. The less you get hit, the more resin you will be able to pick up to increase your overall health. Making sure you pick up the Obolites that enemies drop also allows you to buy the better upgrades. It took me 12 hours and 8 deaths to complete the game once. I don't think the game is that hard, but difficulty differs for everybody. The Electropylon Driver makes the game a lot easier. When you get that weapon, you don't have to put yourself in danger anywhere near as much. I 100% agree about the lack of real ending to the story. I'm pretty underwhelmed with what I've seen after completing act 3. One thing that I don't like about the game is how RNG it is to get the rooms you need to complete the plat. I can see how bad it's going to be to get it. The game should give you a better chance of spawning the rooms you need. There are people spending 50+ hours grinding for the correct rooms. That is insane.

Returnal is quite easily the hardest game ever made. Some of the difficulty really seems like the devs were being toxic trolls. Can you imagine how much better the game would’ve sold if it were more accessible? It’s one of the most gorgeous games ever, but most will never get to bask in its glory. Housemarque failed big time on this one.

This review made me subscribe to your channel. I love/ hate the game but everything you said is absolutely correct. I had all the bugs and crashes too. And I screamed a lot.

Pliny you must REALLY hate Nolan's Batman trilogy & Inception.

Great video, you summed up my thoughts about it too. I really like the game and its issues aren't enough to ruin it or anything but it doesn't have the replayability of many other roguelites. We're getting the free update for it soon, I hope they can clear some things up.

Best review I’ve seen of this game. I agree with everything you said here. This game had so much potential but the frustration factor simply was too much for most people. I also glitched a few times in key areas and one time I even got trapped inside a spiky rock vine on the side of one of the walls, I literally had to exit the game.

This game came with a rollercoaster of emotions for me. I went from loving it to damn near rage quitting and screaming this game is too f-ing hard to loving it once I really mastered the mechanics and had a real strategy. I'm so glad I played it when it had a saving mechanism because if it didn't I never would have beat it. I definitely agree with most of what you had to say and despite how much I really enjoyed this game, I find it difficult to recommend to anyone I know just because of how frustratingly difficult it was.

The game just needs a quick save no a save just a quick save. If you need to leave save real quick and you come back just where you was.

I don't agree, I enjoyed all the spins they did on the genre. Best game I played in 2022. The only thing I didn't like was the amount of content was easy to exhaust in 100 hours. Unfortunately the PC version still has issues according to some players, fortunately I'm not one of them.

As I watch this, I'm laughing to myself because I agree with everything you say, and every compliment/complaint you make about the game is exactly how I felt. For an experienced and skilled player, it takes actually about the same time to complete as most other games, but because it's so punishing and tedious, it feels a lot longer than it should do. For whatever reason, the director chose to make some very poor design decisions that leave a bad taste in most people's mouths which is shame, because other than the constant dying to nonsense and restarting from the beginning, the game is epic. I remember, before I even played the game I saw a video of the devs commenting on a speedrun of it (can't remember the name of the video, but it's a well-known channel on KZfaq). They were getting frustrated because the person was breezing through it and not dying. That made me realise that they want you to die because it's part of the "progression" and unlocks certain items and cutscenes. It put a smile on my face seeing them frustrated and not the player for once lol. In all seriousness though, it's a great game overall just held back by poor design choices. If it wasn't for those, I'd give it an easy 9/10, but as it stands it gets 7/10.

The problem with Returnal is just that its boring. Its repetitive and boring. More than 90% of my runs have no progression. Maybe I suck but what a waste of time. Should be priced at $20.

I get ether for beating bosses but that's after beating the game

PREACH👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾

this game makes RNG on Apex Legends and other BR games heaven sent.

best review I've ever heard, its like therapy to me after my experience with this game loool, didn't even realise it was 30 mins

Bro so phrik or however you spell his name, that dude killed me like 7 times, and then all of a sudden I beat him, and the proceeded to first try the next two bosses, nemesis almost got me but I beat his ass first try, some runs you get insanely lucky

Downloaded for free. If it wasn’t for the non save feature I’d love it. I’ve best BB, demon souls and ER. Love hard games but no save? Hell no. Hopefully one day they’ll allow save.

