Returnal

Returnal sounded great on paper but after playing it the game is just a mess. Everything looks the exact same from start to finish. I know it's a rogue like but that doesn't mean it has to look alike. It just makes the game feel empty. The weapons aren't to bad. They get held by the lacking combat. They wanted to make it all fast pace but it just feels uncomfortable. I don't know what it is. The bosses are where the game really takes a nose dive. From example 1 of the bosses has different attacks where you need to avoid it different. Throu dash or jumping. But they both look the same at 1st so you have to guess which way to avoid it. That is unless your lucky enough to be standing on further side of the sweep but if not enjoy getting hit for a mass amount of health. Also in-between each health bar you don't have any time before the next phase so why not just have 1 long health bar with lines in at each new phase. If your going to make it 3 separate health bars it makes you think your gonna have a bit of time in-between each phase to revive your friend or whatever. Which I think there should be during a long encounter anyway but that's just my opinion.

At 1 point there was a building which you can't enter. But later after seeing it I got a key and it said it was for the building but you still can't enter it? Why do you give me a key when you still can't enter? Surely someone would have picked up on how misleading and silly that is?

Anyway, essentially the game boils down to mindlessly running round the same looking rooms doing random stuff which you don't know if it's optional or its actually driving the progress forward. Eventually it will tell you that you can now open the boss room door. Also here and then it will tell you something about the story. But that's few and far between and you'll probably forget what's actually going on half the time.

I like the fact the developers tried something new. However this game would have probably been better if it wasn't a rogue like.

It's a very well crafted game with some welcomed historical influences and brilliant combat.

If you like rogue-like games, like myself, then you'll find it has a lot to offer in the genre, but it misses the mark by being too punishing in the wrong ways.

All rogue-like games require some kind of grind, but this is brutal and very unrewarding at times with very little, to no guidance. Other rogue-like games shine a light on what is expected, Returnal is just a closed book which can be exhausting to play after some time, it isn't a good thing. Games should be welcoming, not stubborn. Encouraging but challenging is the way.

The balance is a little out, and this game is set out to hurt you, but I do still recommend it a due to its overall design and bullet-hell combat. 7/10.

A great game with a lot of variety with the weapons and abilities you can use. A fair amount of choices to be made when you decide what kind of build you want for different fight engagements.

There's something left to be said about the final boss when it is the easiest one to beat in the entire game, but the rest of them will give you a challenge on your first run-in with them.

A bit lacking with other activities to do in the game other than just moving down a lot of aliens. Could have added more optional challenges to overcome.

But overall a nice little challenging experience.

Having played this game for my 1st jump to the PS5 left me very encouraged about the new hardware. Owning a Pro and playing it again 2+ years later now that it's been patched for the PS5 Pro and I'm definitely here for the whole experience. Yes, it's Souls like, but it's also completely unique from that genre. Beautiful - check, difficult but rewarding - check, intriguing story - check but you have to give it time & accept that you're going to be starting fresh a lot until you really get the hang of it. Anyone looking for a fun game to throw lots of hours into, I highly recommend!!! I'll admit that the current generation needs more quality games, but the great ones they have developed are absolute works of art, i.e. Returnal, Horizon (both games), Spiderman 2, etc.

After reading some reviews on here I felt obligated to leave one of my own. This game is so misunderstood. Most people that gave this game low ratings are bad at the game and are mad they have to start over after every death. Just because you're not good at a game doesn't mean it's bad. On the contrary, this game is incredible. Great combat that gets more rewarding the more you play and adapt. Weapons become better the more you play and you unlock more powerful consumable as well. The story is up for interpretation, but the difficulty is that way for a reason. The main character is locked in a personal hell that she can never leave.

Give this game a chance and I promise you won't regret it.