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[drotahorror]

I'm with you there. Also I used to use rest mode back on PS4 because I had shit 16Mbps ADSL. Now I don't really need it. I don't even use sleep mode on my PC.

I used rest mode sometimes on ps4 for whatever reason. My last 2 PC's I've built, one from 2011 and one from 2016, stay on 24/7 basically with no sleep/hibernate. Not saying I leave my PS5 on though, hell it barely gets turned on.

 

[Truth Be Told]

Headphones with 3D audio highly recommended for Returnal.

I honestly feel sorry for people who play their PS5 games with the builtin speakers in their TV instead of a headset.

 

[Bo_Hazem]

I honestly feel sorry for people who play their PS5 games with the builtin speakers in their TV instead of a headset.

They'll get butchered in this game. But there is a indicator of danger behind you, as that shoulder camera is like telling you saw it in previews.

 

[tommib]

 

[Lemondish]

 

[kyliethicc]

Returnal survival guide: Housemarque’s gameplay tips for Atropos

Recommended loadouts, combat strategies, and more from the creator of the PS5 sci-fi shooter, launching April 30.

blog.playstation.com

Great, long read with lots of info about the gameplay.


Returnal's game director has some tips for playing:

- Movement is critical. Make sure you use the full moveset and all the tools at your disposal

- use hip fire for good environment awareness and the Focus Aim for better accuracy and for highlighting enemy weak spots

- don’t forget melee attacks to help stagger larger enemies or dispatch smaller ones more easily

- keep up a healthy rhythm of using your Alt-Fire, and remember to use those Consumables

- keep dashing, as this not only allows you to quickly avoid attacks, but also move through enemy projectiles without taking damage. Well, most of them, at least.

- keep your Adrenaline up! This is easier said than done as receiving any damage will reset your meter. But building up your Adrenaline up will provide you with multiple advantages in combat, such as additional homing missiles fired from your helper droid; a more dangerous melee attack; or even our Enhanced Vision which allows you to see enemies’ energy signatures through walls.

 

[Keihart]

Not being able to save while doing a cycle is bullshit, especially in a game in which typical sessions aren't always very short. It definitely feels like the studio failed to prepare the option to save when leaving to the main menu and they've had to come up with some alternative, even if they're officially saying it was done on purpose.

That's pretty weird, even in Hades there is some autosave to take you to the start of the floor unless you do it too many times in a row.

 

[Bo_Hazem]

 

[SkylineRKR]

Lol are you me?

(Lol of course reeeee loves him)

I can't see how anyone would love that streamer. Terrible, long winded gameplay and terrible remarks. Oh my god here and there, like its the first time he ever picked up a weapon or opened up a door in a game. I generally dislike YT celebs, some are okay like Max and fightingcowboy seems to be chill, but I look up LP's to see if a game is to my liking, and how it kind of starts. The best LPs just play decently, without checking every item 10 minutes and most importantly stfu. Radbrad is absolutely awful. 12.5 million subs, christ.

 

[Maxwell Jacob Friedman]

A review leaked if not already posted

Spoiler

9.3/10

 

[HotPocket69]

I can't see how anyone would love that streamer. Terrible, long winded gameplay and terrible remarks. Oh my god here and there, like its the first time he ever picked up a weapon or opened up a door in a game. I generally dislike YT celebs, some are okay like Max and fightingcowboy seems to be chill, but I look up LP's to see if a game is to my liking, and how it kind of starts. The best LPs just play decently, without checking every item 10 minutes and most importantly stfu. Radbrad is absolutely awful. 12.5 million subs, christ.

12.5 million retards. Brad is the absolute fucking worst.

 

[Haggard]

I honestly feel sorry for people who play their PS5 games with the builtin speakers in their TV instead of a headset.

I honestly feel sorry for me who has put quite some $$$ into an awesome surround system just to have it not supported by Sony

No way I´m using headphones.

 

[FrankWza]

I honestly feel sorry for people who play their PS5 games with the builtin speakers in their TV instead of a headset.

There’s really no reason to anymore. you can get one of many alternatives and they’re all available at different price points.
Some people just don’t like headphones and don’t believe you can get an immersive surround experience or they want to justify their speaker system. I think there a place for both.

 

[tommib]

A review leaked if not already posted

https://webcache.googleusercontent....=clnk&gl=uk&client=ms-android-samsung-gs-rev1

Spoiler

9.3/10

Fextralife also gave it a 9.3. Preparing for 90+ metacritic.

