Returnal

Returnal
Developers: Housemarque, Climax Studios (Windows) Publisher: Sony Interactive Entertainment Platforms: PlayStation 5, Windows Released internationally: April 30, 2021 (PS5), February 16, 2023 (Windows) This game has debugging material. This game has revisional differences.

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To do: Further investigation needed. Like, a lot of it.

Returnal is a third-person roguelike shooter where you try to discover what happened on a desolate planet, and then you try to discover what happened on a desolate planet, and then you try to discover what happened on a desolate planet. Yep, that's what happens when you're dying over and over while stuck on a planet that's trapped in an endless time loop.

Debug Keys

For some reason, in v1.00 of the original PS5 release up until at least v1.03, debug keys are enabled by default if you have a keyboard plugged into your console.

• ⇧ Shift + Ctrl + Alt + 1 through 0 - Drop weapons for your current level.
• ⇧ Shift + Ctrl + 3 - Freezes the game.
• ⇧ Shift + Ctrl + 4 - Warps you back to your ship.
• ⇧ Shift + Ctrl + 7 - Freezes the game.
• ⇧ Shift + Ctrl + 8 - Warps you to the last section of the First Cycle.

(Source: TheRandomizer)

Revisional Differences

v. 1.3.3

Released on May 5, 2021 and made the following fixes and adjustments:

• Fixed issues with certain trophies not unlocking.
• Fixed an issue with pre-order suits occasionally blocking item collection and door opening.
• Fixed an issue with healing behavior while resting in Helios.
• Fixed an issue with certain custom controller mappings.
• Revised configuration to increase the available number of scout corpses in biomes.
• Fixed overall stability and addressed rare crashes.
• Numerous minor fixes and improvements.

It should be noted that this update introduced issues with game saving, such as corrupted or deleted save files.

v. 1.3.4

Released on May 6, 2021 and made the following changes:

• Reverted back to v. 1.3.1 in order to fix the save file issue that was introduced in the previous patch.
• Fixed further issues with trophies.
• Fixed a keyboard exploit.

v. 1.3.6

Released on May 8, 2021 and basically reapplied the fixes in v.1.3.3 that were reverted in v. 1.3.4.

v. 1.3.7

Released on May 20, 2021 and fixed the following issues:

• Players will no longer received a negative effect parasite at startup after having one of their scout corpses scavenged.
• Fixed an issue with scout corpses not always appearing as often as intended.
• Fixed an issue where the Ophion boss could disappear after a player uses the Reconstructor during the fight.
• Fixed a rare audio bug that caused loud noises during gameplay.
• Fixed issues in various rooms where players might get stuck
• Fixed an issue where the screen could go black during gameplay or the credits.
• Fixed rare crashes that could occur during gameplay.

v. 1.4.0

Released on June 14, 2021 and made various changes and fixes.
Platinum Trophy adjustments:

• Added support to replay certain Act 1 & 2 trophies.
• Added support to retroactively award missed trophies.
• Added additional locations so that Scout Logs 9, 34, 35 and 46 appear more often.
• Fixed an issue where one cipher could become unobtainable for the Biome Survey trophies.
• Fixed an issue where the count of some activity cards are displayed incorrectly.

Game Balance adjustments:

• Fixed bugs related to certain artifacts, parasites, consumables and when certain malfunctions can occur early in the game.
• Players will no longer receive parasites as rewards when their corpses are avenged.
• Various difficulty adjustments for enemies, weapons and bosses in all biomes.

Audio and UI adjustments:

• HUD labels for items now hide while Selene fires a weapon.
• Fixed an issue that can occur after switching controller presets where two actions become mapped to a single button.
• Fixed a rare audio sync issue that occurs in the secret ending.
• Improved the overall sound mix throughout the game.
• Improved support for surround sound setups.
• Added more DualSense haptics during cinematic moments as well as added haptics while using the Icarian Grapnel.
• Improved the dynamic range adjustments for better recommendations and to also allow the user to override those recommendations.
• Added the option to change the audio output from the game menu.

Fixed the following issues:

• Fixed an issue where the Hyperion could drop the key out of the player's reach.
• Fixed an issue where Ophion could become invisible if the player uses a Reconstructor.
• Fixed weapons not being found in Biomes after scanning but not collecting them.
• Fixed an issue where Selene could jump very far.
• Fixed issues with Selene getting trapped in a room.
• Fixed a crash issue while teleporting in the Crimson Wastes.
• Improved performance (especially while using the Electropylon Driver), fixed crashes and other minor bugs.

v. 1.4.1

Released on July 5, 2021 and made the following adjustments:

• The "Atropian Survival", "Welcome Home", and "Sins of the Mother" trophies can now be unlocked by replaying the Act 3 ending.
• Fixed issues in Daily Challenge where players might be unable to complete a challenge in the Fractured Wastes, as well as an occasional issue in the mode where the incorrect loot may spawn.
• Fixed rare save game corruptions.
• Fixed a visual issue that occurs while scanning new items.

v. 2.0

Released on October 26, 2021 and made the following changes:

• Added the ability to suspend a cycle and resume later.
• Added a Photo Mode.
• Various bugs were fixed and minor quality-of-life improvements were made.

v. 3.0

Released on March 22, 2022 and adds the "Acension" expansion to the game.

• A co-op mode was added. The game was also rebalanced to support co-op and is not available in the Tower of Sisyphus, House sequences or the Daily Challenges.
• An endless survival mode, called "Tower of Sisyphus", with new levels, special weapons and a new boss, was added.
• Various bugs were fixed and minor quality-of-life improvements were made.

v. 3.03

Released on May 2, 2022 and adjusted the following:

• The difficulty in the Tower of Sisyphus was balanced and leaderboards were reset due to this change, in addition to the following changes:
• Audio Log 94 was added in the Tower.
• Fixed a rare bug in the Tower where Algos may die too early or not die at all.
• Increased the scrolling speed of the leaderboards for the Tower.
• In Co-Op, bugs and crashes were fixed, as well as an issue where a client or host could encounter a black screen when moving between biomes.

v. 3.04

Released on June 23, 2022 and is the most recent version of the game. The following bugs were fixed:

• A bug where it was possible to miss Ship Log 13 if the opening cinematics for the Echoing Ruins are skipped.
• A bug that duplicated certain collectibles after resuming a suspended cycle.
• A bug in the the elevator in the Tower of Sisyphus failed to activate even after defeating every enemy in the area.