Review of the PC version of "Returnal!　A challenging third-person shooter that explores the mysteries of the planet Atropos while repeating the cycle of life and death.

On February 16, 2023, the third-person shooter "Returnal" began distribution. This is the PC version of the same game, which was released for PS5 on April 30, 2021. The game reproduces the features of the DualSense controller, such as the adaptive trigger, which allows the player to feel the weight of the trigger when pressed, and haptic feedback, which expresses changes in the environment through vibrations, allowing the player to enjoy an experience similar to that of the PS5 version, even though it is a PC version.

On the planet Atropos, Selene is struck by a harsh phenomenon that loops between life and death

One day, astronaut Selene, while on a mission, attempts to explore the planet Atropos, which is emitting a mysterious signal. However, the Helios she was aboard malfunctions and crash-lands. She also loses contact with the Atlas Corporation, to which she belongs.

Selene, who continues her own investigation, finds a human corpse on the way. When she examines the person's helmet, she finds her name engraved on it. Later, the protagonist is attacked by a mysterious enemy and dies. The next thing he knows, he finds himself repeating the same sequence of events, crash-landing on Atropos aboard Helios. While suffering from the looping phenomenon that occurs each time she dies, Selene continues to explore Atropos in pursuit of her original goal, a mysterious signal. This is the synopsis of "Returning.

In addition to the mysterious signal, another important element of the story is that the protagonist is looped. When the story of "The Returning" begins, Atropos already has Selene's body. That means that Selene had been on the planet before the main story began.

How long has Selene been here, and what is the loop mechanism? The curiosity to know how the story unfolds is a powerful driving force in playing this work, as the great mystery pulls the player along like a work of mystery. The game is also impressive for its horror-like effects, such as the glimpse of a human in a space suit, separate from the main character. Although the game is played from a third-person perspective, some scenes switch to a first-person perspective, which sometimes made me hesitate to move forward because I was afraid to do so.

Although there are many events in the story, the information about the story is quite limited. As well as the loops already written, there are only fragments about the civilization of Atropos. Although I have not yet completed the game, this title tends to require players to consider the background and detailed development of the story from the items obtained along the way and traces found in the field. Players who enjoy analyzing the story will be particularly interested in this game.

Retries are the norm. Learn by dying on a map that changes with each loop.

Atropos consists of several large-scale maps, such as forests, deserts, and fortresses, and players explore each map to follow a mysterious signal. Along the way, they can use resources such as money "obolites" to strengthen their suits, and items called "artifacts" to gain new effects. The goal is to enhance one's equipment and eventually defeat the boss at the far end of the map.

There are two important aspects to exploring the "return. The first is that when you die, you are taken back to the beginning of the story. No matter where or how you die, you always start over from the beginning of the story, when Helios crashes. At the time of writing this article, I had progressed to the third stage of the game, but when I lost the boss battle, I was sent back to the first map.

The enemies are quite strong from the beginning of the story. They are not that strong, but there are cases where they swarm or jump on you out of nowhere. In some places, you have to deal with two or more enemies of a size that makes you look up at them at the same time, and only in such cases are the doors that connect the areas locked. Even when exploring a single area, you are never completely relaxed.

In addition, once you die, you lose almost all of the equipment you have collected up to that point. The only thing that remains, besides ether, is "permanent equipment," which is important for advancing the story, and all the weapons and obolites you have collected will be gone. In other words, you can't just push your way through with your equipment while dying.

The second important aspect of the search is that the structure of the map changes each time you die. The same route can be taken before and after the loop, so players must be flexible and adapt their strategies to the map. A route that was easy to take before may become difficult, or conversely, a route that was once difficult may become easy to take. In other words, how the structure changes depends on luck, but the inability to conquer a given route alone is a considerable amount of pressure.

In the case of difficult games, it is common to insert checkpoints to make it easier for players to retry instead of dying, but such measures are omitted in this game. The "reconstructor" facility can be used to revive the player, but it requires six precious items called "ether," and even if the player had accumulated them, it is doubtful that he or she would use them.

The game system thoroughly incorporates the narrative setting in which the player is looped every time he or she dies, allowing the player to play while biting the same pain as the main character, Selene. Since no two deaths are ever the same, the game is fresh and exciting no matter how many times you die, and the looping setting provides an exceptional sense of realism.

Which do you choose, risk or reward?