Returnal Review & Impressions: Phenomenal Cosmic Fun

n this Returnal Review and Impressions article we'll take a look at then new Sci-fi Rogue-Like developed by Housemarque and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment. This title is the first PS5 exclusive that is not ...

webcache.googleusercontent.com

This underdog might be this year's surprise GOTY.

SUMMARY:A sleeper hit, Returnal is bound to captivate you from start to finish, no pun intended. If you are a fan of good Sci-fi in the vein of The Expanse, Stranger Things, or Mass Effect, you surely won't want to miss this game. Returnal is the early front runner for Game of the Year 2021, making a compelling case to get a Playstation 5...if you can find one.

 

[Maxwell Jacob Friedman]

Fextralife also gave it a 9.3. Preparing for 90+ metacritic.

I have high hopes for this game but I dont see it sticking at a 90. I see wanna be gamers and journalists that cant play for shit give negatives for it being to "hard" etc. I Could see it sitting between an 85-88, so a high 80. It will hit a 90, but a few questionable irregulars will give it a lower score.

 

[Endless Fluff]

From the review

• Each complete run lasts up to an hour and a half

So can we please stop with the "a run takes up to 6 hours and we neeeeeed saves" talk?

 

[DonJorginho]

First couple reviews are emerging!

Returnal Review Thread (PS5)

REVIEW EMBARGO LIFTED! Will update the thread as we go! METACRITIC: 86 OPENCRITIC: 86 (88% Critics Recommend!) GAMESPEW (10/10) Playing Returnal, it feels like next-gen has truly begun. The way it seamlessly moves from third-person to first-person; how you move from biome to biome without...

www.neogaf.com

 

[skit_data]

Launch trailer:

 

[TheMan]

fextralife? lol, the next biogamergirl

 

[Con-Z-epT]

And I simply disagree. I think it adds nothing, and since the rest mode is there it simply fails on design level. That is my opinion with the infromation we currently have.
On top of it I personally think it`s absolutely stupid to try to force people to keep playing your game when drop in drop out has been the quasi standard, even for "hardcore" games, for so long.
We do not know everything, yet, but from the previews it sure doesn´t look like something you can "finish" in short(er) bursts.


It absolutely is from the perspective of someone with a lot of real life stuff on the plate. If I have ~2 hours at once that`s already an exception.
If runs really turn out to be as long as they seem from the previews and the save/checkpoint system stays like this this just made the game practically unplayable for me since I´d either never be able to finish it or would have to leave my console running 24/7 which is not acceptable.



Developers are just humans. There´ve been innumerable games where developers made stupid decisions and got critizized in return. I´m a software architect and I can`t count how many downright retarded designs I´ve seen in my career, especially in the usability sector.


It`s an integral part of the OS. If you design for a system you have to take everything into consideration.


Nothing is final ofc.
But a week before release with a lot of hands on previews out I sincerely doubt, that we`re completely misunderstanding the game structure at this point, wouldn`t you agree?
I´d love to get presented with a solution in the final game, but right now it does not look like there is one.

Thanks for another notion of your thoughts. I mean that in all honesty.

I'm now finally ready for an agreement of disagree with you.

 

[saintjules]

A review leaked if not already posted

https://webcache.googleusercontent....=clnk&gl=uk&client=ms-android-samsung-gs-rev1

Spoiler

9.3/10

How did that work? Did they post accidentally and then hid it/reschedule the time?

 

[Heisenberg007]

Fextralife also gave it a 9.3. Preparing for 90+ metacritic.

Until Gamespot swoops in with their inexplicable 5/10 edgy review

 

[Heisenberg007]

How did that work? Did they post accidentally and then hid it/reschedule the time?

Most likely poor scheduling.

But the internet never forgets.

 

[skit_data]

Until Gamespot swoops in with their inexplicable 5/10 edgy review

Yeah, there are always some daily news publications that give anything other than the blockbusters a lower score. I always consider something above 80+ worth playing if its in a genre I like

 

[saintjules]

Looks like some people already have their hands on it. Gonna check my Brick and Mortar store today. They usually drop stuff early.

 

[Haggard]

From the review


So can we please stop with the "a run takes up to 6 hours and we neeeeeed saves" talk?

