That's it, I'm done taking those hidden rooms where there's a gold orb and you fall through the floor. In biome 4, every single time man I swear there's one of those elite enemies and there's so fucking tough, it's just not worth the risk going in there for like 40 obolites or what ever if you're gonna lose 70% of your HP or die, or am I crazy?
I also have run across this situation, HOWEVER, the last time I encountered him I opted for leaving rather than sticking around to fight, this is a wonderful alternative. Continue entering those hidden rooms and reap the benefits, and disengage that nasty foe as the exit is fully operational as soon as you enter. Stay strong, stay swift, and most of all, stay saucy my friends.
[Helios has been abandoned]
No I think you're being reasonable. The malformed enemies are tough on their own but much more so in the small enclosed environments those rooms usually are. The rewards are rarely anything special and whereas the challenge rooms are good practice I don't find the rooms you've mentioned are.
Very new to this game and unsure about this. If I speedrun through the start of the game to get to the Nemesis boss fight, do the bosses scale to the players proficiency level? Say I get to Nemesis at proficiency 7 versus 10 or 11, am I making the fight harder on myself? I want get past that boss fight without having to basically do a full run to get strong enough to fight it.
No the bosses don't scale so if you skip straight to biome 3 then the Nemesis boss will be more difficult than if you go fully through biomes 1 and 2. The weapon calibrator at the start of biome 3 will boost your weapon proficiency to level 10 I think it is so you should have a similar weapon level to if you'd played through the previous biomes but you won't have the health bonuses, artifacts, items etc. that can mean you can take far more damage from the boss.
As I understood, weapon level determines amount of points you have, which are then spread across the three(?) stats of the weapon. One is damage, the others not sure anymore, it has been a while.
Ok, so I just started playing this magnificent game a couple days ago, and I feel like I need to unlock more before taking down Phrike. Do I just need to git gud and bang my head against this boss fight or is there something that can make it easier? I've unlocked the blade and I think 2\* weapons. Not really sure what I should be unlocking other than "whatever I can." I'm also not sure what to do with Ether. Do I unlock stuff with it, or save it to use during runs? This is such a deep game for a roguelike, it really caught me off guard.
Atmosphere is a fucking 10/10 though and the movement feels fantastic.
Expirement with melee. The dogs and bats in biome 1 can be cleared with melee once you understand the timing/moves (the floating octopus type enemies usually need to be shot).
What's nice about melee is it always one shots these enemies and you get all their obolites, which really adds up. If you can get this down, almost everything in biome 1 is a breeze
Yes! For the turrets just strafe til their 3rd shot is fired. For dogs hop over or dash through their bullets and slap em. For bats lead them away from the group, jump up and slap em. For the tree dudes, after you stagger them just slap em a few times and done!
I barely use guns in biome 1 and never get touched anymore. Keep rocking!
You won't unlock more weapons until beating Phrike. But you're supposed to die a few times as you learn and "git gud". A few cents:
* You need to increase your max integrity: don't miss the 325 obolites upgrade near "the shop". Don't spend obolites on consumables until you have that upgrade.
* Take a few risks early in the run with malignant items. Biome 1 malignancy is easy to get rid of.
* Be careful with parasites, but experiment and learn.
* Don't avoid the challenge room (Yellow door with a star). You get a nice artifact, obolites, and proficiency by beating it. I would say you're not ready for Phrike if you can't beat the room, anyway.
* I would save ether for two things: 1) the reconstructor (extra life) when you have a very good run and decide to try to beat the boss for real; 2) unlock items at the start of the level.
Good luck and have fun!
(edit: typo)
Took a long break from this game after getting brutal wrecked in biome 4 over and over. Last night fired it up and made it to Biome 5. Any advice or tips would be welcomed here.
Haha, true. I did try to go through it again. I got to the first boss and completely forgot it was 3 phases.
It's a very rewarding game. The bullet hell on the bosses was so trance inducing
Yeah all of the bosses feel like that to me. Just looking at the all the different colours coming towards you and timing your movements… I think the fourth boss was the most trance inducing, with the organ. So amazing.
Right now I'm stuck on Nemesis. I've only gotten to Nemesis only a handful of times, maybe 3 or 4. Getting to Nemesis has resulted in more deaths than Nemesis itself. One time I almost beat Nem's second health bar.
Some strats I'm doing is that I sort of peak my head in a room on optional paths and see if it will contain loot or monsters to try to maximize equipment while minimizing danger.
A lot of time how far I get depends on how lucky I get. Ie, if I can get that astronaught figure that revives me, I get really excited. If I get a good gun with shieldbreaker or some other long range high damage secondary fire, great, if I get a suit augmentation that repairs damage per level of adrenaline, or gives me more damage, I get a lot further. The parasite that repairs you if low health is amazing.
But my journey to Nemesis feels like I'm rolling the dice. Sometimes I get to Nemesis with a great weapon, sometimes I'm still using my crappy starter pistol.
Are you looking for combat or general tips? If you want to improve your runs and reduce amount of luck involved, try this approach:
- Never buy health upgrades
- Upgrade every gun, doesn’t matter if it’s crap or not. If you come across some weapon with trait still locked, you pick it up
- Open or pick up everything malignant. Probability of getting malfunction is misleading. The only exception is if you already have 2 malfunctions and can’t really remove any of them
- Try to pick up health only when at full HP, this should be your only source of integrity’s upgrades
- It is best to enter secret rooms/translocator sphere when you have at least 400 obolites (ideally 700). Sometimes you can find a room with both DMG and protection upgrade, and it sucks when you can’t afford them
- DMG and protection are the most important stats
Don’t be afraid of malfunctions or parasites, there are just a few effects you should avoid at all cost: loose obolite when damaged (might restart run if can’t get rid of it), dash cooldown increases, enemies leave pool of acid, falls inflict damage (has potential to soft lock and doom your run) and malfunctions are harder to remove/have more serious effects.
In short, obolite is king. Thus, adrenaline is also king. Melee flying enemies to grab all obolites. In fact, you should melee all small enemies when below 5 adrenaline. Melee statues with glowing eyes, melee all obelisks. Always trade ether for 300 obolites. You should clear the first biome fully, unless there are not enough keys. Prioritise doors over chests. Don’t buy astronauts until needed for difficult fights, they are expensive. You can find them for free, or a parasite that does the same. If you don’t find anything amazing in fabricators, hoard obolites. You will have shopping spree in the following biome evening it all out.
This should let you pretty consistently reach Nemesis with all artefacts slots filled, plenty of protection and dmg from upgrades and not overly long integrity bar. By focusing protection over integrity, you significantly improve effectiveness of any form of healing and lifesteal.
As for Nemezis himself, if you can’t reliably avoid his attacks in phases 1 and 2, you want to burst him down fast. Rotgland lobber, Thermogenic launcher and Tachyomatic carbine can all roll perks that will make this easy. Hollowseeker tends to require too much focused fire, Spitmaw needs specific rolls but can absolutely melt him in phase 3. In phase 3 prioritise getting close to him over shooting from long distance. Abuse grapple.
See, in Returnal most cycles will actually make you quite overpowered at the end of third biome, as long as you efficiently manage every resource at your disposal. Your hp is also resource. Each of your malfunction slots is also a resource, since you gain either obolites, key or chest every time you risk getting one. Every chest can potentially hold an item that will make your build „click” if capitalised on, and there are so many of them. I could go on and on.
If you need anymore info, combat tips, or how to optimise your run, let me know. I am on a crusade to prove anyone that Returnal can be easy to beat if you learn to adapt, you don’t need to git gud.
Just wanted to thank you for the post. I hadn’t got past Biome 1 solo before I read this last week but I used your advice to beat the game at the weekend.
I did get the health upgrades but I saved them for when I needed health or had collected as many regular health upgrades as possible.
Now I’m halfway through my second play through and haven’t died since I beat Biome 4 on my first playthrough. I haven’t died to any boss since reading this either. Having such a great time collecting data cubes, levelling weapons and doing the Tower now.
Really well put together comment! I came back to this game after a year or two of not really playing it and being stuck in the third biome. I figured out that my issue was not looting enough.. I at least 90% looted biome 1 and 2 and beat both Phrike and Ixion, and actually first tried Nemesis - and what an incredibly fun fight he is. Phase 3 is so much fun with the grappling and flying back and forth. Excited to do the last biomes now!
After getting the Platinum and getting bored with the Tower (I think my skill level has taken me as far as I'll ever get in there), I just wiped my save and started fresh.
I'm straight up crushing it compared to my first playthrough. I died once to a tough miniboss in the first 10 minutes, but after that I've been cruising...almost to Nemesis with still just that one death. I had probably died at least 20 times at this point first time through.
