Returnal will not let me go. I preordered and began playing on release day—nearly a year as of this writing. In almost forty years of gaming, I haven’t seen many games exceed every expectation. In my opinion, Returnal is one of the best video games ever made. Housemarque nailed everything from gameplay to graphics, sound to music, and ambiance to enemy and level design. Returnal tells an interesting story without overloading the player with lengthy cutscenes or heavy loads of dialogue. You know just enough to keep you guessing and intrigued. It strikes a perfect balance few games attempt and fewer achieve.
I remember the intrigue of the opening and the punishing first few minutes that followed leading to the flash of the title screen after beginning the game for the first time. In the days that followed, like many others, I struggled to get anywhere. Unlocked items and weapons were few. I didn’t have a full understanding of all the mechanics but every time I made it just a little further. Upon meeting Phrike, I died. A lot. In some ways it reminded me of my frustrations with Sekiro and Bloodborne. In other ways, it was worse. But there was something about the randomness at the core of Returnal that kept bringing me back. After a handful of brutal defeats, I stopped just shy of Phrike’s entrance to watch a narrated video walkthrough and then had my first real success. I defeated Phrike.
My experiences after were similar. Every map was increasingly more difficult. Every boss unique and punishing in their own way. Every triumph came a little faster than the one before. I completed Act 1 after eight days and then defeated the final boss for the first time three days later. I immediately began working through a series of speedruns for missing glyphs, scout logs, and the additional items required for Act 3.
In the beginning, my love for Returnal was marred by some pretty serious bugs and game crashes. I fought and defeated the second boss a second time because a trophy didn’t trigger. I lost progress on multiple runs due to crashes. After 300 speed runs there were glyphs and scout logs in rooms I had never seen before. Even now, after hundreds of hours and achieving the platinum trophy, there’s a weapon I never unlocked. Six months ago, I was five collectibles away from the platinum trophy and walked away in frustration. It seemed clear that statistically I should have seen every room in every biome at least once. Continuing to run the maps over and over in hopes of finally getting those rooms to spawn seem like insanity.
Returnal’s Ascension tower and some discussions with people within Twitter’s gaming community drew me back in. Within a few days every missing collectible spawned and I completed the platinum trophy a few days ago, April 19th. Nearly a year after its release. The platinum trophy is not for the faint of heart. But if you’re in love with this game there’s no greater sense of accomplishment within Returnal than knowing you survived the random number generator (RNG). Some of the bosses were tough. But it was the RNG that defeated me for nearly six months.
Kropolis Gaming 