1 hour in, wife wants something or the kids want to play something else. Too bad you just wasted 1 hour. Even FROM gives you checkpoints, and a primitive drop in drop out is absolutely not much to ask for.
And that´s for straight speed runs......as we`ve seen in the previews explorative runs take much...much longer.
So no, the save-talk will NOT stop.....

 

[xiskza]

Returnal survival guide: Housemarque’s gameplay tips for Atropos

Recommended loadouts, combat strategies, and more from the creator of the PS5 sci-fi shooter, launching April 30.

blog.playstation.com

 

[xiskza]

Oops appears its already been posted, apologies

 

[saintjules]

MinnMaxx impressions playthrough. Man that pistol shooting sounds really good.

 

[saintjules]

Supposedly 15GB day 1 patch

Link since the embed isn't working properly

 

[FrankWza]

MinnMaxx impressions playthrough. Man that pistol shooting sounds really good.

Yeah…definitely watch Prometheus and as much Alien as you can before you play…they say it if it wasn’t obvious already

 

[saintjules]

Yeah…definitely watch Prometheus and as much Alien as you can before you play…they say it if it wasn’t obvious already

I watched them. This ending scene with Daniels. ooof.

Spoiler: Alien: Covenant Ending

 

[FrankWza]

I watched them. This ending scene with Daniels. ooof.

Spoiler: Alien: Covenant Ending

Fassbender killed it. Phenomenal actor.
As far as the goty review, I had to forward through the opening like I have been doing. I want to experience that shit on my screen and sound. But that planet shot is taken right from Prometheus. I would say if you can watch one movie before playing to set the mood, Prometheus is the one.

 

[SLB1904]

Supposedly 15GB day 1 patch

Link since the embed isn't working properly

thats a big update

 

[420bits]

Fuckit, preordered regular edition.
Its worth it even if I hate the game (pretty sure i won't). Housemarque, a studio like that deserves money to keep going.

Can't wait!

 

[saintjules]

Fassbender killed it. Phenomenal actor.
As far as the goty review, I had to forward through the opening like I have been doing. I want to experience that shit on my screen and sound. But that planet shot is taken right from Prometheus. I would say if you can watch one movie before playing to set the mood, Prometheus is the one.

Yeah. Think I'll watch both tonight. Thanks for bringing it up.

 

[Tickle My Tendies]

One more sleep.

I Need Returnal

 

[drotahorror]

Taken from a reddit post, I'll spoiler it but it's not very spoilery at all. They've beat the first biome and really just talk about some of the games mechaincs. Good read!

Spoiler

Update on my early thoughts:

I've got about 2 hours into the game now, I'm on my third loop, and I've unlocked a few permanent progression abilities. It still feels as though I've just barely started dipping my toes into the story the game is trying to tell. I'll give updated thoughts in a few more hours but for now -



Gameplay: The actual feeling of controlling Selene is on point, her weight seems light and she's very agile but it still feels tight and intentional. The jump and dash abilities both have a "Press for jump, hold for longer jump/dash" type input. Dashing triggers the same amount of cool-down regardless of if you go for a short or long dash. The three guns I've used are a handgun, a shotgun, and an automatic rifle. Weapons can be found in chests or sometimes drop off of enemies, the stats and secondary fire are somewhat random. Weapon proficiency, which increases as you shoot and kill things (And resets on death) increases the tier of all weapons that drop moving forward, but do not increase the stats of the weapon you're currently using. There is an "active reload" mechanic that triggers if you exhaust the weapons ammo pool, but weapons recharge to full anytime you're not using them so reloading isn't a strictly necessary mechanic in the first place. The enemies I've encountered so far all have unique attack patterns, and you quickly learn the order and methods for killing them, but they do tend to get a good sucker punch in the first time you run into one. As an example of this the first two times I encountered what could be considered the first "Boss" I died, the third time I encountered it I killed it without taking a hit. The actual gun-play feels good, there doesn't seem to be a ton of auto-aim, at least I don't feel it pulling me away from what I want to shoot at. I'm sure you've read about it but L2 is essentially 2 buttons, a half and full press. The half press stop is PRETTY definite, but I have accidentally triggered my secondary fire a few times. Muscle memory eventually stopped that from happening. It does pay to be aggressive as the mobs drop resources on death, but they quickly despawn. There are shop rooms, treasure rooms, trap rooms, and lore rooms. There also seems to be community goals (One shop thing insinuated that I could contribute currency to a community pool that would pay out once it reached a certain amount. It said I should "Cooperate with others")



