Last week, the Helsinki-based video game developer Housemarque released Returnal for the PlayStation 5. Its a spectacular showcase for the brand-new console: a survival horror game set on a distant, menacing planet determined to kill you over and over again.
The lonesome astronaut Selene Vassos, seeking the source of a mysterious signal known as the White Shadow, crashes onto the ruined planet Atropos. She recovers from the landing and abandons the wreckage in order to explore the hostile terrain, overrun with beastly hordes and littered with copies of her own corpse. Atropos appears to be a strange new world until Selene, deep in a forest, stumbles upon her own house, filled with hints of her troubled life on Earth and haunted by a second, faceless astronaut who observes Selene without speaking. Selene later encounters titanic opponents who bombard her with lasers, missiles, and orbs. Inevitably, Selene diesin fact, she dies a lotonly to once again relive the crash, revive by the wreckage, and restart her journey into the heart of darkness. Gradually, Selene learns shes caught in a time loop. To escape Atropos, Selene must scavenge and fight her way straight from the wreckage to the White Shadow at her journeys end.
While Sony still struggles to satisfy the retail demand for the PS5, Returnal is the most impressive early demonstration of the consoles key technical merits: better graphics and faster load times. The latter improvement proves crucial in the seamless transition from death to rebirth; a high death count in Returnal might be unbearable, not just challenging, on an older console with slower loading gates. Still, there are some technical limitations that prove a bit too conspicuous in Returnal. The developers, expecting the player to beat the game in a single, high-stakes run, declined to implement a conventional save system. This constraint might be tolerable if not for the games tendency to crash, wiping the players latest run without warning or recourse. Housemarque has acknowledged the widespread complaints about lost progress in Returnal, but theyve yet to say whether theyll improve the games stability and revise the save system with software patches. For now, Returnal remains a frustrating but nonetheless brilliant challenge.
Selene must defeat the boss of each biome in order to recover a key to the next. Whenever she dies, she keeps her keys, meaning Selene must vanquish each boss only once. But each time Selene dies and relives her crash landing, she must once again fight her way through the hordes loitering between her and the latest boss. Though swift, Selene is small, outnumbered, and easily overwhelmed in hostile encounters. She cant just evade the hordes without foregoing the crucial items they supply for overcoming the bosses: better weapons, higher health, and stat bonuses. But she might also live to regret risking another horde encounter in order to salvage just one more upgrade; maybe the health she loses to the horde wasnt worth the new resources she manages to harvest from the battleground, maybe she dies.
Once a horde descends on Selene, the musical score swells into a pessimistic progression that seems to take the players demise for granted. But if Selene defeats the horde, the chord dissipates and the battleground is cleared for her to scavenge before proceeding to the next arena. Theres no getting too comfortable with the topography of Atropos. Though youll memorize the layout of certain areas, each new run will reshuffle the room-to-room arrangement of areas as well as the enemies and items inside the areas. Selenes fortitude in any given run is, to some great degree, a matter of luck.
The survivalism in Returnal is stressful enough, but then theres the cosmic horror in the design, which often promotes the stress into dread. Theres slime and tentacles everywhere, theres crabs and androids and angels and supersoldiers, and from beginning to end they remain shrouded in inscrutability. For the most part, Returnal resists the urge to overexplain the mysteries of Atropos. On her own corpses Selene finds logs of her past selves explaining her latest discoveries, milestones, and pitfalls in exploring the planet, but as the player pushes deeper into Atropos her logs become delusional, revealing her descent into madness as she struggles to escape the planet. Selenes childhood home contains the most straightforward revelations about her distress, and even there the hints are abstracted into mementos: an astronaut figurine, an octopus doll, and a mess of empty pill bottles. Theres much more intrigue than plot in Returnal, and thats the games great strength. Its less interested in looking more realistic or seeming more cinematic than earlier shooters. Its far more determined to employ its state-of-the-art specifications toward a new vividness, thanks in large part to haptic feedback in the new controller.
Theres far more prominent franchise titles on the early release calendar for the PS5. Theres a new Resident Evil game this week and a new chapter in the Final Fantasy VII Remake series next month; Im sure both will unlock new levels of technical excellence in a long-running series. But Returnal emerges as the consoles first grand and original thought, a new title for a new generation.
