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Returnal combat details: Upgradable weapons, otherworldly tools, and risky buffs

--R

--R

Being sued right now, please help me find a lawyer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
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With Returnal we've aimed to blend a unique mix of game styles. It combines our trademark explosive arcade action, responsive controls and bullet hell gameplay, and this time it's all presented in third-person. There will be fast and frenetic combat and intense gunplay, and also some rich exploration and traversal as you explore the procedurally generated environments of Atropos. We've created Returnal to be a challenging and rewarding experience, with enough variety and depth to keep you always coming back for "one more go".
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Selene will have many weapons and devices at her disposal to survive on the hostile alien planet Atropos. Some she's brought with her – others she's found and made her own. The above video shows some of the various abilities you'll find while playing Returnal which we'll dive into below.

The game features a number of base weapons that are augmented as you play. For example, the living Spitmaw Blaster weapon starts as a shotgun archetype you all know and love. As you progress, you'll unlock and add on various Weapon Traits, each providing a unique gameplay modifier to the base weapon's behavior. These Weapon Traits are custom tailored for each gun type – so your Spitmaw Blaster might gain exploding shells or generate acid pools upon impact; while the Electropylon Driver might extract extra loot from enemies, or generate shields for the player. These Weapon Traits will also stack, so the combined effects can lead to many surprising results that can have unique advantages and playstyles to explore.
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For Selene, death is no escape. Each death sends Selene to the start of the time loop, just moments before crashing on the planet. Most abilities and items collected on the previous cycle will be lost…but not all of them. Some persist across sessions, so you'll still make progress every cycle.

One of these persisting elements is the mysterious Cthonos, an alien device that generates a random item at the beginning of each cycle. This otherworldly device is tracking your performance, and when enough progress is accumulated you will be rewarded with a brand new item for immediate use, which will also be permanently added to the pool of available loot from that point on as well.
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blog.playstation.com

Returnal combat details: Upgradable weapons, otherworldly tools, and risky buffs

How Housemarque is equipping you to survive its upcoming PS5 action shooter.
blog.playstation.com blog.playstation.com
 
modiz

modiz

Member
Oct 8, 2018
17,831
Looks so good! I just need to get one of those systems before the game is out....
 
Lord Fanny

Lord Fanny

Banned
Apr 25, 2020
25,953
Yeah, even though the roguelike structure is something I've very skeptical of and generally something I don't know like, whew, the combat aspect just looks so damn good.
 
TransEuropaExpress

TransEuropaExpress

Member
Dec 6, 2017
10,987
US
I'm there Day 1 and I think it looks and sounds fantastic but the procedurally generated environments still give me pause every time. I have yet to play a game with procedurally generated levels that I didn't find disappointing in that aspect.
 
EJS

EJS

The Fallen - Self Requested Ban
Banned
Oct 31, 2017
9,176
Looks amazing. It's the only 2021 game I have preordered.
 
ghostcrew

ghostcrew

The Shrouded Ghost
Administrator
Oct 27, 2017
30,351
This is sounding more and more like a new Risk of Rain and I am here for that.
 
Lord Fanny

Lord Fanny

Banned
Apr 25, 2020
25,953
TransEuropaExpress said:
I'm there Day 1 and I think it looks and sounds fantastic but the procedurally generated environments still give me pause every time. I have yet to play a game with procedurally generated levels that I didn't find disappointing in that aspect.
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Lol, yeah, same boat. Really wish this wasn't like that, but I'm willing to give it a try.
 
degauss

degauss

Banned
Oct 28, 2017
4,631
"Much like our carbine technology" was a strange line.

This seems cool, and I know it's single player, but I really hope for a multiplayer co-op mode at some point.
 

RelaxItsJustMe

Member
Feb 15, 2019
2,535
Very hopeful of this title, will still wait for reviews just to see what the overall thoughts are but unless it's in general very negative which I really just can't see happen, I'll be there day 1.
 
Raxious

Raxious

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,496
Gunplay seems nice but the environments feel kind of empty and boring. Curious how this game will perform.
 
Aerial51

Aerial51

Member
Apr 24, 2020
3,685
I am glad that you don't start at zero at the beginning of a new run, that's very good to hear.
 
Kalentan

Kalentan

Member
Oct 25, 2017
44,629
Aerial51 said:
I am glad that you don't start at zero at the beginning of a new run, that's very good to hear.
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It's basically the standard of Rogue-likes, harder to think of one that doesn't have some form of permanent progression.

Only one I can think of is Risk of Rain 2 and even then there's new skills to unlock for characters and characters themselves.
 
Aerial51

Aerial51

Member
Apr 24, 2020
3,685
Kalentan said:
It's basically the standard of Rogue-likes, harder to think of one that doesn't have some form of permanent progression.

Only one I can think of is Risk of Rain 2 and even then there's new skills to unlock for characters and characters themselves.
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I think there is still a difference to be made. A Game like Enter the Gungeon does give you some things that you keep even when your run ends, but it's way less generous than Hades for example, i enjoy the latter more.
 
LifeBrandRobot

LifeBrandRobot

Member
Oct 26, 2017
2,181
Nice I'm always looking for more Returnal news. Game looks super good, hopefully they'll show a longer gameplay segment soon. Kind of like the DeS State of Play.
 
Magic Mushroom

Magic Mushroom

Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,437
I wouldn't be surprised if this ends up as the best game Sony releases this year. It's certainly the one I'm most hyped about.
 
Santar

Santar

Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,979
Norway
One of the few ps5 exclusives I'm actually pretty curious about. Love games with high replayability and I do like the Alien/Prometheus vibes I'm getting from this too.
 
Zetta

Zetta

The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
7,631
Since this is going to be Rogue like does that mean we lose any progress with weapons or has it been stated otherwise?
 
S1kkZ

S1kkZ

Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,386
this is housemarque, so i expect a locked 60 fps. i hope the footage is from an earlier build.
 
TransEuropaExpress

TransEuropaExpress

Member
Dec 6, 2017
10,987
US
Lord Fanny said:
Lol, yeah, same boat. Really wish this wasn't like that, but I'm willing to give it a try.
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The overall aesthetics of the levels keep making me think 'holy shit, Sci-Fi Souls third person shooter' but then I remember it's procedural and roguelike and come back down to earth. Still looks fantastic but I still don't know if that aspect'll work for me in practice.

I'll also add that so far I get the impressions the levels are merely combat arenas really but it does state exploration and traversal so...
 
Zachary_Games

Zachary_Games

Member
Jul 31, 2020
2,957
The gameplay looks great. A katana? LFG.

However, we need a deep dive. And hopefully those framerate drops are not present in the final product.
 
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