Returnal - RLLMUK and BAFTA GOTY 2021 - Free Ascension DLC out now!

[HarryBizzle]

Also, the useable item you find that transports you to an unknown location, is that like a challenge area or just a random bit of the map? I assume it’s best used to get you out of a tight spot? Can it be used during a boss fight?

[kempstar]

16 minutes ago, HarryBizzle said:

Also, the useable item you find that transports you to an unknown location, is that like a challenge area or just a random bit of the map? I assume it’s best used to get you out of a tight spot? Can it be used during a boss fight?

It is random room with goodies in it. Not enemies.

 

It cant be used near enemies.

[BadgerFarmer]

Not sure, but I think it can have enemies. It effectively takes you to one of the rooms you usually get by dropping through those crumbling floor tiles.

 

So you can only go there once and it's not part of the map.

[SpagMasterSwift]

Since beating Ixion everything has really open up, feel like I’ve finally finished the tutorial. It’s just pure gaming magic, innit! 

[kempstar]

2 hours ago, BadgerFarmer said:

Not sure, but I think it can have enemies. It effectively takes you to one of the rooms you usually get by dropping through those crumbling floor tiles.

 

So you can only go there once and it's not part of the map.

Have you ever had an enemy room? Im 90% sure it is only “good” rooms.

[BadgerFarmer]

2 hours ago, kempstar said:

Have you ever had an enemy room? Im 90% sure it is only “good” rooms.

I think so, but it's certainly possible I'm misremembering.

[kempstar]

19 minutes ago, BadgerFarmer said:

I think so, but it's certainly possible I'm misremembering.

Hmmm, I asked The Internet. And apparently you can get enemies. Im sure I never got enemies though, but perhaps I am misrembering… so perhaps you have a greater chance of getting something good?

[BadgerFarmer]

38 minutes ago, kempstar said:

Hmmm, I asked The Internet. And apparently you can get enemies. Im sure I never got enemies though, but perhaps I am misrembering… so perhaps you have a greater chance of getting something good?

Yeah, I think that's the case with the crumbling floor rooms anyway. 

[CrichStand]

Has a patch increased the difficulty level in this or what? Got to the final boss twice now and both times it appears to have been impossible with the entire screen full waves of purple rings on the floor at the same time as 1000s of airborne projectiles and lasers everywhere. Even though I have a powerful weapon  it barely touches the health of the boss too.
 

I’m also now dying a lot 10mins into runs, when i’ll suddenly hit a room that absolutely batters me in similar fashion.

 

Oh, and I’m over 100hrs played but not getting any further with the trophies. No Scout logs are appearing, not getting any new weapon traits, and never get the items I need to use to meet trophy requirements. Is this a glitch or something?

[Vemsie]

I don't think they bumped the difficuly. I killed Ophion yesterday in what seemed like 90 seconds with my ridiculously OP build.

[Cyhwuhx]

Nah. Completed the game twice yesterday and then had one run immediately end in the first room. So it's still the same old.

[Rog]

So I’ve just finished. I enjoy the gameplay but what’s the purpose of playing through again? To get more story snippets? When you say you’ve completed the game twice today, what does that mean, you’ve run through all the bosses again?

 

I ran through the first two biomes again but didn’t really see anything much new, then had to go out so that was an hour down the drain. I’ve not kept up with the thread here but the lack of even a single save is laughable, as good as the game is.

[hmm]

16 hours ago, CrichStand said:

Has a patch increased the difficulty level in this or what?

 

I think the difficulty is either a) completely random, in which case it could really do with a little bit control in my opinion, so that you can't end up in run-ending rooms full of enemies that are essentially impossible to kill with your current weapons; or b) dynamically adjusted, which might tie in with the apparent bump I had shortly after an outstanding run through biomes 4 - 6. Seeing as I just did that again this morning, I guess I may now see!

 

Or perhaps it's just buggy. I haven't run into too many problems personally - apart from one elite bad guy falling under the map and destroying the framerate until I moved to the next biome - but I have read the patch notes so it seems quite possible.

 

8 minutes ago, Rog said:

So I’ve just finished. I enjoy the gameplay but what’s the purpose of playing through again? To get more story snippets?

 

There is still more story, yes, which I think you get by

 

Spoiler

discovering all of the glyph things and then killing the final boss again.

 

There's obviously the trophies to polish off too, if you're so inclined. But at this point, basically you just keep playing the game until you've had enough.