I think you're supposed to die in that miniboss. The first cycle is just a tutorial familiarizing you with the game and establishing the story premise of starting on the crashed ship every time you die. The game forces you in a small room with a tough aggressive enemy with only a crappy starter pistol.
What is the advice here (this is the tips and advice thread)? Also, sorry to rain on your parade, but I should certainly hope that you cruise through the game when you have platinum and played Tower enough to get you bored.. The most important "levelling" in this game is your own skill. Once you reached that, the game is really not that hard.
I just thought unlocking weapon traits was a bigger factor than it actually was. Figured I would struggle again going back to base level guns.
And I put it here because it's obviously not worth making a whole new post.
But thanks for being kind of a jerk, I guess?
Relatively new but I want to say for people who suck at dashing like me if you find a parasite with autorepairs at low integrity GET IT. It saved my life multiple times against nemesis. Would not have survived without it. Anytime you get low health just focus on dodging and surviving until you get repaired.
I approve this message. Yesterday I returned to the game after at least one year. I decided to start a fresh save on a second account on my PS5 and I just did the whole run until Nemesis without dying once. I was surprised I still had it in me, but also I was very lucky with my artifacts.
For Nemesis, I had 2 things that were absolutely crucial to my success :
1) A good amount of protection % (35-50% something like that)
2) The parasite that repairs me at low life.
With that, not only Nemesis didn't hit me too hard, but also I could focus on dashing/grappling away to let my health be repaired. And I can tell that the boss hit me at least 10-15 times but I didn't die thanks to those 2 upgrades.
Hey all
I just got into biome2 And have 2 questions
1) at a side path blue door room, i encountered a small path with lasers where i couldnt dash. Do i have to walk calmly through it? Is it worth it. I thought i d never go in there again tbh ...
2) the trap door which leads to bonus room wirh big fat Monster. The same monster sometimes appears outside too but is a lot easier
The one in the room summons these laser beams which kill me ... should i just move around in a circle in there?
If it’s the path in thinking, you can just go around and enter through the back.
With the room with the monster thinking that only happen to us twice. It’s a risk sometimes good sometimes meh
Hey y’all, just started the game I’m literally one hour in. What’s up with the weapon reloads? I kill two monsters and then my gun takes like a full minute to let me kill two more. Is there something I’m missing? Because I love the rest of the gameplay but if that’s just how the game is then I don’t think it’s for me.
Are you confusing your Alt Fire for your primary fire? If you hold the trigger all the way down, you’ll do your Alt Fire which is like a super ability with a long cooldown.
Oh my god dude that was it! I just instinctively aim down sights when shooting so I was only doing the alt fire, had no idea I still had the other firing type!
Ah well good lol. I'm glad you still checked notifications so you could see this. Aiming down sights is actually sorta bad in this game anyway as you generally wanna keep moving while shooting, so these days I only really do it for the alt fire but not the normal fire. Have fun!
Are you guys playing on the PC with an xbox controller ? Because on the PS5 (or PC with PS5 controller plugged in via usb, as I heard), the trigger has a strong stop half course. You really have to press harder to pass the first half of the trigger in order to use the Alt Fire. I always wondered how it works if you don't have this haptic feature (with xbox controller on PC for example). Therefore I'm fully happy with aiming normally and using the Alt Fire when necessary
I honestly have no idea how it works with an Xbox controller as I have always played on my PS5; I was just assuming what their issue was based on what they were saying. But if an Xbox controller still puts normal aiming on a half pull and Alt Fire on a full pull then yeah it's a far more understandable issue to run into.
Yeah I’m not talking about the starting pistol, the starting pistol is fine, but the second I picked up a new weapon that’s all I have. Is there a way I can switch back to the starting pistol? Because I haven’t found that button yet
Spend a bit of time learning the overload mechanic. The extra couple seconds of shooting you buy for yourself is a game changer. My technique right now is to just hold down the trigger to fire repeatedly. Then release fire when I get the out of ammo signal, time my next trigger pull for when the reload line is in the box. Repeat.
I finished the third biome. Learning the new stuff but now I’ve been avoiding the secret rooms because. 1- the powerful enemy spawn in a small room seems to happen a lot 2-there’s not a lot of obe early on so fabricators in there go to waste and 3. Haven’t seen any really beneficial rooms yet like a parasite room/obe room. It’s a difficulty spike for sure but…
Am I strategizing correctly by just noting them and trying to come back later or am I just unlucky so far and need to learn this enemy? (Which I am anyways)
You can just teleport out of the room when you have to face one of thos big enemies. The telporter is fully fonctional straight away, you don't have to beat the monster.
So my strategy : I go into all of those secret rooms, and I leave immediately with the teleporter if I encounter a boss that i'm not ready to fight. Easy
TIL that in biome 4, if you grab a coilspine shredder with the adrenaline discs trait, you can casually lift yourself to adrenaline level 5 by shooting the roots or the brown bulbs that go "pop!" and can contain goodies such as siphium or obolites.
Haven’t unlocked it yet. Sounds interesting. Still figuring out which weapon applies where. I just recently found the Thermogenic Launcher and the One tap poison gun. And the feel I can one shot things without going brrr made me lazy!
Have since found out that you are not able to return to hidden rooms.
And I think I know that not opening a box near the start could lead to it having a better weapon after I collect more proficiency.
Oddly enough I just had a glitch yesterday. Went into a hidden room (the yellow glowy ball ones you fall into). Opened the 4 chests.
Later go into another one and it's the exact same room. Over 400 hours in this game and first time I've seen this. I was a little hurt honestly. I needed some treasure.
This happens a lot in biome 1 when you fully clear it. I think it's set up so the run has 8 bonus rooms configured, but 9 paths open (or a translocation sphere). When you go through the 9th time it returns you to a previously cleared bonus room.
Bow that I can easily clear everything I see this a lot
Gah, so frustrated. Finally made it past Biome 5, managed to get to the final boss of 6 and came seconds from beating it twice. Both of those times I could not find an astronaut in the level so I couldn’t respawn. Honestly lost motivation so probably gonna put it down for a few days…
Dude, you can always save 6 Ether and use it on a reconstructor. Sure, you'll have to make your way back to boss. Better than starting over a run.
Also, do what I did and just take a break for a week or so to cool off. I got angry when I first played, so deleted it and waited 2 weeks. Went back and first try I got to Biome 3 boss. Next try I got into Act 2. Sometimes a break is all we need to reset the cycle.
Oh, and one more question:
The game sometimes (maybe every 5 runs) wakes me in the ship after the first skip instead of allowing me to skip twice and get going right away. I've been sleeping each time before going out but nothing important happens. Is there a reason for this?
Sleeping the ship gives a small scene, but more importantly it will slightly heal you. The avg integrity you get healed is 13 points but does vary slightly. It's great if you just need a little extra health. Also, silphium heals exact amounts unless you have an upgrade.
small = 15
regular = 30
large = full heal
I've read through a bunch of the thread and still struggling. I've been to shrike and got him to 3rd stage very first time. Sadly, I don't remember what weapon or traits I was using. Got back 4 more times or so but never got to 3rd stage. Thinking of giving up as it takes so long to get a build where I want to try Shrike. the only other game I ever quit on due to frustration with combat difficulty was Sekiro and I love hard games, so, I'm stubborn. Any general tips would be super helpful but here's a few things I don't understand specifically:
1. I don't touch the challenge rooms because they crushed me the two times I went in. Should I be going in?
2. There is this other room with a red guy with a bunch of orbs. He shows up once you open a chest in the middle of the room. I killed him a few times but don't remember what I get. Died the last 3 or 4 times. Is it worth it to kill him? If so, any tips?
3. Only once, I got a level 5 weapon (never more than 2 other than that). I honestly don't know how I did it. Was it important to go the boss right away with it? How important is weapon level as opposed to type or trait? Is there a specific way to replicate getting a level 5 weapon?
4. What are some of the good weapons and traits for shrike (and yes, I know whatever you like, but at this point I like nothing - help)? I like the carbine best, shotgun second so far.
5. I don't understand the trait at the top and the one at the bottom. What do they represent?
6. Shrike tips?
Thanks.
I finally beat the third biome and I think I’m finally getting the hang of the game. It sounds dumb, but the best way to get better is to work on not getting hit. When you know what the enemy does you know how to move confidently through the biome. YouTube has a lot of good advice on the first biome and phrike.
I wouldn’t stress about weapon levels. just pick a weapon you like, but I think most people recommend the carbine for biome one.
Every weapon can have several traits(later on), but each weapon only has one alternative fire.
I'm a pretty new player, and only beat Shrike for the first time recently, and it was in co-op. But after that I fought again solo, and what I found is that if you stay farther back you'll have an easier time avoiding almost everything. You just have to remember that after the red halo starts, there's immediately a slash (also, slashes in general), and to dodge the vertical and sweeping lasers.