I think ur main criticism is viable. The one thing that kills replayability is that u can't get OP or at least better. It would be amazing if u for example could start with your favorite weapon (u could save it in helios) but ur supposed to play it over and over again like u are a noob. I mean I beat it four times at this point bc I got perfect strategies now but with bad luck I still get wrecked by bad enemy positions and weak weapons. Story also is a huge letdown. There's no final answer and for me personally it was just fd up that it wasn't a real planet, I hate this psycho s.hit. I luckily played the game now (so no bugs or crashes) and though ur right I still would recommend it, fighting is just too great.

I wish I could get a refund on Steam. I admit, I'm just a casual gamer, and a pretty bad one at that. But for me, it's just a bit of escapism. I enjoy blasting my way through a decent story. My favourite games being the Crysis Trilogy. Logically, it make sense that when you make a game, you make it for every type of gamer. Look at the Dead Space Remake. It's got impossible mode for all the hard-core gamers, but then it's got story mode. I appreciate this is gonna be the best thing since sliced bread for many a gamer, but just not for me.

You've expressed into words exactly how I was feeling about the game. Thank you

I love Returnal, but I agree entirely. The game is so painfully frustrating. Spending 40 minutes on a run just to get leveled enough with a good weapon to take on the boss only to die to some stupid elite enemy that you've already faced 3 times on the path to the boss, along with his 15 bullet hell spawning fodder friends, and shielded turrets in one area is just so incredibly frustrating. Farming Ether for a reconstructor is also frustrating. Does the exchange rate have to be such a rip off? I'd really like to beat the game without so much sluggish repetition.

30 hrs and i cant get past 2 biome.

I totally agree with all your words. In 2022, I see the game become much easier. It's good in gameplay but I don't want to open second ending, storytelling is mysterious and good until the game ends. I was hoping it shows me more than a short video with car crashing (it wasn't actually Selena, it was her mother. Who would know???) The final wasn't finished and I was very disappointed. It shouldn't be a rouglike (to save returning system they can make returning in the start of byom, not forcing players to start over) or it should be a short rouglike with breaking the game features (powerful artifacts as example) as in Isaac or in Inscryption act 1

"OMG THAT WAS 2 HOURS I LOST FUCK THIS GAME" Me 6 hours in a Noita god run: "haha whoops, didn't see that insta-death trap there, well whatever I got next saturday lol"

This is definitely ymmv territory. Other than biome 5 I didn't find Returnal difficult at all.

First room first boss you showed, I can see your minimap and it shows rooms that have enemies that you went through, and you got 2 ether before fighting a single enemy, suspicious bud. It's a hard game, don't have to lie about how hard it is.

Finland isn't in Scandinavia

Surprised you haven't made a video about hollow knight

*This game is the absolute worst bulls**t ever. It's like they have come up with stunning graphics, awesome music, the slickest gamepaly imagineable and then done every single thing possible to screw the game up and make it completely devoid of fairness or fun.*

I've melee killed two enemies at once quite a few times and its easy especially when hitting the dash 😁..... No crashes as yet 🙏🏾..... No game is perfect 🤷🏾‍♂️

"take damage when you reload your weapon curse". I'm sorry, what? That's absurd

Excellent review. I can’t even pass the first boss, I’m not an excellent gamer but I’m not the worst. I believe only 10% of gamers finish this game which is pathetic. It seems that there’s an op - the electrophilon - weapon which you can access if you buy the pricier digital deluxe edition. Is this a pay to win? Have a subscription.

9 minutes in all I hear is, "I don't like all the things that make this game a Rogue-like." Ummmmmmmmm........... Edit: and you do unlock permanent upgrades in Returnal - Consumables, Artifacts, Suit Upgrades (alt-fire, melee, grapnel just to name 3 that are early, all from first 2 Biomes), weapon traits & new alt-fire mods, etc. Hitting that Malformed Titanops at 13:12 is incredibly unlikely, bad RNG. That room always has a Malformed mini-boss, but I've seen it twice across hundreds of runs...so yeah just bad luck to get it that early. But death is the entire point of the game - narratively & gameplay loop - so reset and try again. Lastly, you can clear an entire Biome is 30-45 minutes easily after you realize certain weapons are tuned for certain Biomes - Carbine & Spitmaw (shotgun) are given in Biome 1 for a reason. Hollowseeker is found just before encountering your first Severed for a reason & is by far the best weapon for Ixion as its long range works great as Ixion stays far away most of the time. The game tries to help the player, but if you ignore the placement of weapons & items, IDK how to help you. Finally, the game today after many patches is much more forgiving. I played at release & RNG was not as forgiving. So, try it for yourself and remember, death is just a new beginning...not failure. And you can suspend which improved the game from 8/10 to perfect 10/10 for me. "Take it slow" -Frank Bullett One Biome at a time.