 

I guess you could question the amount of content for the price that Sony were trying to charge really. Most of the debate beforehand was more about whether or not it was AAA but I think the quality is absolutely at a premium level, in terms of the presentation and gameplay. The amount of unique content is much less convincing, I'd suggest. I'm more than getting my money's worth but the amount I've spent, via Boomerang, will be £10-20, not £60-70. I think I might have been a little bit disgruntled when I reached the end had I paid near full price for a digital copy.

[Rog]

I’ve had my time from the game for certain and am happy with it. When you’re running through though, are you skipping to the finale as quickly as possible? As I say I finished, ran thought the first two again and a combination of needing to stop and the 3rd biome being my least favourite…

 

To get the extra story should I be trying to refinish the game as soon as possible or playing through as much of it as possible?

[hmm]

You need to explore to find all the ones you're missing, AFAIK.

[Hylian]

After finishing the game (Act 2) the final story bit is 

Spoiler

Getting the sun fragment from each biome, then revisiting the house, then beating the final boss again

 

[Vemsie]

I have put in over 100 hours, so I definitely got my money's worth. I am trying to get the Platinum - despite the House trophies not unlocking for me - but I also just love the moment to moment gameplay and it's great fun to just blast through three biomes on an evening.

 

Also, I noticed this thread already has way more pages than 2018 blockbuster God of War. Wow. Now I'm partly to blame for that, but still, I'm proud of you for once RLLMUK.

 

As for Housemarque, I hope they'll announce DLC soon. Upcoming PS5 event maybe?

[Cyhwuhx]

In terms of gameplay this is my number 1 so far, although in terms of story/experience Disco Elysium wipes the floor with it. It’s insane 2021 brought me two amazing games.

 

Although the “don’t get hit” game rule is absurd at face value, if you spent time with it, it becomes intoxicating to the point that it becomes an “accessible shmup”.

 

It’s a delightful mix of genres, even though not every genre is represented properly. It’s my favourite PS5 exclusive for now. Would definitely play more content if made available. 

[SpagMasterSwift]

Was rocking around Bio3 today starting to feel quite at home there, decided to go into a blue triangle door room thinking let’s get one last goodie before pushing on when 

Spoiler

I got a cut scene with three of those sword enemies.

I may as well have put the pad down. This game…I’m one day in now so no going back (pun intended).

[HarryBizzle]

 

 

Poor Ixion. Went down on the third crack. Kind of felt bad using the Astronaut statue, but I started off with very little health, which made me feel less bad about it. But that third stage was very sloppy.

 

Kind of amazed at how they jump you ahead in Biome 2. I honestly found some of the Biome 2 standard enemies trickier than Ixiom. I've been killed by Sentients more than I've been killed by him.

 

Obviously still very early on, but I sort of feel a bit like I do about Dark Souls - there's not much point popping Embers or restoring Humanity for a health boost, like there's not that much point rinsing zone 1 to level up for Ix, because it's more about learning attacks and what not.

 

Really enjoying it so far. It's like Laser Dark Souls Hades.

[Onze]

I've now seen the credits roll on this about 5 times with just over 60 hours of game time logged.

 

I completed Act 2 twice yesterday, the first run was to obtain the final fragment and the second run was to see the additional ending which in my opinion was certainly worth it.

 

I'm pretty sure I'm done with it now and I'm not going to chase the Platinum due to hearing that it can be a bit of a grind.

 

It's been a joy to play and the game is up there with my favourite games of all time. There have been a couple of downsides. Every now and again when I restore from rest mode the game suffers with performance issues (frame drops). The only way to resolve it is to restart the PS5 but that's not something that can be done when you're mid run. A save mode is really required. 

 

I've got Ratchet and Clank arriving this week but I'm sure it's not going to be in the same league as Returnal.

[HarryBizzle]

Got my head kicked in taking a quick go at B3 last night. Ran straight in with my level 0 handgun and had a right time of it. 
 

I love the structure of the game, though. It seems like there is much less exposition than in Hades, which keeps that feeling fresher than it otherwise would, but I really don’t like the structure of Hades very much - having to fight through every single stage again. It’s in keeping with the theme of escaping the underworld, I suppose, but that game feels more about build and repitition. The way I can get back to Biome 2 or 3 in just a couple of minutes, if I’m willing to take the hit to my build, is superb, and makes the world feel much more cohesive, strangely enough. 

