Combat and world features, interface options and daily challenges: Sony reveals what to expect from Returnal

A voluminous preview material appeared on the official PlayStation blog site. A Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) specialist told what to expect from the first hours in the roguelike shooter Returnal from the Housemarque studio.

Recall that Returnal will tell about the woman astronaut Selene, who, as a result of her spaceship crash, falls into a time loop on the planet Atropos. In order not to go crazy, the heroine will have to break the cycle.

The world of Returnal is divided into several biomes, each of which “is a maze of interconnected areas” with unique challenges, enemies, and a boss. The latter must be defeated only once (the first).

In battles, as she deals damage to enemies and dodges oncoming attacks, Selena will accumulate adrenaline, which gives bonuses (five levels in total): from increasing the power of attacks to improving vision.

Reloading weapons in Returnal is called overloading: if you press the appropriate button during it, the “barrel” will receive a temporary increase in lethal force, and otherwise, it will be out of order.

Artifacts found in the world of Returnal give bonuses (for example, slowing downtime in alternative fire mode) until the end of the current cycle, and consumables (shields, healing injections) imply a single-use.

Selena can also pick up parasites, which give bonuses and penalties to characteristics. You can get rid of the effect with the help of local “currency” (bolts) – it drops out of enemies and is mined from special stones.

The mini-map, docked in the lower right corner of the screen, displays different paths (complete walkthrough, side zones, challenges with mini-bosses), as well as collectibles.

The developers promise that most of the interface elements can be hidden if desired, and the settings include color blindness options that will allow you to change the highlight color of the drop-down loot.

Also, the SIE specialist mentioned that Returnal would have daily challenges (available in Selena’s shipwreck) with an online leaderboard. You do not need a PlayStation Plus subscription to participate.

Return is expected to premiere on April 30 this year exclusively on PlayStation 5. At the end of March, the game went gold, which means nothing should interfere with the timely release.