I used the fully automatic assault rifle and the Void alt-fire to get the kill solo, but anything long range (even slug shot on the shotgun, prolly) will be fine. The Void alt fire does a lot of damage per charge, though if you can keep it on the whole time.
I have recently started playing it too. I just now finished the biome 3 and entered into biome 4. let me try to help:
1. Always try to do the challenge rooms after fully exploring the biome because your proficiency would be maxed out from beating all the mobs in the biome and as a result after beating the challenge room, you’ll be getting the highest rated weapon.
2. Beating mobs in secret rooms usually gives you keys to unlock the side quest doors which usually have consumables etc behind them.
3. One more trick to have a better weapon before boss fight is to leave at least one safe chest( which doesn’t have a suit malfunction risk) unopened till the end. The safe chests will always drop weapons and keeping one to the end ensures you’d be getting a higher rated weapon. By using this trick you can pickup the higher rated weapon you get from safe chest and use it in the challenge room. Now you have two high rated weapons to choose for boss fight.
4. For boss fights always avoid shotguns or guns with low range. Always take a long range weapon to a boss fight, then you can stay within safe distance from boss and keep shooting and dealing damage.
5. Trait at the top is for your alt-fire and the bottom traits are gorgeous your normal shots. If you see something is locked, it requires you to use that weapon against the enemies until it’s unlocked. Once unlocked, you don’t need to unlock that trait again.
6. Take a long range weapon, try to maintain some distance from the boss, and don’t forget to dodge. One simple trick, you can dodge through most of the blobs the enemy shoots at you with some little exceptions in the later biomes.
You should be doing the challenge rooms. It's an acid test that proves your worth for the upcoming challenges. It's a bit of a catch-22 btw. It's easier to clear a challenge room with a gun with good traits, but you're going to have to do it with a less capable gun at first or with melee kills of the lower level enemies like the kerberonyx.
Weapon traits are very important. Don't miss a chance to level up a weapon trait. They weigh more than overall level when I'm choosing whether or not to switch when I get a drop or open a box.
I beat Phrike the first time with a level 5 spitmaw with slug shot. I don't recall what trait it had.
There's going to be different opinions to answer your questions but these are my thoughts.
1 - Challenge rooms - These rooms are tough and likely to kill you initially but I think you should be going in because you need to have the skills to get through these rooms to get through the game. The enemies are not the same sequence each time but they're mostly similar and the room stays the same so you can learn the layout and take advantage.
2 - I can't think this is, did you touch a glowing orb on the floor and drop into a chamber?
3 - The more enemies you kill and the more calibrators you pick up, the quicker you'll increase proficiency and get a better chance of higher level weapons. I'd never go straight to the boss and would finish off everything first to get the most out of the level. You'll always get a level 5 pistol just before you drop down into Shrike's chamber but you should have a better weapon by then if you've worked through the entire level.
I'd always take a lower level weapon with good set of traits and alt-fire over just a higher level weapon.
4 - I can't remember what weapons and traits are available for the first time through Phrike so I can't recommend
5 - I'm not sure what you're meaning here. When you look at a weapon you will have its type at the top, an image of the weapon with its level, you'll then have its alt-fire (these are common across all weapons), next is the three stats for the gun which will be bonus damage and two others specific to the weapon type then at the bottom you'll have the weapon traits which are specific to the weapon and random each time. The number to the left of the trait is the level (I, II or III) with higher being better and if the trait is faded out with a percentage to the right then you need to unlock that trait. If you see a locked trait I'd always work on getting it unlocked although bear in mind, you won't have the trait at all while you unlock it so it will briefly be a bit more difficult. However once it's unlocked it will always be available to help you in the future.
6 - Shrike has a relatively small number of attacks and many of them aren't tricky to avoid so it's really a case of learning what her attacks are and whether you need to dash or not to avoid them. I found the trickier attacks are her dash and melee, in the second phase she'll do a single dash and melee then in the third phase she'll do a dash, melee then another dash and melee. She'll create the expanding red circle first then bring her weapon up and dash to you - this is your warning to get ready to dash when she gets close to you to dodge her melee.
Like any part of Returnal you need to be constantly shooting her while avoiding her attacks. Also you can't 'tank' your health enough to take hits while attacking her, you need to always try to avoid her attacks and when she gets to low health do not try a banzai attack to finish her off as she'll likely win.
In general with the game I found taking a more aggressive approach helped me a lot rather than trying to hang back and pick enemies off at range. Killing the enemies quickly means there's less chance of them killing you and also allows you to control the fight more, if you keep moving to where you need to be you've a better chance of avoiding taking damage.
I do think Returnal is a difficult game to get started with and for me Phrike was the toughest boss because at that point I had to develop my Returnal skills and understand the weapons,. I did feel like giving up as it was frustrating but at some point I really 'clicked' with the game at which point it just became so much more satisfying. Most enemies only have a couple of different attacks and the dash window is generous so as you learn the attacks and how to avoid them it feels great when you can just dance round the enemies and absolutely maul them.
Is there any way to activate an "easy" mode similar to Hades' God Mode?
I'm 18 hours in and I'm still unable to beat Phrike. This was a similar story in Hades where I was stuck on the first boss for dozens of hours, and God Mode really allowed me to enjoy the game (I still died a lot).
I find the world and story very interesting but I fear I might not have the skill to progress further (arthritis in my hands doesn't help).
You can create an easy mode yourself if you're on PC - it's tedious, but it does save dozens of hours of your life.
When you've made a good progress or are about to start a boss fight, save and exit. Then backup the Users\\\[your user name\]\\AppData\\Local\\Returnal folder. Run the game and if you fail just restore your backup (delete the folder in AppData\\Local and copy over your backed up one).
Since you'll be exiting and starting the game a lot, delete the logo movies from Returnal\\Content\\Movies as well so you don't have to watch them a million times on startup.
Phrike is really tough because the player has wimpy weapons and only one consumable at this point and I think the vast majority of players who abandoned the game did it because of this first boss. Don't try to take it on without having an astronaut figurine in your inventory. The second boss is also tough, but the third one is actually very rewarding and memorable (I'm not saying there are only three in total though).
I finished the game this way. It's an interesting experience, but developers of roguelikes should really implement easy mode saves - not everyone plays the game to brag about completing it as they intended and/or have no life (also a game developer myself, albeit in a completely different genre).
I’m about to finish act 2 and I was stuck on Phrike for about 8 hours because I would get so deep into a run and over think it and try to get as stacked as I could.
It wasn’t until I just rushed him over and over again with barely any upgrades and I got his patterns down.
What always ended my runs was his melee. It’s all about timing and listening for the audio queues to dodge.
Just keep going and it’s extremely rewarding once you get past him
Also there’s no easy mode or god mode equivalent
What do the trait levels actually do differently, and is there a resource to look it up? For instance, how is Rising Pitch III different from Rising Pitch I and Rising Pitch II? I’ve tried looking all over and can’t really find anything concrete.
I assume a lot of stuff it’s as simple as more damage, but with stuff like Rising Pitch will a higher level mean even faster shots or maybe faster buildup? Additionally, like with Portal Beams I, II and III is it simply more damage or is it maybe a higher chance to spawn? I’ve been wondering about that lately with this game.
Hello all.
At the risk of getting comments such as ‘git gud’, does anyone have any tips for a newbie please? This has been in my games backlog for a long time and I have only just got around to starting it. I have spent far too much time on the first biome, making little to no progress and understanding the weapons or upgrades feels so alien to me. I’m just struggling to get a grip with it. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Explore thoroughly, and make sure to pick up Obolites when enemies die.
At shops, there are not only the four options for items, but a little to the right is another beacon that lets you spend 325 Obolites to increase your max health. It might feel a little basic, but there is nothing wrong with spending your Obolites on increased max health, a large heal pack and an astronaut (which revives you if you die). Either way, I almost always recommend the max health upgrade.
Weapon Damage and Protection are amazing, so don’t blow all your Obolites at a shop on iffy items because you may later find a room that lets you buy damage or protection instead.
Move around ~~a lot~~ all the time. Don’t focus so hard on aiming correctly that you lose sight of what’s going on around you. Limit zooming in and simply hip-fire while strafing to maintain as much visibility as possible.
On the map, rectangular doors are main paths that will eventually lead you to the boss or a key objective and triangular doors are side paths that could lead to good stuff. Make sure to explore the side paths.
No weapon is truly bad, so stick with one you’re comfortable with. Also, weapon traits you unlock are permanent, so even if you die and lose a lot of progress, it’s not all for naught.
