Returnal™

It's pretty fun. The only big negative aspect I've noticed so far is that maybe the upgrades feel too focused on numbers and aren't really impactful on changing gameplay mechanics, which is part of why I like roguelikes in the first place. Maybe some people would disagree, but I think this game is very noob friendly, specially considering how the 3 act progression system works: if you beat 3 biomes, you go to the next act and reset at that same act when you die instead of going all the way back. As for narrative: I don't think story elements should affect my perception of a game and that gameplay should be a priority. However, I believe story driven players could also enjoy the narrative aspect of this game, which feels very mysterious and visually rich.

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ WHAT A GAME

yes

The shooting gameplay, the movement and the atmosphere is top notch. The game is also quite gorgeous. The story doesn't make much sense without a guide afterwards. The first half of the game, act 1, is not that hatd. BUT this game does NOT respect your time! It's a rogue-like, sure. But the runs are very, VERY long. Count 2-3 hours. Why? Because even though you CAN skip biomes, it doesn't make sense to do so. You'll be massively underleveled for what's to come. So, you have to do all the rooms, pick up everything, etc. That's more game, you mean? Oh yeah, I forgot one thing: you die VERY easily. Act 2 is way, WAY harder than act 1. You loose all your items, gun, etc. when you start act 2... The ennenies hit very hard and have attacks that cause AOE. ALMOST ALL OF THEM! The bonuses you get from artifacts, consumables or even parasites are not as good as the maluses you get from malfunctions. And you can get malfunctions easily, because they had the "bright" idea to make a lot of pickup items and chests corrupted. And you NEED those health items to stay alive. Two hiand you loose ALL your adrenaline, which takes ages to get to 5. And yes: once you diey unless you've got a "second chance" item, you go back TO THE VERY START! So, what happens often is that you play for 2-3 hours. You reach a room with a powerful enemy that kicks your ass and you go back to the start... The artifial item based and rng difficulty AND the long runs make this game VERY frustrating in the end.

Getting this out there first Returnal is a pretty good game on its own. My problem with it lies that that its a roguelite without any of the interesting parts. Pretty much all the items that you find in the game are boring stat increases and you don't really feel any progression in power or playstyle throughout a run. The runs are much longer than the average roguelite but with nothing to really keep you engaged than a change of scenery. its also strangely easy once you get the controls too. I died to the first boss 3-4 times before beating them but then I went on to beat every subsequent boss on my first attempt. The second to last zone doesn't even have a boss at the end so when I beat the final boss it was a surprise to me. By the time I had beat the final boss the in game clock read 10 hours of gameplay. To add on top of all this the game just doesn't run well even all these years later. No matter the settings you will get constant stutters going anywhere that don't ever let up. Overall the game is fine if you want to just beat it once but in my opinion a roguelike without replay ability is very disappointing. If you do pick it up make sure to get it on sale.

Absolutely brutal rogue-like but with a fantastic plot, a really irritating one more go element which has kept me up many hours. Legendary :-)

Great bullet-hell-roguelike - the androgynous protagonist isn't my cup of tea but the gameplay and worldbuilding make up for it. Performance and visuals are still great - i haven't had any bugs. Saros on PC, pretty please? Housemarque should have a better publisher.

Fun stage based game that is a breathe of fresh air in a slop filled world.