Graphics/Environment: The graphics are definitely good here, although not earth shattering. It looks a bit better than the very very best PS4 games. What this game DOES get right however is environment which is fucking phenomenal. It reeks of Metroid Prime and Aliens, and the environmental story telling is top notch. There's an unsettling and reverent vibe to the first biome that drips with mystery and the feeling that there's a much deeper story here. While the area's are randomized I don't get the feeling that the actual arenas are auto-generated, much more that there are 30-40 rooms that can be stitched together in different ways. Early impressions are that these rooms are relatively small but as I played I encountered some that are intimidatingly large. After every encounter I find myself combing the areas thoroughly for loot or secrets.



Story: Whoo boy, here's where the soup gets really good. Most Rogue-lites/likes are also story lite (pardon the joke). But this game, there's a feeling there's really something here to sink your teeth into. The game isn't afraid to take breaks from action for our character to postulate on the situation, listen to recordings from her past selves, or switch to a first person horror segment that feels like it was ripped right out of PT. Your story and the story of the ancient race of the planet you landed on seem to be happening in parallel, and as of yet it's unlcear how they relate. Our characters past also seems important but I haven't learned much yet. So far the game is setting up questions, not giving answers.

 

[Classicrockfan]

Have they said the length of the game ?

 

[saintjules]

 

[saintjules]

Have they said the length of the game ?

One of the reviews that leaked early claimed 30-50 hours, which for a game like this is quite extensive. More on the 50 hour side if you are a completionist.

 

[Classicrockfan]

One of the reviews that leaked early claimed 30-50 hours, which for a game like this is quite extensive. More on the 50 hour side if you are a completionist.

My good lord,if true thats awesome.

 

[Entroyp]

Ok, I like what I’m reading here.

 

[Gamerguy84]

Thanks for this it answered a lot for me.

 

[Melchiah]

I was meaning to buy the game later on, but then I noticed the local retailer sells it for 50€, instead of the usual 70€; https://www.verkkokauppa.com/fi/product/29110/qhcgm/Returnal-peli-PS5


EDIT: Just received Housemarque's newsletter.

Housemarque's Next Awesome Arcade Action Game Releases Tomorrow!

TLDR

• Returnal is finally soon out after over 4 years in the development, almost six years after the initial concept was born.
• We are incredibly proud of what we have accomplished. Despite these challenging times the team has been able to ship a unique and intriguing game.
• Kudos and huge thanks to the Housemarque team, external studios helping us out and our publishing partner Sony, who took a chance on us and gave us an opportunity to create something new and unique.

Returnal is going to be out tomorrow and we are so proud and happy to finally release the game to the world. The wait is soon over, and our work has now been completed and it’s now time for us to wait for you fans, reviewers and influencers to tell your opinion of the game. Before you have your hands on the game, I want to share a few thoughts with you and reveal some things that might not be so obvious to everyone following the games industry.

We have just wrapped up development and are taking a deep breath here at Housemarque. Even though we announced that Returnal went gold a few weeks back, our team has not stopped working on the game to further balance and polish. This might probably be hard to believe if you aren’t the insider in the game development scene and haven’t been part of shipping a game yourself. There is always something you think you could improve, add, or polish. I think it is not even possible to develop a “perfect” game with everyone in the team thinking that we have now accomplished everything we ever dreamed of, when finally setting the game free out to the world. And therefore, we’ve worked on the first day patch trying to make the game even a little bit better up until the last moment.

When we started our pre-production of the game almost exactly four years ago in March 2017, we never would have imagined how big a production we eventually would be making. Looking back, it’s almost incomprehensive to think that we were working on four (!) different projects and we only had 50 people in-house at the time! We were finalizing two different projects, Nex Machina and Matterfall, prototyping and experimenting with a multiplayer project we later named Stormdivers and were starting a small pre-production of a totally new game.

At the time it was very hard to see which, if any, of the projects would be moving us forward in the years to come. Our multiplayer PvP prototype seemed at the time as a necessary experiment as the industry seemed to have moved on from single-player games towards multiplayer games. We were thinking that if we don’t have anything to show on that front, we might be out of the business very soon as we wouldn’t be able to sell any projects to publishers anymore.

