I’m about to go out on a limb with a hot take. Housemarque’s 2021 hit Returnal is the best PS5 game yet. If I’m being completely honest, I fall very comfortably into the camp that would argue that there aren’t enough PS5 games – and by that I mean original, truly next-gen games made specifically for the console. Sure, there are great third-party offerings, and there are some great sequels to first-party PS4 games, but I’m not sure any of them feel different enough from what came before to really claim to be PS5 games.
Returnal is one of the few first-party exclusives that I think got the PS5 brief right. And this is coming from a guy who doesn’t usually like roguelikes. Returnal has it all, from clever use of haptic feedback and trigger resistance, to a structure that feels story-relevant, to creating something that suits the slightly aging PlayStation player base. Thanks to Prime Day, you can get this truly exceptional video game for only $29.99 on Amazon (was $69.99).
Let’s put it this way, Returnal is such a good game that Sony bought the studio that made it almost immediately after release. If you haven’t tried it yet, now is a great time. We don’t often see first-party exclusives like this drop in price to this extent, and this Prime Day PS5 deal means it’s only $3 off its lowest price on Amazon.
The only caveat I should add here is that if you don’t like physical versions of your games, there’s no need to buy them if you’re a paying PlayStation Plus subscriber. Returnal is currently part of the PlayStation Plus Extra catalog, so if you’re signed up to at least that level, you’ll be able to download and play Returnal at no extra cost.
If you’ve been waiting for the price of a physical copy to drop, Prime Day game deals offer a great opportunity.
Should you buy Returnal?
Returnal is a third-person action-adventure where you play as a futuristic astronaut named Seline. After answering a distress call, Seline finds herself stranded on an unknown planet, with no hope of rescue. While exploring the planet, she quickly realizes that an alien species once settled there, but realizes that she is caught in the loop of her own mortality. After she dies, she wakes back up at the crash site of her ship and is doomed to begin her impossible escape attempt all over again.
Story-wise, that’s all I want to tell you right now, because while the narrative isn’t central to this game like a game like The Last of Us, there are some amazing thematic discoveries to be made – but they aren’t. to spoil
This is a game that will challenge you. It’s known as a bullet-hell game because combat encounters will have you dodging, sprinting, and jumping to avoid the sickening amount of alien firepower coming your way. It’s also a Roguelike, meaning that every time you die, you’ll be sent back to the beginning to start running again.
Fortunately, it’s not all doom and gloom. The game features online 2-player co-op, which may be one of its best features. You can also save a loop in the middle of the game, which is controversially impossible when you launch the game.
One of my favorite things about the Returnal, as someone who reviews controllers, is the use of special DualSense features. Haptic feedback is amazing in this game. Every drop of rain hits your palms and you feel every bit of incoming damage. Trigger Resistance is a similar story due to the game’s ingenious alt-fire weapons.
It’s clear that I’m a huge fan of this game, and if there’s one PS5 game I recommend above all others right now, it’s probably Returnal.
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