#RETURNAL UPDATE UPDATE#

Selene eventually learns that she apparently used an alien cannon to paradoxically shoot down her own ship which caused her to be stranded on Atropos.Įventually, Selene tracks down the source of the White Shadow. Every time she enters it, she recalls old memories and repeatedly encounters an astronaut wearing an antique space suit. As she tracks the White Shadow, Selene comes across what appears to be a replica of her childhood home. Resolving to find the source of the White Shadow, Selene presses on, fighting hostile alien lifeforms and scavenging alien technology left over from the advanced, extinct alien civilization that used to reside on Atropos. The planet seems to change with every loop, and Selene begins experiencing vivid visions.

She learns that every time she dies, time loops back to the moment she crashed, sending her back to her starting point. Unable to contact ASTRA, Selene explores the planet and is shocked when she comes across corpses of herself. Upon arrival, Selene's ship Helios suffers heavy damage and crash lands. Plot ĭisobeying orders, ASTRA Corporation explorer Selene Vassos attempts to land on the off-limits planet of Atropos to investigate what she dubs the 'White Shadow' signal, which somehow seems familiar to her.

#RETURNAL UPDATE UPDATE#

The Ascension update introduces online cooperative multiplayer, which allows up to two players to complete the game's campaign together. Selene additionally has a melee weapon that can be used to attack enemies, destroy resource geodes, or destroy barriers. Each weapon has unique traits that can be leveled up to unlock enhanced perks that can deal more damage. Players can find a variety of weapons in the game, ranging from a basic pistol to an Electropylon Driver. Selene has the ability to dash and can later unlock a grappling hook that lets her shoot to predefined points in a room. If the player dies during a run, they are sent to the beginning of the half. The game is split into two halves- each consisting of three biomes. After every death, Selene is resurrected, following a pattern of traversing foreign environments and combating extraterrestrial entities with growing visions in an ever changing world. Set in a futuristic science fiction setting, the player controls Selene Vassos ( Jane Perry), a space pilot, equipped with a suit and armed with high-tech weapons, who is stranded on the alien planet Atropos, and stuck in a time loop. This new Suspend Cycle system will hopefully make it accessible to those who don't have so many hours each day to dedicate to playing games.įor more, check out this breakdown of Returnal's VFX features, and the devs reacting to a blisteringly fast 46 minute speed run.Returnal is a third-person shooter video game featuring roguelike elements and covering the psychological horror genre. Where roguelikes such as Hades have systems that hold your progress from the start of an area, Returnal's design did not originally incorporate anything like that. The multi-hour length of a single run of Returnal meant that it demanded a lot of time from players, especially if they died and had to start over. Roguelikes typically do not have saves, but are usually short games that can be attempted in a single session. Returnal was critically acclaimed, but players quickly became frustrated by how long its runs are. Alongside fine tuning an angle for your subject, there are also different sources of light to highlight the scene, a variety of different filters, effects, frames, coloring options, and more to be used. In addition to Suspend Cycle, the Returnal 2.0 update adds a photo mode, which functions much like similar modes seen in many other games. The Suspend Cycle system does have some limitations it will not be able to create suspend points during boss battles, cinematics, first-person sequences, or 'intense combat scenarios'. 'With this approach, we can keep the roguelike spirit and “high stakes” commitment to your run intact, while still providing some quality-of-life convenience for players who like to experience Returnal in shorter bursts,' concluded Krueger. Your game will continue directly from the moment you left it, and if you want to suspend the cycle again, your progress will be captured from that new point onwards.' As Returnal's Game Director, Harry Krueger, explains: 'The structure of the game remains unchanged, so this functionality is not a traditional mid-game “Save Game” option: by suspending the cycle, Returnal will simply create a single use suspend point, and once you resume playing the suspend point is deleted and cannot be used again.

It's important to note that while Suspend Cycle creates a save state, this save is not permanent, and can only be reloaded once.

Returnal update