Returnal (Housemarque) [PS5, PC]

[Remij]

You make a fair point my friend on all counts. All I'd say as a counterpoint is that if that is your barometer of AAA quality, Returnal smashes it with gusto housemarque clearly set out to do a particular thing and for the most part did it very well, especially with that added expectation of moving beyond the scope of their normal very small arcade esque origins.

In general, I feel like playstation needs more diversity these days. Cutting off Japan studio made sense as it was a mess for a decade, but expanding studios with different genres like fighting games, new racers, fps, action titles of the like would go a long way.

In the PS3 era Sony made a lot of different kinds of games. Some successful some not. But they were much more daring.

Some might argue that the rise in dev costs inevitably means sticking to bread and butter success and that Sony is simply doing what they always have done, leaning heavily on third parties for their brands appeal, which I don't neccisarily disagree with.

But in the era of the aquisition war when MS has made clear they are trying to eat as many third parties as possible, diversifying your own studios and making what you make as broad and varied as possible means a lot more I think than before. I'm just speaking as a consumer here which I think would make the industry in general more appealing and interesting having more players try more things.

haha indeed. While I obviously know that categorizing a game as AAA comes down to it's budget and production values + marketing

Returnal is definitely a AAA game in my own personal view. I love it. From the atmosphere and visuals, to the sound design quality and dynamism, to the controls.. of which played on a DualSense, really extrude quality with the amazing feeling haptics and adaptive triggers. It's awesome. The game is fun and challenging too, and draws you in where you want to keep progressing.

Returnal is definitely a game worth touting. It doesn't fall into the AAA category, and in truth hits closer to AA... but it has an undeniable quality to it, and a feeling that the devs accomplished exactly what they set out for, which elevates it above.

 

[pjbliverpool]

I'd say I see it more as PS fanboys attempting to artificially create a sense of higher quality surrounding a game, simply due to it being a PS exclusive, moreso than its percieved importance to Playstation. In fact they often tout how these "smaller games" are of higher quality than other competition's "AAA" games, and that they are essentially filler games between PS' REAL AAA behemoth titles and exclusive 3rd party games. For example with games like Kena and Stray, PS fanboys created a sense that their quality is a tier above similar games simply because they are exclusive to Playstation. They're great titles, and very solid games in their category.. but there's far better games out there IMO. They can do this because there's already a perception of the quality of PS titles (which is fairly earned in many cases) and because the popularity of the brand.. the fanboys can almost *will* a game to a certain level of success.

Also I've heard arguments that Sony's games coming to PC "lowers the perceived quality and prestige" of those games on console. Perhaps to some people, yes, but the difference is that they're such fanboys for their plastic box that it simply doesn't allow them to build the same type of narrative if that game is also releasing somewhere other than their preferred box.

Usually they get past this in arguments by moving on to the next upcoming exclusive game to hold over people's heads while discarding the importance of the previous games.

I thought I was the only one that saw this, but yes I agree this is absolutely a thing. One of the more recent and obvious examples for me was Horizon Zero Dawn which was generally hailed as the second coming in some quarters at it's time of launch. Then it was announced for PC and things went pretty quiet. Then Forbidden West was announced and suddenly there seemed to be a lot of open discussion around how Zero Dawn was just a decent, but flawed game.

What struck me when I played HZD on PC is that it was indeed a solid game, and a pretty game, but it was also pretty overhyped based on what I'd heard and was expecting. Don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed it, and it was memorable for sure. But I was pretty much expecting a life changing experience based on the earlier hype. I'll definitely pick up HFW when it hits PC too. There's certainly no denying that title is one of the best lookers out there.

 

[Inuhanyou]

To be fair. Inflating games of the system you game on does make some sense. Cause generally they are games you are into and if they get success they prove many people are into the same type of game and the platform holder makes it into an event with contributes to your hype.

But it doesn't mean other ecosystems think of them in a similar way. Halo and gears and Forza are exceptional first and third person shooter/racer franchises, but put them on PC? They are just another sci Fi fps/tps and racing game franchise, well made no doubt but still.

Nintendo I think is the only one who can avoid this, and largely only as a result of how the types of games they have traditionally made are not usually replicated in the same way by the wider industry. Whereas the games of the other two are genres you would see in third party coffers but more well made and produced.

 

[mr magoo]

It looks like Returnal is off to a slow start on PC | VGC

Returnal appears to be one of Sony’s weakest PC launches ever, failing to achieve more than 7000 concurrent players on Steam during its first weekend, according to SteamDB.

www.videogameschronicle.com

Sad. I think we need more games like this.

 

[BRiT]

It looks like Returnal is off to a slow start on PC | VGC

Returnal appears to be one of Sony’s weakest PC launches ever, failing to achieve more than 7000 concurrent players on Steam during its first weekend, according to SteamDB.

www.videogameschronicle.com

Sad. I think we need more games like this.