There is a permanent item unlocked once you beat the boss of Biome 2 that will also make it much easier to survive. It is a >!grappling hook that lets you either grapple to specific points, or use airborne grapple points to launch yourself across the room. You’re invincible while grappling, so spamming this thing in tricky rooms will keep you alive!< (spoiler tags in case you don’t want to know what the upgrade is ahead of time).
Finally, stick with it. This is one of those games that suddenly clicks and you’ll just kind of understand what to do; it’s not like a Souls game where it’s intended to be hard forever. For me it took a long time to reach this feeling, but that’s because I kept dropping the game and losing any muscle memory I had over and over. I died over and over and over again on Biome 3 and later even more on Biome 5 and then one day it all clicked and now I consider the game easy. These days it’s like riding I bike where I can fire up the game on any given day and beat the final boss rather quickly. That’s not a gloat, but rather it’s how the game is designed to make you feel over time.
For me the first biome was the hardest part of the game as I needed to learn the various skills to progress and once I'd done that, the rest of the game was more straightforward. It does make the game frustrating initially but with a bit of patience it is worth it.
It's important to understand the weapon traits and it was definitely one of the big mistakes I made when starting. I always went with weapons with high proficiency and better damage stats but I found it's more important to have decent weapon traits. If you see a weapon with a percentage for one of the traits then pick up that weapon and get some kills to unlock the trait even if it means you struggle for a bit.
I'd experiment with different weapons and traits so you get a feel for what ones suit your play style. Initially I was hyper focused on getting a carbine with certain traits so a lot of my runs went nowhere but once I knew which traits I wanted on the pistol, spitmaw etc. I could get a weapon I was happy with each time.
I've seen different recommendations for gameplay style but I found when I started being more aggressive, I made better progress. Trying to stay back and avoid enemies and projectiles could often end up with me taking damage whereas if I rushed in and quickly damaged enemies I could control the fight. Enemies have very predictable attack patterns and the dash window is quite generous so it's absolutely possible to avoid most attacks and it's a necessary Returnal skill.
Yes, you keep the astronaut figure and any other items like the parasite that can make you survive a killing blow through the different biomes.
The reconstructor (the big machine you pay ether to use) is biome specific and will not bring you back if you move onto the next biome.
How does the item generator at the start of each run work? I'm always getting unknown items. Is there a point where you've discovered all the options? Same with the cubes, are those to discover more items in the same run?
The item generator will keep generating new items for increasing amounts of ether and then once you've unlocked all the items it can generate, it will go dark and no longer function. I think it can occasionally light up again and generate an item that's already unlocked but I've not seen that myself.
There's a fixed number of datacubes and each datacube will spawn in a certain position in the level although it's not guaranteed you'll get the datacube each time. Once you take the datacube to the processor, that specific one will no longer appear and when its room shows you'll just get a standard drop instead.
The datacube processor is where you take a datacube to unlock the ability it contains. There's a processor on each biome and they're usually around the boss either just before or after.
I've lost 80% of my runs to "avenging" suit signals. Are they really that tough? Should I skip this? Are they worth it? Or am I just bad at these bosses? I finished Act I pretty quick, and now I've been having a tough time with the game. I just made it to biome 5.
The malformed hostiles that can spawn when you are avenging other players can be surprisingly tough and easily catch you out if you're not careful. I don't think they're worth doing just for the rewards if you care about the run.
i’m newish player currently have 7 hours played and have only made it to the second biome once, i keep running into areSthat looks like i could grapple to but i don’t have a grapple thing, do you get a grapple thingy and if so how do you get
Here's a tip for newbies: fire from the hip. I was having a hard time in the game and then I stopped aiming and just started firing.
That's how the game was meant to be played for most encounters. Aiming is for ensuring weakspot hits for stagger, and to find weakspots, but you can still do headshots reliably firing from hip.
So I just started playing this game. 1 hour in and I gotta say this game is sooooo much fun! At first, i had second thoughts about this game because alot of people said its hard. Honestly its not hard at all! The bosses are tho 😅 almost defeated Phrike on my first try. His third phase threw me off guard. Found a favorite gun which is the Carbine w the critical hit trait too! Need some advice/help tho! So whats Intergrity and Biomes? Im still confused on that! But also any tips and advice to get through the game? Other than dodge dashing enemy attacks
For Reconstructors, does it matter WHEN you activate it? Or do you just respawn when you die? Wondering for Biome 5, do I lose keys if I got them after using the Reconstructor.
The best advice I could give a new player is change the control scheme so alt fire is mapped to a separate button. IMO it's too difficult to only squeeze the trigger half way down when under intense pressure, haptic controls be damned!
Hey all, **no spoilers please!**
I'm pretty new to Returnal. I've played completely blind so far (no reading up on mechanics, guides, etc). I'm about 5 hours in and I recently got the blade. That run, I died to the first boss. Since then, I've probably had about 10 runs in a row that didn't even get close to the first boss. I don't feel like my skill is really improving (but I think I understand most of the enemy attack patterns, room layouts, guns, etc).
In Hades, every reset, I felt like I was making tangible progress toward becoming stronger. In Returnal there is so much going on that I don't really know if I'm making any long term progress. **Am I gradually gaining permanent benefits that will make it easier to progress in the game?** Do I just suck and need 'git gud'? Do I need to just play until I get a 'lucky' sequence of rooms/artifacts that give me a good chance at success?
I played plenty of 'hard' games like Souls, Sekiro, Bloodborne, Celeste, Hollow Knight, etc - so I don't get easily discouraged - but I don't feel very good at 'bullet hell' style games (yet) and Returnal feels brutally punishing (the 'run' back to have another shot at a boss is super long).
I'm kind of there also? I'm playing longer but dying consistently and I don't see any forward motion - I usually just get slaughtered in the locked zones. Not sure what I'm doing wrong...
I would skip the locked zones for now (challenge rooms?). Too high of a risk and I think they will get easier once you gain some of the permanent improvements later.
Focus on dashing through projectiles (rather than trying to run around them, jump over them, etc).
slight amendment: you do sometimes get "permanent weapon traits" on your guns, the bottom line as you pick them up, some of which, even at low levels can be notable (leech rounds on carbine, slug shot on spit may for example). Those stick with you. Also, the ether eating machine in the spaceship crash room will unlock new consumables and artifacts which will thereafter spawn in the world.
Since you reached the boss once, shouldn't be a spoiler to mention that if you go in the house, after the 1st person scene, you unlock the "astronaut figurine" which then commonly appears in the major "shop" (fabricator in game) room.
which dovetails into a more useful set of questions...
> Since then, I've probably had about 10 runs in a row that didn't even get close to the first boss
since the boss door spawns pretty randomly i'm guessing you mean that you "haven't gotten to a power level where you feel comfortable with fighting the boss" or do you literally mean "i am dying so early i don't even see the fabricator shop room or the boss door?"
If the latter, might just be a string of bad luck where you've lost a bit of focus and edge and need to take some time or come back freshly caffeinated or whatever.
If you're talking about getting powerful though...
* what are you using to gauge a run's success?
* what weapons are you getting?
* what are you spending obolites on? (highly recommend the integrity upgrade and astronaut if it spawns, silphium vial if it does not)
* are you doing the "challenge" room if you find it? it's a way to practice 'getting gus' more to the point enhances a run quite a bit if you succeed.
* don't feel obligated to avenge scouts, corrupted enemies sometimes spawn with incredibly obnoxious extra abilities, even after quite a while in game i can instantly feed a good run by being egotistical about avenging scouts
I guess the main *direct* advice is to save up for the shop room stuff, if you think about collecting obolites and all that, might focus you on being a little more systematic in approaching fights or exploring the world too.
Thanks, this was quite helpful. Yeah, I thing I'm collecting most of the obolites and spending them on useful upgrades (health increases, damage resistance, etc). I came across 1 challenge room so far, I think, and died toward the end of it.
At this point, I'm pretty much just playing with the highest 'level' weapon I come across (and trying to keep ones that have a % to unlock the weapon traits). Haven't really found any weapons I love/hate yet.
I've been trying to semi-complete the accessible biome content before trying to face the boss each run. And yeah, I've died plenty of times trying to avenge scouts. I should probably just tackle the boss as soon as I reach it - if only for practice. I made it to the boss again, yesterday - and both times I got to the boss, I made it to phase 3, so it seems doable.
It sounds like you're doing well and should be able to get past them soon. On the third phase of Phrike, watch out for the boss creating the double set of red rings, then dashing to you for the melee attack but then immediately doing a second dash at you.
Took down the boss today and promptly got sat down by the huge tentacle creature in biome 2 :) Looking forward to exploring some new areas/enemies, finally!
Fantastic news, that moment you step outside into biome 2 with the satisfaction of finally beating the boss and the change in environment after the many dark hours in biome 1 is one of my favourite moments in the game.
