Returnal - "Hades x Aliens x Metroid" - PC version officially confirmed

Got this for Christmas too. :toot:

Any tips before I dive into this later?

Um. Been so long since I played it. Something that isn't obvious at first: you will see orange force field doors you cannot get past. You'll think "Oh. I will unlock an ability later which will let me into these areas." WRONG! The game obviously has abilities which unlock and stay unlocked even after death, but the one to get past the orange doors? You have to upgrade your sword at the shop for that.

Play the game first for a bit and then check these tips out later: https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/retu ... ricks-8019 and here https://www.polygon.com/returnal-guide/ ... -astronaut

You know a game is worth checking out when it makes it on to the game of the year list of someone who usually plays most of their games on another format. (Digital Foundry's Alex Battaglia put Returnal on his 2021 list.)

I've just started playing this.

The atmosphere is incredible and it is definitely heavily influenced by Alien/Prometheus.

So far, I've got a sword and a few upgrades too.

Anyway, I died at the first boss battle and I managed to reach the last health bar (three bars). I was panicked and trying to get out of the way from the missiles, yet I forgot the boss slashed me from no where and I died. :slol:

Have a break until tomorrow. It's great so far and I'm enjoying it. :toot:

Attempting Phrike second times. Failed. :slol:

I'll beat it soon.

Started this a couple of days ago. Absolutely amazing game, it’s just so exciting and mysterious to play.
I managed to make it to the second biome earlier, which, to be honest, I was starting to doubt I would ever manage!

Now I’m trying to work out if the risk and time spent grinding in the first biome is worth it for the extra integrity and artifacts vs just booking it straight to the gate for the second area.

Also - should I always be using some ether on that statue thing that is always in the first “room” at the start of my run? I assume if I don’t I will never see some of the artifacts and consumables “drop” mod run?

Didn’t think I would love this game as much as I do tbh, it’s head and shoulders above anything else I played that came out last year with the exception of Disco Elysium. But that’s the best game ever, and it did t really come out last year either.

I know I won’t finish it, but I’m really enjoying the loop anyway.

It's worth heading straight to the second area a few times to get a feel for what it's about, but if you're making a serious attempt to get through it then going through the first biome to get artefacts etc. is always worth it.

Yes, if you don't unlock artefacts/consumables at the statue first they will never spawn in other runs so it's always worth putting ether into that, and it will give you an early boost to a run. The best uses for ether are that statue and the regenerator machines which spawn once in every biome, I never used ether to cleanse malignant items as I thought that was a waste.

sawyerpip wrote:It's worth heading straight to the second area a few times to get a feel for what it's about, but if you're making a serious attempt to get through it then going through the first biome to get artefacts etc. is always worth it.

Yes, if you don't unlock artefacts/consumables at the statue first they will never spawn in other runs so it's always worth putting ether into that, and it will give you an early boost to a run. The best uses for ether are that statue and the regenerator machines which spawn once in every biome, I never used ether to cleanse malignant items as I thought that was a waste.

Thanks again mate.

I would love to never have to fight Phrike again, but it looks like I will have to if i want to cash in datacubes. I guess using the regenerator thing would mean i can have one run at him, and if i balls it up I can just respawn and take the other biome exit.

I can see the meta is going to be strong with this one.

I would do as much of the first biome as possible, without 100% it, before moving on. But a good weapon and health boosts were essential before I did so.

Thanks.

In the 3 or so runs I have done in biome 2, I have found that the proficiency boost takes me to level 5. I then typically find a level 5 gun in the next room or so on.

If I enter biome 2 with a higher proficiency, will that boost take me to level 8 (or whatever), or is it nerfed a bit in those cases? I ask as I dont remember beeing a much higher level after beating Phrike and collecting the callibrator, but everything was a bit of a blur :slol:

Re proficiency: you'll never get gear below your proficiency level.

Not sure how calibrator works if you're of "high" level, though I remember reading in a guide that there was a cap at work.