Can't say that I'm surprised, especially given it's a 2 year old game charging full price on PC.

 

[Inuhanyou]

Can't say that I'm surprised, especially given it's a 2 year old game charging full price on PC.

Isn't it 60? Either way though I'd think PCs habit of long tail sales would make people less concerned with frontloading

 

[BRiT]

Isn't it 60? Either way though I'd think PCs habit of long tail sales would make people less concerned with frontloading

It's the same $60 price as brand new games or pre-orders like Hogwarts Legacy, Like a Dragon: Ishin!, Atomic Heart, NBA 2K23, Dead Space.

From a quick glance, the only titles I see above the $60 mark is the Wild Hearts game, FIFA 23, and the HITMAN World of Assassination Collection.

And yes, PC isn't as front-loaded, as plenty seem to wait for those Steam Sales where titles are dirt cheap or when they're free on EGS.

 

[Remij]

$40 is the magic price point Sony should be selling these old ports at. Would do far better overall. Also, there's been little to no marketing for most of these releases.

I also think they've done a disservice to the upcoming PC version of TLOU Part 1 by not having it ready for the date they initially set.

 

[davis.anthony]

This game pisses me off, took me forever to get to the second Biome.

Then my brother turned up who has done the game many times on PS5 rocks up and blasts through it.....*Annoyed*

 

[Deleted member 11852]

I also think they've done a disservice to the upcoming PC version of TLOU Part 1 by not having it ready for the date they initially set.

I know as a PC owner you're probably not familiar with Naughty Dog, but that studio has not shipped a game against the original release date since the PS3. So you may as well get used to it!

 

[Malo]

This game pisses me off, took me forever to get to the second Biome.

Then my brother turned up who has done the game many times on PS5 rocks up and blasts through it.....*Annoyed*

That's fairly normal for Roguelites. You get used to the controls and the gameplay after awhile and it becomes easier.

 

[Remij]

I know as a PC owner you're probably not familiar with Naughty Dog, but that studio has not shipped a game against the original release date since the PS3. So you may as well get used to it!

I've gamed on Playstation since the PS1 in 1995 and only really slowed down during the PS4 gen since I prefer to just game on PC now, so I'm aware of Naughty Dog's history haha. However, this is different because what I mean is they're missing out on hitting the hype cycle from the show potentially at it's highest point. Not only that, but Sony estimated generating $300M in revenue from their PC initiative this fiscal year, which I believe ends on March 31, thus they're only going to get a few days of sales in now, likely falling short of estimates.

 

[JoeJ]

Tried the game. The Rouge Like concept always puts me off, because i don't want to play the same thing again and again. But story sounded interesting, so why not.

Tech is great. My PC system has lower specs than PS5, so i ended up at medium settings at 720p. That's no problem for me, and it runs smooth like butter. Even i run it from HD, perfectly smooth all the time.
What i really like is how the benchmark made it very easy to find those settings. I see fps of 60, GPU utilization at 80%. So i know settings are fine and no need to mess around with it any longer.
That's really a great feature every game should have: Showing performance while we tweak those fickely gfx settings, which usually feels tedious and uncertain. Maybe that's nothing new, but i have missed this so far.

The game itself is good. Very nice movement and character controller. Feels like made from real experts. Repetition is an issue to me though.
But played it only once til yet. Atomic Heart came in between, which is not that perfect, but just more the kind of game i like.

Too bad it's not that successful. Ofc. i'd like to see more Sony ports, and personally i have no problem if they come two years late, but work fine then. : )

 

[pjbliverpool]

New patch to reduce RT stuttering:

Returnal March 9th Update aims to reduce stuttering, full patch notes

Returnal's March 9th Update aims to reduce stuttering. Moreover, it improves overall stability by addressing a couple of crashes.

www.dsogaming.com

Can anyone who owns the game confirm if it works?

 

[davis.anthony]

New patch to reduce RT stuttering:

Returnal March 9th Update aims to reduce stuttering, full patch notes

Returnal's March 9th Update aims to reduce stuttering. Moreover, it improves overall stability by addressing a couple of crashes.

www.dsogaming.com

Can anyone who owns the game confirm if it works?

Nope, I'm still getting stutters.

 

[chris1515]

DLSS 3 update for Returnal

 

[Below2D]

DLSS 3 update for Returnal

Been out for a while now.

 

[Cynicalking]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1784895491123405216

Those seem to be Selene's eyes. Sequel incoming? More DLC?

Edit: Another teaser.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1784931755931177197

 

[cheapchips]

Their next game was not supposed to be Returnal 2. I'll be a bit disappointed if it's a sequel/dlc. I wanted to see what utterly stupid name Housemarque would deliver next.

It's a bit of a shame they're too early for UE5.4. I could imagine them going a bit crazy with Nanite tessellation.

 

[davis.anthony]

Could be a VR game?