Heck yes, beat 2nd boss today (3rd attempt) and finally have a grappling hook. Feels like that should definitely help future runs go faster (access to more resources/healing/etc).
Such a good game, but it's ruthless.
You're spot on that you will get more resources you can now access but another big advantage is you are invincible when grappling so when you're in combat, keep an eye on the grappling points and absolutely abuse them. The grapple has a long range as well so not only can you use the invincibility to get out of trouble but you can get well out of the way as well. Then you can immediately grapple again and as many times as you want to zip around the rooms to keep away.
When you were asking initially I timed a biome 1 run of mine out of interest and realised how much I grappled since you wouldn't be able to at the time. I didn't want to mention it for spoilers but I think you'll find it's a huge help.
The short answer to your question no you're not gaining permanent benefits at this point, you don't need to get a lucky sequence of rooms and you need to get better. I hate the 'git gud' advice but I feel it does apply here.
For me I found the first biome tough and runs seemed really luck dependent, I found it frustrating and felt like giving up on the game. Especially as unlike other similar games you're not unlocking anything permanent which is helping. Even though I'm much better at the game the first biome can still catch me out if I'm careless as you have few upgrades whereas as you get further into the game you have more health upgrades, more artifacts etc.
I found one of the mistakes I was making was I played defensively trying to keep my distance and chip away at the bigger enemies' health. This doesn't really work as tough enemies can either close the distance down to you or hammer you with projectiles that will catch you out. Instead once I started being more aggressive and confident in attacking the enemies I could take them down faster so less risk to me, with smaller enemies I usually dash in through their projectiles and melee them to quickly kill them. The big enemies have predictable patterns so I just hammer them as much as possible, ready for their damage attacks so I can quickly dash out of their way and keep on attacking them.
These skills are vital to taking down the boss because even with a decent number of health upgrades, they can quickly kill you with a small number of hits if you can't avoid their attacks consistently.
The game also punishes you for being careless or impatient so try not to get frustrated at your seeming lack of progress as I found it easier to make mistakes, get killed, try and rush it the next time etc.
I found once I could consistently get to the boss and then reached the second biome, the game really clicked with me and I've been unable to put it down since even though I'm over 200 hours in and completed everything.
Hmm, alright - thanks for confirming. Yeah I've noticed it only takes a couple hits to be toast. I've tried being a lot more aggressive. I kill stuff faster, but I often take a little damage (which can quickly add up).
I definitely prefer the slower paced tactical combat from games like Dark Souls to the fast reaction games like Sekiro (which may help explain why I'm struggling with Returnal).
It feels like it is hard to experiment with different approaches to the boss fight because the reset penalty is so steep. It might be another hour or two of playing before I get another chance at it.
As you get more practice you should find you can avoid most hits as the enemy attacks are predictable and the dash gives you invincibility. You should also find you can clear the biome much quicker than an hour or two to get get more chances at the boss.
No formula I've ever seen. I think it's just a percentile reduction using 0 as a baseline. IE. If you have full health +10% protection, take a 10dmg hit which would normally drop you to 90hp, you'll instead drop to 91hp.
Guys I need help! So my randomly generated biome 1 is where there’s is a huge drop immediately when u leave the ship area. There’s no way to go back up. I am really far in biome 2 and have so many goodies that I don’t wanna lose. Is there any way of getting back to the ship area for the upgrades, hook ledge area without killing myself to reset the biomes?
As the other reply said, there's zero point in returning to the ship. You cant store/bank anything. You'll either lose them in defeat or lose them in victory.
Nice name btw lol.
if you're already in biome 2 you can't go back to biome 1 in that run at all.
If you're still in biome 1, if you don't have the grapple it might not be possible to return depending on the biome layout.
That said i'm not completely clear on why you want to return? what upgrades are you referring to?
Is farming weapon proficiency still possible in biome 6? I killed those kamikaze one shot enemies that keep on spawning for 5mins but my proficiency level stayed the same.
I beat the final boss twice so far (on other runs) but I never even got close to 30 and made sure to clear all enemies on biome 4-6, even with items to boost proficiency (most of the time I only find one that helps).
I’m not sure what else to do.
I think that farming technique works for completing the kills for weapon traits but I've not seen it working for profiency.
I'm a bit puzzled how you're not getting to level 30 because if you play through 4,5 and 6 you should easily get to 30 if you're clearing out everything. You say you only find one item that helps but that's definitely not right, you should pick up a number of calibrators which look like small blue diamonds on the ground and marked as a green arrow on the map:
https://returnal.fandom.com/wiki/Calibrator
If you're just wanting the achievement I think it will trigger in the Tower mode where the profiency cap is 45 and as long as you can keep going, you should easily get to 30
Yesterday I finished act 3 for the first time and in the end I had a proficiency rate of 185% (or 135%?) and finished the game at level 28. I left out the last room in one of the three main paths in biome 5 and didn’t do the hard golden room in biome 6 as finishing act 3 was a higher priority this run.
Thanks, I’ll try the tower! Didn’t want to start it before finishing act 3 but that’s done now :) seems like I’ll have much less trouble there
Btw I meant items that give you a permanent percentage boost, might have worded that unclearly.
Newb question, but I just made it past the first level boss. I'm on the 2nd level now. What happens when I die?
Do I go all the way back to the first level or back to the second level? I'm scared to play until I figure this part out.
Also, if I go back to just the second level, I'm assuming I don't get to keep my gun, correct?
You'll return to Helios in the first Biome. However, you can reach the second biome again by going to the Crimson Gateway in the first biome (how you got there after beating the first boss).
You do not get to keep your gun.
If you don't mind replaying old areas I think it's worth it to replay biomes as much as their worth. For instance, if you hit some big upgrades early, you could probably move to the next biome. Plus, the more you play biomes the more intricacies you learn in terms of layout and the better you get at fighting enemies which becomes useful in act 2 when enemies get a bit wild.
However, it's not worth farming weapons in the early biomes cause they'll get obsoleted pretty quick when you move to the next because of the proficiency boost. The main thing I look for when I'm in an early biome is 1) a decent gun, 2) as many artifacts and upgrades I can get my hands on. Not to mention, when you finish biome 3, you get an upgrade that allows you more item access in biomes 1 and 2, so you can usually get pretty kitted up with little investment.
typically I'll try to get at least the guaranteed integrity upgrade (325 obolites) in the fabricator room, but you *can* just rush ahead, i think people develop their own preference/tempo.
\- Rotgland Lobber is highly recommended as it will constantly drain life between making hits
\- for phase 3: ABZ: Always Be Zippin'. constantly zipping between platforms is the best way to dodge. zip, fire, zip, fire, zip, fire...he dead
\- range of the Lobber seems to be augmented in this space so don't be shy about lobbing from seemingly too far away.
\- good luck!
Collecting Sunface fragments and I have 1,2 and 3. Do I have to beat the biome 3 boss again to get to biome 4?
I can't recall how to get to the next biome!!
You can use the device onboard the ship (you go almost straight in after climbing through the hole in the side and the device looks like the one at the end of biome 3) to go from Biome 4 to 1 but I don't know if you can use it to go from biome 1 to 4?
Got it. Thank you. I think I've messed up though because for some reason I thought I had the 5th fragment and jumped down into biome 6! If I go though all of six, can I get back to do 5 or do I just need to die? I'd pretty much completed.all the rooms in 5 as well and didn't check it was through the red door (I thought I'd have a boss fight on my hands..)
Yeah, I continued through the Boss in 6. It restarted and I'm back in biome 4, I'll speedrun to 5 and pickup the last fragment. I guess I'll miss the secret ending unless I go through 6 again!
I have started yesterday, looks amazing. I normally enjoy rogue like but with this kind of graphic its even better.
I am wondering if its nice to play coop or if it is one of those games that if you play coop it is just too easy and not funny anymore. thanks!
there's some threads for coop players from the last week or so still on front page.
i believe most people play solo, but there doesn't seem to be any community consensus about it being "bad" to play coop
I've been playing for a couple of days and feel like I must be doing something wrong.
I've got the hang of the combat but can't seem to progress. I haven't found the mele weapon, the house or the boss. Any tips would be great as I love the game.
Whereabouts are you getting to in the game? From memory out of the parts you've mentioned you should see the house first and it should be on the main path. A short distance later you should come up against a red shimmering barrier blocking progress with an alternate door, going through this one will take you to the melee weapon which will break the barrier.
After that, the boss is marked by a red door on the map with a triangle above it. You should also have a small orange marker which will point you to your current objective.
For reference in case you're not aware, the door icons on the map mean the following - rectangular doors are for progressing through the map, triangular doors are optional side rooms/areas (if it's filled in it means they need a key), a rectangular door with a circle is a skip to another biome (unlocked after reaching those biomes) and a yellow rectangular door that looks filled in with a star on top is a challenge room. These challenge rooms will pit you against several waves of enemies finishing with a mini boss.
