It’s hard not to think of James Cameron’s action-packed sequel Aliens when here, and that’s in no small part thanks to our protagonist, Selene. As a space pilot who can’t escape the planet she’s crash landed on, no matter how many times she dies, it’s your job to find out what’s really going on here. To do that, you’ll have to battle through waves and waves of enemies, bosses and light platforming sections in order to discover (or escape) your fate.
Housemarque is insistent on bringing recognisable elements from ours into this thoroughly alien world.
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Housemarque of Hades
Finding the familiar in the wholly unfamiliar is a running theme so far in Returnal. The second biome you enter is in stark contrast to the first and consists of red-sanded desert with elements from the 1994 Stargate movie that I have a bizarrely good memory of despite only seeing it once at the age of 7. Anyway, there’s no Kurt Russell, but Selene must’ve had a hurt muscle or two along the way as this area, especially towards the end, pushes the difficulty up a bit.On the whole Returnal is challenging, but from what I’ve experienced it’s not overly punishing. My first run lasted around 90 minutes and took me all the way to the second biome, Crimson Wastes, after defeating the first boss, and only ended once I came up against a threatening new enemy I hadn’t yet encountered. I wouldn’t say I had to play outstandingly well to reach that point but had picked up a couple of useful abilities and items along the way that made life easier, such as the ability to create shockwaves of damage every time I jumped. But all in all I haven’t played enough loops yet to know just how lucky I got. From this early point, though, the challenge feels about right, difficult but not unfair, and having reached the second area’s boss recently I can tell it’s not going to be the relative cakewalk that the first felt.
Despite all of the artistic inspirations on show, Returnal is still very much a Housemarque game.
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