We were hoping that our self-published Nex Machina would allow us to have at least a bit of financial freedom to enable us to continue developing great arcade, fast paced shoot-em-up experiences. During the years preceding the release of the game, publishers had been less and less keen on talking about funding arcade inspired games and we wanted to prove that there’s still life in the genre. After all, we were working with our hero and one of the most legendary arcade game developers of all time Eugene Jarvis best known for games like Defender, Robotron 2084 and Cruis’n USA. We’d also noticed that companies developing shmups like Japanese masters of the genre Cave and Treasure hadn’t been releasing anything new in years, so we certainly had seen the writing on the wall.

Although we managed to release one of the best reviewed new game of 2017 according to metacritic, we were certainly left disappointed with the sales leading me to declare #arcadeisdead and ending our long standing commitment to the arcade genre. Giving up on the genre didn’t mean that we’d be giving up on our deep commitment to fast-twitch action gameplay. Instead, we wanted to take on the challenge to figure out how we could translate our arcade 2D gameplay expertise into a 3rd person action game. On the other hand, it was still very uncertain, if we’d be able to move past the prototype phase and convince Sony to keep on funding a new, unproved concept. The concept was ridiculously ambitious and looking back we as a company really weren’t totally appreciating the challenge ahead of us and how hard it could be to tackle it.

In the age when game publishers are taking less and less creative risks, we are truly thankful to our publishing partner Sony, who has given us an opportunity to work on something very risky and has given fantastic support during the whole project. We are forever grateful for having this opportunity.

Shipping games is hard, shipping games that are bigger, more ambitious than the company has ever delivered before featuring things that we’ve never done in our previous games, like translating Housemarque arcade gameplay from 2D to 3rd person action and adding substantial storytelling elements, is even harder. We also added quite a few new wonderful people in the team growing up to 75 game developers internally at the same time and tried to figure out how to produce a game of this scope. We also have been working with great external partners helping us out to create the best possible game and delivering the game on a new platform, which has some ground-breaking features to consider. Then adding a total new challenge in a form of COVID-19 pandemic forcing us mostly to work remotely, we can start talking about some additional challenges to game development, which is never easy in the first place!

Finally, huge thanks to our team, which has overcome many challenges during the development of the game and many key team members have pushed themselves beyond any expectations to bring a unique game to the markets for our fans to enjoy. Getting a game out does not happen every day and it’s always a big moment and worth celebrating. Game development is really like magic as things are created out of thin air, starting from a small idea and eventually those ideas start to cluster together to form a game concept. Very few concepts come to fruition. In our case, the first pitch deck of the game was put together in August 2015 and now many years later we are witnessing the release of the most ambitious and daring game of our history. This is truly miraculous!

We’ll be partying, online unfortunately, on the release date and the whole team at Housemarque is super proud of what we accomplished. Thanks for supporting and being with us for all these years. There are great things ahead, but let’s first start with the release of Returnal! We hope many of you enjoy your adventures on Atropos starting 30th of April, 2021!

Cheers!

Ilari

 

[Dick Jones]

I don't know what witchcraft this is but I'll take it.
Less than 4 hours.

 

[tommib]

I don't know what witchcraft this is but I'll take it.

It will reset to midnight when it hits 00:00:00. Sorry for the breaking news but you won’t be able to play it before launch date.

Unless miracles?

 

[shubik]

I don't know what witchcraft this is but I'll take it.

Had the same thing with cyberpunk. Once it reached the end it just stared a new countdown with the actual time. So don´t get your hope up

 

[DonJorginho]

Nice comment from CEO of Housemarque on Sony's support throughout development.

"In the age when game publishers are taking less and less creative risks, we are truly thankful to our publishing partner Sony, who has given us an opportunity to work on something very risky and has given fantastic support during the whole project. We are forever grateful for having this opportunity."

Full blog post:

Housemarque's Next Awesome Arcade Action Game Releases Tomorrow! — Housemarque

TLDR Returnal is finally soon out after over 4 years in the development, almost six years after the initial concept was born. We are incredibly proud of what we have accomplished. Despite these challenging times the team has been able to ship a unique and intriguing game. Kudos and huge tha

housemarque.com

 

[Salmon Snake]

Goddamit, I just got a message from the store from which I pre ordered the game that there have been more orders than they had anticipated, so I'll be getting my game next week.
Seems that atleast the physical version's pre order numbers are pretty good. But this store's price for Returnal is 50 €, so that might have something to do with it.

And my body was so ready to play it this weekend