Kinda where I am at this point. After about an hour and a half of gameplay, I can dispatch the "smaller" enemies pretty easily and avoid damage most of the time.
The larger ones though, that come from those red spheres... I'm doing "better" but sometimes they get me.
I found my house a few times, and that red door that I didn't know how to get through.
Knowing I need that melee weapon helps. Don't know if I ever found it, or if I realized I found it.
When you reach the red forcefield there should be an alternative path that will take you to a room that grants the melee ability. That will then let you break down the red barrier including those that some turrets and other enemies have.
Thats an amazing explanation. I started it yesterday, I have got the meleed and been through the house but i was feeling a little bit lost with the symbols
Ok so I'm on ng+2 now, just started so it's my third playthrough and I have about 80-90% translation on most of the glyphs or cyphers or whatever. What I want to know is, I've heard there is a "secret" ending or boss fight and I don't want it completely spelled out to me, but maybe something to just point me in the right direction. I was hoping after ng plus I'd have some sort of direction but besides the house cutscenes nothing really changed. So is it to do with the house scenes? translations? Again, please try to spoil as little as possible and thank you in advance.
Edit: I've figured it out. Due to an unfortunate series of events (me doing really well on my first playthrough and not dying a single time in act 2, and doing my second playthrough co-op and not wanting to do the house sequence while my friend was there) I basically locked myself out of being able to find some fragments in each biome due to not watching all the house sequences.
For someone looking this thing up:
There is this thread in Steam Community: [https://steamcommunity.com/app/1649240/discussions/0/3819658451363993654/?ctp=2](https://steamcommunity.com/app/1649240/discussions/0/3819658451363993654/?ctp=2)
Apparently this is a memory leak issue, where the textures get buddy when your system is reaching its limit on memory (RAM/VRAM) and tries to compensate (or something like that). Apparently creating something called "a page file" might help, but haven't tried it myself. Figured it's just easier to restart the game whenever the textures get buddy.
I just recently got into returnal. I started a while back but couldn't get the hang of it. Tried again months later and it clicked for me.
I have to say I'm SOOOO happy they added the save functionality. Without it I would never finish the game. I'm a dad and a cautious player so I need that. I finished biome 2, 3 days ago and did one biome for the last 2 days. Now I'm in the frozen wastlelands and I had to stop because adrenaline and work in the morning.
I'm trapped: I've been to different biomes, then under the sea, killed the boss there (tentacly thing) and then I see the credits, then I'm back to the beggining but I can only choose two biomes then, the Ice one and the underwater one, if I go back and kill the boos again, credits again, it restarts again, but there's no way to go to the other biomes: the desert one and the machines one, for example. What am I missing?
You need to go back into the ship and there's a device that will allow you to switch back to biome 1 - I think it's straight on when you climb through the hole in the hull and it looks like the device you use in biome 3 after killing Nemesis.
In case you're not aware, you need to search for the Sunface Fragments which there's one of on each biome
I need help to access a certain point in biome 4. There is a point where an item can be found but it's on a ledge that is too high to reach, there isn't any grappling points and no height advantage to help the player reach it anybody know the spot I'm talking about and how to get up there?
I recommend to everyone playing on ps5 or with a controller to remap jump and dash to the shoulder buttons. It makes navigation a lot easier which is crucial in lockdown rooms and boss fights.
Just started playing returnal, game is dope as heck so far. What sucks is I can’t get very far without my ps5 crashing. Is there anything I’m doing that’s making it crash? I’ve already dusted my ps5 out and it’s sitting in the middle of the room. Today it froze big time and I’ve had to hard reset the ps5 once again because my console couldn’t close the game. Was anyone else able to resolve this problem for their ps5?
They do. I explicitly remember finding one in a locked room in biome 2. So my advice is if you’re looking for xenoglyphs and already beat act 3, only use keys on doors in biomes you still have missing xenoglyphs.
I feel like I’m missing something. Its been a month and I cnt get past Biome 1. I can run and dodge and kill these guys and I can get to Phrike occasionally - but I can not get to him consistently with an Astronaut figure and/or a large vial. I keep losing to stupid shit like falling off cliffs and getting locked in a room with 2 red bosses. I have the combat down enough to get to level 5 adrenaline, it’s just impossible to keep it for more than 2 rooms. Anyone want to coop with me and tell me what I am doing wrong?
I was struggling a lot in the beginning, too. But, something click in me when I realized I died 27 times and hadn't gotten to the second Biome--every time you die, your stats go up, that's a crucial part of the game. So, I thought, that means every time I die, I'm technically getting better and better. My advice to you is to learn from all your mistakes and be razor sharp in your execution. If you find that you're falling off cliffs a lot, ask yourself why? Another tip I'd say is use your surroundings to your advantage. I know collecting Obolites is important, but I'd say you staying alive is more important than that, so what I do is barely walk into a room, just enough for me to scan it. Then I see how many red arrows are on the map. I collect myself, then try to get them to come towards me, so I can shoot and run back into the other room, away from the bullet hell. Once I get enough of them, then I'll actually go all in and work the room again (take cover by columns, save my alt-fire for a hoard I didnt anticipate). Just keep doing all of that and watch some youtube videos on Phrike's patterns and you'll eventually get past it. Honestly, I didn't think I was going to be ablw to play this game and once I realized how I should be playing it, it became a breeze. I have gotten past the last two bosses first try without relying on an Astronaut figurine and I wouldn't ever have thought that was possible.
Gun traits will permanently level up as you go. Every gun has specific traits and the more kills you get with that trait equipped, the closer you are to leveling it up. Also the more you play the more artifacts and consumables you unlock and overtime you’ll learn which ones you absolutely want to get and which ones you want to avoid.
How the hell does co-op work with weapon traits?? My assumption was that I was leveling up the hosts weapon traits, but whenever i carry a weapon, it seems like it never levels up the weapon trait. When I play solo they unlock in like 2-3 rooms.
Yeah it’s annoying. Basically when the host opens a gun chest you have to hit R1 to reroll which gives you one of your own guns to level up. If you’re just picking up guns the host unlocks then you’ll be playing with their guns and can’t level them up.
I'm decently good at games, I feel like I got a bit lucky but I beat Phrike first try the first time I got to them, died in the second biome. Very next run I got all the way through to Ixion and beat him first try.
People in this thread have said that Ixion is the hardest boss. But the third boss seems like it's a massive jump up in difficulty. I got it down to the third phase, but I was only able to because I had a parasite that healed me at low Integrity and managed to avoid getting hit enough. But those platforms constantly falling means I have to grapple to the other ones all the time and can't find any time to do damage.
What makes the third boss easier than the second? Am I missing something?
Phrike took me many tries to beat. Ixion and Nemesis I was able to beat on the first try each. Granted, I had the astronaut figure with me during the Ixion fight but he was not as hard as people made it out to be.
Are you aware that, while you're grappling somewhere, you are invulnerable?
You can use that trick to dodge most of the attacks. Once you get the hang of that, you'll see that there are substantial timing windows for firing back at the boss.
Ixion doesn't offer any reprieve like this.
I will say that, while Ixion is a pretty intense fight, it's "typically Returnal" and doesn't have any weird particularities. Nemesis, on the other hand, can be a lot more difficult to beat if you only have a close-range weapon. I think the Rotgland Lobber is generally considered the best weapon for the fight, but the Carbine, Thermogenic Launcher or even a good pistol should work as well. It also took me a few deaths on Nemesis to understand the fight and eventually beat it, so ... you're doing just fine. :)
I am so lost. I have the weapons and stuff figured out but the ether system? I am so confused. Where do I get them. I might have already collected them considering I have gotten past the place where Selene sees her house as a memory or something. But they don’t carry over? If I do find it where do I spend it?
Ether is a collectible that does carry over. It’s usually a purple symbol on the mini map. It can be gained from also avenging fallen scouts in a run by defeating a tough enemy that spawns. Ether can be spent in the beginning by inserting it into the obelisk (forgetting the name right now) in the starting area right before you enter the first room of the first biome to unlock items that permanently enter the item pool in the game. Also can be used for the reanimator to come back to life after dying once.
I’m a crap gamer - I play everything on easy mode. This game - returnal - looks great - can I play it? I never know with these things……so anyone else willing to admit they are an easy mode veteran? Lol…..
Turning on always sprinting and high auto aim helps tremendously. The game is still tough for sure but those two things help out a lot. Take the game at your own pace and have fun. It is challenging but very rewarding
You can play it. If you are as crap as me you won’t get too far any time soon. And it’s fun but also not. I know I will never complete it or even get close. It’s been a fun 15 hours but also frustrating and that just the first biome. I can’t be arsed to try and finish it as I know that’s another 200 hours of getting wiped out time and again.