Link:
Returnal Is the First Showcase for the PS5, and Its Stunning - The Ringer
- Metal Gear Solid - Master Collection Vol 1 is out, bringing MGS3 to ... - Rock Paper Shotgun - October 29th, 2023 [October 29th, 2023]
- Decadence, Sickness, and Death: Mourning and the Israel-Hamas ... - Religion Dispatches - October 23rd, 2023 [October 23rd, 2023]
- Gcaleka voted in as new public protector - Mail and Guardian - October 23rd, 2023 [October 23rd, 2023]
- Turning the Gaza Hospital Blast into Propaganda Instead of News - The Messenger - October 23rd, 2023 [October 23rd, 2023]
- The Great North: 11 Times Moon Tobin Was the Funniest Tobin - MovieWeb - June 10th, 2023 [June 10th, 2023]
- Milano Design Week, 5 things not to be missed today - Domus IT - April 23rd, 2023 [April 23rd, 2023]
- How The Survivalism Movement Started - Survivopedia - January 25th, 2023 [January 25th, 2023]
- You need to watch the bloodiest Viking thriller on Amazon Prime ASAP - Inverse - October 13th, 2022 [October 13th, 2022]
- Roald Dahls Matilda the Musical Review: Kids Win the Day in This Perky Adaptation, but Emma Thompsons Trunchbull Is the Real Triumph - Variety - October 8th, 2022 [October 8th, 2022]
- The Brooks Brothers Insurrection - Puck - October 8th, 2022 [October 8th, 2022]
- 'The Last Of Us' - Potentially the Best Live-Action Game Adaptation - The Cosmic Circus - October 8th, 2022 [October 8th, 2022]
- So Were Doing Survivalism in Cooking Shows Now - October 2nd, 2022 [October 2nd, 2022]
- Alone: Frozen Episode 6 Recap and Review - Post Apocalyptic Media - September 20th, 2022 [September 20th, 2022]
- Rainn Wilson Would Never Say 1 'The Office' Dwight Quote Because He's a Vegan - Showbiz Cheat Sheet - July 25th, 2022 [July 25th, 2022]
- 5 Book Reviews You Need to Read This Week - Literary Hub - June 29th, 2022 [June 29th, 2022]
- Will Wilson's Portraits of Survivance - Hyperallergic - June 29th, 2022 [June 29th, 2022]
- Tradecraft /// Covert Operative Lifestyle + CIA Training Guide - June 11th, 2022 [June 11th, 2022]
- Britney Spears: The Once and Future Versace Muse - The New York Times - June 11th, 2022 [June 11th, 2022]
- World Environment Day: David Bowie and the birth of environmentalism - The Star Online - June 11th, 2022 [June 11th, 2022]
- Debut novelist to give reading and take part in Q&A at Lancashire university - Lancashire Telegraph - May 3rd, 2022 [May 3rd, 2022]
- 3.3 Cultural Diversity Sociology - University of Minnesota - April 9th, 2022 [April 9th, 2022]
- 10 Things You Didn't Know about Donny Dust - TVOvermind - April 9th, 2022 [April 9th, 2022]
- The 40 Best Creative Hobbies You Can Try - Next Luxury - April 6th, 2022 [April 6th, 2022]
- How Prepper Moms Tackled The Pandemic | KCM - Katie Couric Media - April 2nd, 2022 [April 2nd, 2022]
- How the Eusocial Nature of Ants Influences Their Response to Climate Change - AZoCleantech - March 18th, 2022 [March 18th, 2022]
- Freedom Convoy Suspects Charged With Plan to Kill Cops Linked to Anti-Government Group - VICE - February 17th, 2022 [February 17th, 2022]
- Alleged member of neo-Nazi terror cell says he entered right-wing politics as a Donald Trump supporter - The Independent - February 17th, 2022 [February 17th, 2022]
- If doomsday prepping has taught me anything, it's that we can't survive alone - Waging Nonviolence - February 7th, 2022 [February 7th, 2022]
- Joe Rogan: How the cage fighting commentator and dirty stand-up comedian became the king of podcasting - The Independent - January 17th, 2022 [January 17th, 2022]
- Neve Campbell Is Still the Reigning Queen of 'Scream' - ELLE.com - January 13th, 2022 [January 13th, 2022]
- 100 Best Prepper and Survivalist Youtube Channels - December 19th, 2021 [December 19th, 2021]
- As Sometimes a Great Notion Turns 50, It's Worth Looking Back at the Stampers and Oregon's Role in the Film - Willamette Week - December 13th, 2021 [December 13th, 2021]
- How we made this game, our game | TheSpec.com - TheSpec.com - December 13th, 2021 [December 13th, 2021]
- Robert Bly obituary - The Guardian - November 23rd, 2021 [November 23rd, 2021]
- Readers reply: where should I move to in order to best survive the climate crisis? - The Guardian - November 21st, 2021 [November 21st, 2021]
- 'Yellowjackets' Exemplifies the Regret that Can Come With Age - Your Money Geek - November 21st, 2021 [November 21st, 2021]
- Mythic Fantasy Roleplaying Game - November 17th, 2021 [November 17th, 2021]
- Where is Clay Hayes now? Alone season 8 winner update! - Reality Titbit - Celebrity TV News - August 26th, 2021 [August 26th, 2021]
- Clay Hayes' Wife: Is Clay Hayes Married? Does He Have Kids? - The Cinemaholic - August 26th, 2021 [August 26th, 2021]
- Theresa Kamper Now: Where is Alone Season 8 2nd Runner-up Today? Update - The Cinemaholic - August 26th, 2021 [August 26th, 2021]