[Rog]

Well, did a “proper” run through of the first three biomes as in, emptied all the rooms. Didn’t see anything new other than a new datacube. Felt like I wasn’t really following a proper path as I don’t think the map was indicating a new objective?  
 

I recognised the sun icons in the ending video a little more but can’t remember if that’s different to my first watch. Am I looking for the sun pickups in the 2nd act?

[Onze]

@Rog

 

There is 1 sun pickup in each Biome, 1 through 6.

[Rog]

After the first finish? Fuck knows what I’m missing then as I definitely cleared out every room in 1 & 2, 90% of 3. I still can’t open the golden shielded doors mind you so maybe that’s what im missing. I’ll blitz through the second half of the game and see what’s what.

[Onze]

9 minutes ago, Rog said:

After the first finish? Fuck knows what I’m missing then as I definitely cleared out every room in 1 & 2, 90% of 3. I still can’t open the golden shielded doors mind you so maybe that’s what im missing. I’ll blitz through the second half of the game and see what’s what.

Yes you need to have seen the credits roll once before they start to appear.

 

I don't think they are guaranteed to appear? I found mine in Biome 1 in an area that featured a blue orb that created a platform after shooting it.

 

In Biome 2 I'm pretty sure it was in an area that you wouldn't be able to cross without a later suit upgrade.

 

I don't think they are locked behind areas that require a key or the golden shield breaking thing.

[Rog]

This is my mild irritation with the game, I’ve finished it and didn’t really know why I was playing through again since you’re given no indication of why you would do so. I get the mystique of the game and it works well but a developer is shooting themselves in the foot when there’s barely any suggestion of why you should play through again barring having experienced this sort of game before or being told to do so by the internet.

 

Totally emptied every room of the first two biomes, left two blue triangle doors of the third as I didn’t have the keys to open them, one new datacube. I get that new objects won’t appear in the same place each time but surely they should appear somewhere in each biome?

 

Spoiler

I can’t see any way of watching the cutscenes again? From memory I gathered that oblites are the kid’s cereal and there was something else that connected…watching it again for the 2nd time today I didn’t see the astronaut at the table etc. Possibly I can’t remember when those parts come but have they changed?

 

[Alan Stock]

Spoilers regarding your first question (it isnt spoilers for you)

 

Spoiler

On my second playthrough of the game I found a Sun fragment in all 6 biomes first time, and in nearly every case they were in standard areas that required an upgrade to get to the fragment location, for example running over a red floor, behind a gold barrier, a platform found by shooting a glory orb, etc. I can't remember if the fragments appeared as items on the map. The fragments thing is a bit obscure but I knew from the forum they existed and by going through every room I got them all. They are permanent items in your inventory and you can check to see which biomes you have them from in the item description, so you can just fasttail it to the biomes you are missing.

Then with all of them in hand (this can be done on the same run or later) you need to return to the house. I have a feeling you may need to beat the last boss again, I can't remember but the last fragment in biome 6 may have been after the last boss. Someone else here can confirm. By the way even after you have done this you still need to get to the end of the game one more time to get the true ending (which is what I need to do next.

 

Personally I'm quite happy to have story reasons to play through the game again. Any excuse really. You can make some guesses from the first ending but hopefully the last ending is a bit more concrete. 

 

[Rog]

Thanks, that’s what I’ve read. Can’t understand why I didn’t find anything today in the first three areas tho. I’ll see what happens in the second half I guess.

[SpagMasterSwift]

Made it to the third boss last night and had a great time in the build up to it, love how the game still manages to feel fresh after so many cycles. Biome 3 initially seemed spooky with robotic calls echoing around its wide halls and ancient statues that seem to scape the sky, but then it suddenly explodes into waves of red mechanical life. Death comes at you from all angles and in all manner of wonderful ways. 

 

Quick question - please don't tell me the answer if it will become obvious at some point, but 

Spoiler

I went into a room in Bio3 and noticed up on a ledge high up at the back of the room a small figurine of the Spaceman - not the glowing version that gives you an extra life, like a real world stone coloured figurine - I then fought a giant robot machine, the guy who tries to pull you towards it (great fun). Once the battle was over the spaceman figurine was no longer there.

 

Should I have done something with it, does it have a meaning or does it just pop up randomly as a reminder of the spaceman haunting you?