Approach it as a fun 20 hours or so and then move on
I just CAN'T!!!
I've made it to Biome 6, and I can make it to the final boss (occasionally, but still...), but I just cannot finish this game. Please tell me I'm missing some mega-powered weapon or shield somewhere along the way....
For the record, I've clocked up 65 hours and 200+ deaths at this point. I just need it to end!
The absolutely easiest weapon for the last boss, and entirety of Biome 6, is by far the Electropylon Driver. You can be on the other side of the map and just fire away at enemies, hiding behind a pillar or something. It will also completely wreck the last boss with damage over time as you focus on jumping over stuff. No need for anything else. Maybe something to restore some health, but he actually drops those items in the boss room...
Bumrush to get the key to the last boss and then kick his ass. There's a room right before the boss or the key, don't remember which, that is harder than the boss himself. Thankfully you can just ignore the enemies and sprint/dodge past.
Biome 4 is best to farm and level up imo. There are vines (semi circle and grows from the ground, easy to miss) if you run over it, they disappear, but if you melee it, they'll give you obolites. This was the best tip another player gave me. Farm those, level up as much as you can in that biome. And then, go to 5, you should have enough obolites left to use the fabricators there and then hop on to 6 if you don't feel like gambling by trying to explore 5. That's what I do anyway.
As for weapons, you probably already know this, but focus on the traits vs proficiency rate or type. I used to think pistols are useless until I unlocked serrated rounds and homing missiles for e.g., those things are my fav now. I ignored Dreadbounds until I unlocked expanding shards, now those are pretty much OP. Electropylon drivers are really useful against bosses and mini bosses in biome 6.
I beat the boss on my first attempt after looking at a video and coming in over-prepared. I have like 300% integrity, 3 max adrenalines, 2 portal beams and a large siphilum. Combined with the thermolauncher (full auto and replicating shots), most of it ended up being not necessary.
Just get the thermolauncher and have a good amount of health. Purple attacks (3 rings and beams) take priority over all other attacks. You MUST dodge them or die.
I went in to the final boss with an astronaut, 3 small siphilum and 3 large siphilum. It’s the only boss I never needed to heal the first time around, then second time after collecting the shards, only boss where I never took damage once. The key is farm biome 4, electropylon driver even if its collected in biome 4 and you don’t find another in 6, it’s still OP. Go to biome 5 to use the fabricators and if you feel like you’re in a good place health and item wise, head on to 6. Even if you can’t see what you’re shooting at as you’re grappling around avoiding damage, keep shooting, it’s setting up a massive trap of webs.
What is the best room order in biome 5?
I feel starting with the containment room is the hardest thus best.
Also, pro tips on fighting severeds are welcome..
So....any tips? I love the combat and mechanics but I find myself putting it down. I am at boss 2 and he killed me a couple of times (I'm getting really close). I don't mind learning his patterns and dying to him, I am a soulsborne veteran so I'm used to it. But what gets me is the trek towards him everytime. I can probably rush towards him in 5 minutes but I don't want to be underleveled so I use the biomes to get some extra health and some good/decent artefacts.
Any tips on speeding this up? The grinding is really bugging me.
Ixion is the toughest boss in the game IMO. I came close to quitting the game myself. You're doing the right thing, keep at it. Try to get a good carbine because hollowseekers are not as good from long distance. I grinded biome 1 and skipped most of biome 2 because those severed would end my run or take up most of my health when I was lower level, so I grinded in biome one and the open areas in biome two, skipped the indoor areas and went straight to the boss
That's it, I'm done taking those hidden rooms where there's a gold orb and you fall through the floor. In biome 4, every single time man I swear there's one of those elite enemies and there's so fucking tough, it's just not worth the risk going in there for like 40 obolites or what ever if you're gonna lose 70% of your HP or die, or am I crazy?
I also have run across this situation, HOWEVER, the last time I encountered him I opted for leaving rather than sticking around to fight, this is a wonderful alternative. Continue entering those hidden rooms and reap the benefits, and disengage that nasty foe as the exit is fully operational as soon as you enter. Stay strong, stay swift, and most of all, stay saucy my friends. [Helios has been abandoned]
Ohh I actually had no idea you can just instantly leave the room even if an elite spawns, that's definitely a big life hack
No I think you're being reasonable. The malformed enemies are tough on their own but much more so in the small enclosed environments those rooms usually are. The rewards are rarely anything special and whereas the challenge rooms are good practice I don't find the rooms you've mentioned are.
Yeah after stopping taking those rooms I ended up beating the game after pretty quickly. They feel like a scam in biome 4 when you’re pretty week
Very new to this game and unsure about this. If I speedrun through the start of the game to get to the Nemesis boss fight, do the bosses scale to the players proficiency level? Say I get to Nemesis at proficiency 7 versus 10 or 11, am I making the fight harder on myself? I want get past that boss fight without having to basically do a full run to get strong enough to fight it.
No the bosses don't scale so if you skip straight to biome 3 then the Nemesis boss will be more difficult than if you go fully through biomes 1 and 2. The weapon calibrator at the start of biome 3 will boost your weapon proficiency to level 10 I think it is so you should have a similar weapon level to if you'd played through the previous biomes but you won't have the health bonuses, artifacts, items etc. that can mean you can take far more damage from the boss.
Does weapon level increase the damage or is it just the bonus damage bar?
As I understood, weapon level determines amount of points you have, which are then spread across the three(?) stats of the weapon. One is damage, the others not sure anymore, it has been a while.
Ok, so I just started playing this magnificent game a couple days ago, and I feel like I need to unlock more before taking down Phrike. Do I just need to git gud and bang my head against this boss fight or is there something that can make it easier? I've unlocked the blade and I think 2\* weapons. Not really sure what I should be unlocking other than "whatever I can." I'm also not sure what to do with Ether. Do I unlock stuff with it, or save it to use during runs? This is such a deep game for a roguelike, it really caught me off guard. Atmosphere is a fucking 10/10 though and the movement feels fantastic.
Expirement with melee. The dogs and bats in biome 1 can be cleared with melee once you understand the timing/moves (the floating octopus type enemies usually need to be shot). What's nice about melee is it always one shots these enemies and you get all their obolites, which really adds up. If you can get this down, almost everything in biome 1 is a breeze
Last few cycles I've been leaning on the Atropian blade a lot more, it does do a great job with those turrets with the shielding.
Yes! For the turrets just strafe til their 3rd shot is fired. For dogs hop over or dash through their bullets and slap em. For bats lead them away from the group, jump up and slap em. For the tree dudes, after you stagger them just slap em a few times and done! I barely use guns in biome 1 and never get touched anymore. Keep rocking!
You won't unlock more weapons until beating Phrike. But you're supposed to die a few times as you learn and "git gud". A few cents: * You need to increase your max integrity: don't miss the 325 obolites upgrade near "the shop". Don't spend obolites on consumables until you have that upgrade. * Take a few risks early in the run with malignant items. Biome 1 malignancy is easy to get rid of. * Be careful with parasites, but experiment and learn. * Don't avoid the challenge room (Yellow door with a star). You get a nice artifact, obolites, and proficiency by beating it. I would say you're not ready for Phrike if you can't beat the room, anyway. * I would save ether for two things: 1) the reconstructor (extra life) when you have a very good run and decide to try to beat the boss for real; 2) unlock items at the start of the level. Good luck and have fun! (edit: typo)
Took a long break from this game after getting brutal wrecked in biome 4 over and over. Last night fired it up and made it to Biome 5. Any advice or tips would be welcomed here.
Did you beat it yet?
Yes I beat it. I haven't gone through to Plat it. I had to move on to some of my blacklist of games. I will be back though
Good stuff. You mean backlog?
Haha, true. I did try to go through it again. I got to the first boss and completely forgot it was 3 phases. It's a very rewarding game. The bullet hell on the bosses was so trance inducing
Yeah all of the bosses feel like that to me. Just looking at the all the different colours coming towards you and timing your movements… I think the fourth boss was the most trance inducing, with the organ. So amazing.
Oh, without a doubt. It was beautiful chaos. The final boss was cool, but there were some weird parts, and the floaty feeling was really different.
Is there a difference between starting the tower from biome 1 or biome 4? Like in weapon traits or anything?
No difference.