- What It Really Means To Win A Season Of Alone - Looper - August 26th, 2021 [August 26th, 2021]
- Seventy-four - The Express Tribune - August 14th, 2021 [August 14th, 2021]
- Altercation: The Ghost That Stalks the American Jewish Establishment - The American Prospect - August 14th, 2021 [August 14th, 2021]
- Squirrels quite nice ... fox tastes awful Learning to survive in the wild - The Irish Times - July 25th, 2021 [July 25th, 2021]
- Ex-police community support officer jailed after IED found at her home - Yahoo News UK - July 10th, 2021 [July 10th, 2021]
- Alligator Loki is the MCU's newest, most amazing obsession - For The Win - July 10th, 2021 [July 10th, 2021]
- Survivalism 101: A Survivalist Preparation Guide | Gaia - June 23rd, 2021 [June 23rd, 2021]
- Download Pilot as it happens: Music, moshing and a whole lotta rain - Louder - June 23rd, 2021 [June 23rd, 2021]
- Why American individualism is perfectly suited to the doomsday prepper movement - KCRW - May 4th, 2021 [May 4th, 2021]
- In the Earth review: Cosmic horror in the void between technology and magic - Polygon - April 17th, 2021 [April 17th, 2021]
- Vaccines, affinity fraud, survivalism among policy updates ... - April 11th, 2021 [April 11th, 2021]
- What is 'survivalism' and why is it getting so popular in Spain? - Euronews - April 11th, 2021 [April 11th, 2021]
- From One Nation to neo-Nazism: Australians being drawn into extremism - Sydney Morning Herald - March 31st, 2021 [March 31st, 2021]
- Archie Roach, we are unworthy of your benevolence and nobility - Beat Magazine - February 25th, 2021 [February 25th, 2021]
- Little Nightmares 2: The Story Explained | TheGamer - TheGamer - February 25th, 2021 [February 25th, 2021]
- Canada Designates Proud Boys, Atomwaffen, and The Base as Terror Organizations - VICE - February 6th, 2021 [February 6th, 2021]
- What To Make Of The Mysterious Melania Trump - Worldcrunch - July 21st, 2020 [July 21st, 2020]
- 'The Office:' How the Jim-and-Dwight Rivalry Impacted the Actors' Offscreen Relationship - Showbiz Cheat Sheet - July 21st, 2020 [July 21st, 2020]
- What Does Al-Qaeda Tell Us About The Base? - The Defense Post - July 21st, 2020 [July 21st, 2020]
- The 12 Best Zombie Movies of All Time - Men's Health - July 8th, 2020 [July 8th, 2020]
- Inside the luxury nuclear bunker protecting the mega-rich from the apocalypse - CNET - July 8th, 2020 [July 8th, 2020]
- Leader of ultra-right militia The Three Percenters General BloodAgent predicts end of America by 2021 and warns of new civil war - RT - July 8th, 2020 [July 8th, 2020]
- Coronavirus and the Culture Wars - PopMatters - July 8th, 2020 [July 8th, 2020]
- The Rose | by Ben Lerner - The New York Review of Books - July 8th, 2020 [July 8th, 2020]
- VICE - Armed Man Who Allegedly Stormed Justin Trudeau's Residence Appears to Have Posted QAnon Content - VICE - July 8th, 2020 [July 8th, 2020]
- Military Veterans and the Boogaloo Bois Explained - Connecting Vets - June 20th, 2020 [June 20th, 2020]
- Return to your roots: Gardening a great solution to cope with stress of pandemic - The Independent - May 24th, 2020 [May 24th, 2020]
- Else Blangsted, Who Fled the Nazis and Found a Hollywood Ending, Dies at 99 - The New York Times - May 24th, 2020 [May 24th, 2020]
- Inside ultra-luxurious disaster survival kits where super-rich can pay 4k for night vision goggles and posh - The Sun - May 24th, 2020 [May 24th, 2020]
- Far More Valuable Than a Stockpile of Food and Money - Investment U - May 19th, 2020 [May 19th, 2020]
- Eat this Now (Because You Have to): Terrible Homemade Bread - Kansas City Pitch - May 15th, 2020 [May 15th, 2020]
- Survivor Is the Quintessential TV Show - The Ringer - May 15th, 2020 [May 15th, 2020]
- Documentary shows life in the 'Biosphere' wasn't out of this world - Arlington Catholic Herald - May 15th, 2020 [May 15th, 2020]
- I didn't think a pandemic would bring out the domestic goddess in me - Metro.co.uk - May 11th, 2020 [May 11th, 2020]
- How to avoid the end times - The Japan Times - March 24th, 2020 [March 24th, 2020]
- Is It as Impossible to Build Jerusalem as It is to Escape Babylon? (Part Two) - CounterPunch - February 27th, 2020 [February 27th, 2020]
- Veteran Analyst Warns of XRP Crash to $0.20 as Price Stumbles - Ethereum World News - February 27th, 2020 [February 27th, 2020]
- XRP Could Be on Verge of Explosive Breakout Higher, Taking It 100% Higher - Ethereum World News - February 27th, 2020 [February 27th, 2020]
- XRP Just Flipped a Key Resistance Into Support: Why This is Bullish - Ethereum World News - February 27th, 2020 [February 27th, 2020]
- Ripple Is On The Verge Of A New Rally According To Analysts - Somag News - February 27th, 2020 [February 27th, 2020]