In addition to the difficulty of the game and the tension of having to start from the beginning if you die, this game is also characterized by the selection of risk and reward. A good example of this is the "parasite" that can be obtained during the search, which, when equipped, becomes a parasite on the protagonist's suit and grants him various abilities. Up to five parasites can be equipped at the same time.

In addition to giving you good abilities, parasites also give you some disadvantages. For example, the probability of an enemy dropping an item is increased, but the damage from a melee attack is reduced.

What is troubling here is that it depends on the person whether it is a disadvantage or not. In terms of the negative effect of reduced damage from melee attacks, it is hard on those who use melee attacks a lot, but on the other hand, it does not matter much to those who mainly use gunfire. It is up to the player to determine whether the demerit is acceptable when compared to the positive effect.

If you were a little bit optimistic before and allowed the weapon's recharge time to increase, and then equipped the parasite, you could end up fighting a strong enemy later on, only to get hit in the head by an attacker who couldn't finish off the attack in time. In a normal game, even if you die, you can start over again from a checkpoint, but in this game, you lose almost everything and are sent back to the beginning.

Considering the disadvantages of dying, it is better to proceed without fighting enemies or picking up parasites and other items that are only good for one thing. However, if you do so, your equipment will never be fully equipped, and you will have a hard time when the area is blocked off and you are forced to fight enemies, or when fighting the bosses waiting for you at the back of the map.

In other words, if you don't want to die, you must be prepared to die fighting enemies and steadily improving your equipment. The structure of the game, in which playing it safe only pushes you further into a corner, is filled with stimulation, tension, and conflict about whether or not to take risks, and I felt that this is proof that the heavy restrictions of the game's loop functioned well as a game system.

The main battle is a barrage of bullets.

There are various types of weapons in this game, including handguns and machine guns. Blades can be acquired as the story progresses, but firearms are basically the main weapons. All weapons have some recoil, but this can be easily controlled by slightly lowering the viewpoint, and the "Aim Assist Function," which assists the player's aiming, can be set to three levels, making it easy to control even for those who are not very good at shooting.

In addition, the gun reloads automatically when a round is shot, but if the player presses the fire button at the moment the gauge indicating progress reaches the white frame, the bullet will be reloaded immediately. This is the so-called "quick reload" mechanism, which can greatly reduce the gap after an attack, and should be utilized as much as possible.

Enemies shoot bullets as well, and most of their attacks, regardless of whether they are zakos or bosses, are a barrage of bullets. The enemy will shoot at you and you will shoot back. If you do not watch the trajectory of the enemy's bullets carefully, you will easily be hit by them when you move or evade. Some of them even try to deviate from our movement. If you are not careful, you will find yourself in a pinch as your strength quickly depletes.

However, there are many obstacles such as pillars and trees on each map, which can be used as barriers, so simply taking cover, passing enemy attacks, and counterattacking will work well. Furthermore, using a dash makes you invincible while moving, allowing you to evade a barrage of bullets while getting close to your opponent.

The most important factor related to weapons is "proficiency. The higher the skill level, the more powerful the weapon you can pick up. Proficiency is accumulated by using the main firearm, and when it is full, the proficiency level is increased by one. The same weapon will have a different performance if the proficiency level is 1 or 15 when you get it, so you want to increase your proficiency level as much as possible.

Defeating enemies in succession without taking damage raises your "adrenaline level," and depending on the stage, you will receive various benefits, including enhanced attack power, and among them is an increase in weapon proficiency.

In other words, defeating enemies without taking any damage not only strengthens the hero, but also makes it easier to obtain strong weapons by improving the efficiency of raising the proficiency level, which in turn lowers the hurdle for exploration. This is also similar to the "choosing between risk and reward" that I explained earlier, and it firmly supports the meaning of taking risks knowing that you may have to start the story all over again from the beginning.

If you die, you lose almost all your equipment and have to start over from the beginning, and the map changes every time you take on a challenge, so a one-size-fits-all strategy does not work. Nevertheless, there are generous rewards for taking risks, such as the adrenaline level gained by defeating enemies without taking any damage, and an item called "parasite," which has inherent advantages and disadvantages. This is one game that can be recommended especially to heavy gamers who are looking for a more difficult game or those who are confident in their skills.

（This is a game for heavy gamers, especially those who are looking for a more difficult game or those who are confident in their skills.)