Yeah, thats what I suspected. It has always been an instant 5 level boost when going in to the Biome at proficiency 0. I'm sure that wasnt the case when I was already at level 5 going in.

Cheers.

Yeah there is definitely a cap there, it doesn't jump you by 5 levels regardless of your current level. Like you say it's just there for anyone using the shortcut really, I think if you go in at level 5 it can possibly push you to level 6 but that's about it.

I really want to try this but can't justify spending the current rate for a game I'll probably suck at and might only get an hour or less into. For context, how does this compare difficulty-wise to Metroid Dread? I don't think I've ever played a rogue-like from what I've pieced together from wikipedia your runs get easier the more you play and you'll start to progress further? So is this more long than hard [context] and requires perseverance rather than skill? Also does this game have metroidvania elements or is it solely about the shooting with a straight-forward linear path?

Barnsy! wrote:I really want to try this but can't justify spending the current rate for a game I'll probably suck at and might only get an hour or less into. For context, how does this compare difficulty-wise to Metroid Dread? I don't think I've ever played a rogue-like from what I've pieced together from wikipedia your runs get easier the more you play and you'll start to progress further? So is this more long than hard [context] and requires perseverance rather than skill? Also does this game have metroidvania elements or is it solely about the shooting with a straight-forward linear path?

I wont try and answer all of that, but I will pick and choose and add my personal feelings on it (I finished Metroid Dread about 2 months ago).

I am not a great gamer (I ahave reached level 2 after 10 hours), but after those 10 hours I am not approaching a point of frustration yet. I absolutely will, and no doubt I will drop it accordingly, but I am certian I will have had my moneys worth from it at that point.

Regarding difficulty vs Dread, I would say that the first boss difficutly is compatable with your typical Dread boss. The problem is that you can't keep marching straight in to the boss room, failing and learning a bit, and then quickly getting back in to the fight. Here you have to spend maybe 45 minutes (or more early on!) trying to get a good balance of weapons / items and health. But if you then lose to that boss its back to the start with next to nothing carrying over.

The caveat to that is that once you have beaten the boss you get a pass that allows you to skip him in the future. In fact you can skip most of the "level" from this point onwards, but that means you will be somewhat underpowered for the rest of that run.

I would say skill factors in hugely. But you cant help get better through the fact you just start subconciously processing enemy tells, developing muscle memory etc.

There are no real metroidvania elements, it's a bit more like Dead Cells (sorry, that probably doesn't help), but basically you earn certain bits of kit at certain progression points that then mean you can access certain parts of the world you couldn't before. But the way those are handed out here is very linear, and you would not backtrack in that run after obtianing one (i think). Also, these items are then permanently available to you.

Hope this helps a bit, and hopefully nothing I have said is catagorically wrong!

Cheers Kaz thats helpful and if anything makes me want to play it more but go in not expecting to be able to complete it

Barnsy! wrote:I really want to try this but can't justify spending the current rate for a game I'll probably suck at and might only get an hour or less into. For context, how does this compare difficulty-wise to Metroid Dread? I don't think I've ever played a rogue-like from what I've pieced together from wikipedia your runs get easier the more you play and you'll start to progress further? So is this more long than hard [context] and requires perseverance rather than skill? Also does this game have metroidvania elements or is it solely about the shooting with a straight-forward linear path?

It is definitely more skill-based than perseverance, but also a lot depends on the weapons and items that spawn each run. You will need to develop a base-level of skill but sometimes you can get really lucky with power-ups etc. and you'll have a build that can help carry you a long way.

Got to the second boss today. Had him down to the last quarter of his 3rd form but the double ring thing finally got me. I had a great build going on too. Really enjoyed that run. I had an artefact that was giving me +20 stagger for every parasite, and many parasites attached.

Second biome cleared. Somehow. I feel like a god right now.

Well done!

Returnal - "Hades x Aliens x Metroid" - PC version officially confirmed

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