100%

I actually like that we are in an era where games are getting orientated to a person's disposition. Not everything is meant to be accessible to everyone imo. And some are there to test your resolve and abilities under the pressure it provides. I personally massively enjoy being on the edge with high risk high reward gameplay. Saying "you need to play 30hrs to start getting your money's worth" is a cop out. I understand the review it was done well. But I find most in the audience complaining probably just aren't meant to be playing this game. Like when people were asking for a difficulty selection in elden ring. This is what the package is (yes improvements are always to be looked at) but that's it. You do a run, you zig when you should have zagged n now you start again. Your review is touching on mechanics, timing etc a proper critique. But most people complaining are focusing on complaining about what the game is. Something that prolly just isn't for them.

I've recently been going through this game and even with the suspend cycle "saving" system I wholeheartedly agree with you. I'm currently at the final world trying to make my way to the fifth boss. And let me tell you, as a massive lover of Soulsborne games (and currently riding the Elden Ring hype train) I have never been conflicted with a game this much before in my life. I LOVE the technical aspects (graphics, gunplay, music) but absolutely ABHORR the choices the developers decided on to make this an excruciatingly angering experience (pure RNG roguelike BS). This game clearly was not meant to be a roguelike but Sony needed to disguise this game as a 70 dollar game by artificially extending it. I've lost 3 hours of progress at times on this game and I have never been so mad in my life (justifiably so). It feels the game is not allowing me to beat it just because the developers don't want me to and it is beyond maddening. This game is pure luck, not skill based. Just imagine how frustrating it would be if Dark Souls had zero checkpoints and every fight arena was filled to the brim with pits and every boss encounter was like the Bed of Chaos. It would be this game. But yeah I really recommend for ANYONE to stay as far away as you can from this game. This game ain't it, not even for 25 dollars (which is the amount I bought it for THANKFULLY), I feel bad for people who paid full price. I know when the developers allow me to beat the final boss (whenever they feel like it that is) it will not feel earned, I will wish I should have put it down whenever I had the chance and moved on to an actual enjoyable game. But thank you for expressing my frustration I have for this game. It is clear I am not alone with this opinion. I hope Housemarque learns from this nightmare and does not repeat this BS ever again because I actually enjoy their games.

Returnal being a 10 or -50, depending on your RNG, is the best way to describe it

Just looking at your game play, it seems more like a skill issue. Just saying.

Most of this review can be summed up to a skill issue. Yeah RNG is helpful, but i win the game 9/10 times i play. Those 1/10 deaths are because of my own skill.

This is a tough game I agree. It is enjoyable till you are getting good items. On a bad run this game is a large surface friction burn! Overall I respect this game. Must play for serious gamers.

Staying away from this. You’ve saved me time and money, thank you.

Idk i dont consider myself a great mlg gamer… but returnal was not that hard. died about five times on biomes 1-3 and beat rest of the game no deaths.

If they seem so good how come the developers and made a checkpoint they'll make it a lot easier that way you have to save the game at some point you can't be playing Non-Stop yeah let's go to sleep at some point this is so hard to put a checkpoint in the game if they're going to do this with every single game they should not even make them more games anymore like this anyways I don't like games like this is what they do they kind of want to checkpoint that's so stupid there's no developers are stupid they probably didn't speak English

I honestly got about halfway and stopped I was getting so tired of all the points u brought up... this game wld hv worked so much better as maybe a Sci fi metroidvania or even mission based... added some light rpg mechanics...they cld hv kept all the weapons and setting, even the parasites.. this wld hv allowed them to focus so much more on the story beats and level design, instead of leaving everything up to procedural gen .. wasted opportunity if u ask me.. glad I waited to buy this on sale

As I got older my states for games have gone from fast paced twitch shooters, to slow mechanical engaging games This game looks and sounds like an awful experience, and this is coming from someone ho loves bloodborne and Monster Hunter

*buys a true roguelike and complains about it being a roguelike* -skill issue