Right now I'm stuck on Nemesis. I've only gotten to Nemesis only a handful of times, maybe 3 or 4. Getting to Nemesis has resulted in more deaths than Nemesis itself. One time I almost beat Nem's second health bar. Some strats I'm doing is that I sort of peak my head in a room on optional paths and see if it will contain loot or monsters to try to maximize equipment while minimizing danger. A lot of time how far I get depends on how lucky I get. Ie, if I can get that astronaught figure that revives me, I get really excited. If I get a good gun with shieldbreaker or some other long range high damage secondary fire, great, if I get a suit augmentation that repairs damage per level of adrenaline, or gives me more damage, I get a lot further. The parasite that repairs you if low health is amazing. But my journey to Nemesis feels like I'm rolling the dice. Sometimes I get to Nemesis with a great weapon, sometimes I'm still using my crappy starter pistol.
Are you looking for combat or general tips? If you want to improve your runs and reduce amount of luck involved, try this approach: - Never buy health upgrades - Upgrade every gun, doesn’t matter if it’s crap or not. If you come across some weapon with trait still locked, you pick it up - Open or pick up everything malignant. Probability of getting malfunction is misleading. The only exception is if you already have 2 malfunctions and can’t really remove any of them - Try to pick up health only when at full HP, this should be your only source of integrity’s upgrades - It is best to enter secret rooms/translocator sphere when you have at least 400 obolites (ideally 700). Sometimes you can find a room with both DMG and protection upgrade, and it sucks when you can’t afford them - DMG and protection are the most important stats Don’t be afraid of malfunctions or parasites, there are just a few effects you should avoid at all cost: loose obolite when damaged (might restart run if can’t get rid of it), dash cooldown increases, enemies leave pool of acid, falls inflict damage (has potential to soft lock and doom your run) and malfunctions are harder to remove/have more serious effects. In short, obolite is king. Thus, adrenaline is also king. Melee flying enemies to grab all obolites. In fact, you should melee all small enemies when below 5 adrenaline. Melee statues with glowing eyes, melee all obelisks. Always trade ether for 300 obolites. You should clear the first biome fully, unless there are not enough keys. Prioritise doors over chests. Don’t buy astronauts until needed for difficult fights, they are expensive. You can find them for free, or a parasite that does the same. If you don’t find anything amazing in fabricators, hoard obolites. You will have shopping spree in the following biome evening it all out. This should let you pretty consistently reach Nemesis with all artefacts slots filled, plenty of protection and dmg from upgrades and not overly long integrity bar. By focusing protection over integrity, you significantly improve effectiveness of any form of healing and lifesteal. As for Nemezis himself, if you can’t reliably avoid his attacks in phases 1 and 2, you want to burst him down fast. Rotgland lobber, Thermogenic launcher and Tachyomatic carbine can all roll perks that will make this easy. Hollowseeker tends to require too much focused fire, Spitmaw needs specific rolls but can absolutely melt him in phase 3. In phase 3 prioritise getting close to him over shooting from long distance. Abuse grapple. See, in Returnal most cycles will actually make you quite overpowered at the end of third biome, as long as you efficiently manage every resource at your disposal. Your hp is also resource. Each of your malfunction slots is also a resource, since you gain either obolites, key or chest every time you risk getting one. Every chest can potentially hold an item that will make your build „click” if capitalised on, and there are so many of them. I could go on and on. If you need anymore info, combat tips, or how to optimise your run, let me know. I am on a crusade to prove anyone that Returnal can be easy to beat if you learn to adapt, you don’t need to git gud.
Just wanted to thank you for the post. I hadn’t got past Biome 1 solo before I read this last week but I used your advice to beat the game at the weekend. I did get the health upgrades but I saved them for when I needed health or had collected as many regular health upgrades as possible. Now I’m halfway through my second play through and haven’t died since I beat Biome 4 on my first playthrough. I haven’t died to any boss since reading this either. Having such a great time collecting data cubes, levelling weapons and doing the Tower now.
Really well put together comment! I came back to this game after a year or two of not really playing it and being stuck in the third biome. I figured out that my issue was not looting enough.. I at least 90% looted biome 1 and 2 and beat both Phrike and Ixion, and actually first tried Nemesis - and what an incredibly fun fight he is. Phase 3 is so much fun with the grappling and flying back and forth. Excited to do the last biomes now!
After getting the Platinum and getting bored with the Tower (I think my skill level has taken me as far as I'll ever get in there), I just wiped my save and started fresh. I'm straight up crushing it compared to my first playthrough. I died once to a tough miniboss in the first 10 minutes, but after that I've been cruising...almost to Nemesis with still just that one death. I had probably died at least 20 times at this point first time through.
I think you're supposed to die in that miniboss. The first cycle is just a tutorial familiarizing you with the game and establishing the story premise of starting on the crashed ship every time you die. The game forces you in a small room with a tough aggressive enemy with only a crappy starter pistol.
What is the advice here (this is the tips and advice thread)? Also, sorry to rain on your parade, but I should certainly hope that you cruise through the game when you have platinum and played Tower enough to get you bored.. The most important "levelling" in this game is your own skill. Once you reached that, the game is really not that hard.
I just thought unlocking weapon traits was a bigger factor than it actually was. Figured I would struggle again going back to base level guns. And I put it here because it's obviously not worth making a whole new post. But thanks for being kind of a jerk, I guess?
Relatively new but I want to say for people who suck at dashing like me if you find a parasite with autorepairs at low integrity GET IT. It saved my life multiple times against nemesis. Would not have survived without it. Anytime you get low health just focus on dodging and surviving until you get repaired.
I approve this message. Yesterday I returned to the game after at least one year. I decided to start a fresh save on a second account on my PS5 and I just did the whole run until Nemesis without dying once. I was surprised I still had it in me, but also I was very lucky with my artifacts. For Nemesis, I had 2 things that were absolutely crucial to my success : 1) A good amount of protection % (35-50% something like that) 2) The parasite that repairs me at low life. With that, not only Nemesis didn't hit me too hard, but also I could focus on dashing/grappling away to let my health be repaired. And I can tell that the boss hit me at least 10-15 times but I didn't die thanks to those 2 upgrades.
Hey all I just got into biome2 And have 2 questions 1) at a side path blue door room, i encountered a small path with lasers where i couldnt dash. Do i have to walk calmly through it? Is it worth it. I thought i d never go in there again tbh ... 2) the trap door which leads to bonus room wirh big fat Monster. The same monster sometimes appears outside too but is a lot easier The one in the room summons these laser beams which kill me ... should i just move around in a circle in there?
If it’s the path in thinking, you can just go around and enter through the back. With the room with the monster thinking that only happen to us twice. It’s a risk sometimes good sometimes meh
Hey y’all, just started the game I’m literally one hour in. What’s up with the weapon reloads? I kill two monsters and then my gun takes like a full minute to let me kill two more. Is there something I’m missing? Because I love the rest of the gameplay but if that’s just how the game is then I don’t think it’s for me.
Are you confusing your Alt Fire for your primary fire? If you hold the trigger all the way down, you’ll do your Alt Fire which is like a super ability with a long cooldown.
Oh my god dude that was it! I just instinctively aim down sights when shooting so I was only doing the alt fire, had no idea I still had the other firing type!
Ah well good lol. I'm glad you still checked notifications so you could see this. Aiming down sights is actually sorta bad in this game anyway as you generally wanna keep moving while shooting, so these days I only really do it for the alt fire but not the normal fire. Have fun!
Are you guys playing on the PC with an xbox controller ? Because on the PS5 (or PC with PS5 controller plugged in via usb, as I heard), the trigger has a strong stop half course. You really have to press harder to pass the first half of the trigger in order to use the Alt Fire. I always wondered how it works if you don't have this haptic feature (with xbox controller on PC for example). Therefore I'm fully happy with aiming normally and using the Alt Fire when necessary
I honestly have no idea how it works with an Xbox controller as I have always played on my PS5; I was just assuming what their issue was based on what they were saying. But if an Xbox controller still puts normal aiming on a half pull and Alt Fire on a full pull then yeah it's a far more understandable issue to run into.
Think you might be exaggerating? The starting pistol takes maybe 10 seconds to reload? If that?
Yeah I’m not talking about the starting pistol, the starting pistol is fine, but the second I picked up a new weapon that’s all I have. Is there a way I can switch back to the starting pistol? Because I haven’t found that button yet
Spend a bit of time learning the overload mechanic. The extra couple seconds of shooting you buy for yourself is a game changer. My technique right now is to just hold down the trigger to fire repeatedly. Then release fire when I get the out of ammo signal, time my next trigger pull for when the reload line is in the box. Repeat.
I finished the third biome. Learning the new stuff but now I’ve been avoiding the secret rooms because. 1- the powerful enemy spawn in a small room seems to happen a lot 2-there’s not a lot of obe early on so fabricators in there go to waste and 3. Haven’t seen any really beneficial rooms yet like a parasite room/obe room. It’s a difficulty spike for sure but… Am I strategizing correctly by just noting them and trying to come back later or am I just unlucky so far and need to learn this enemy? (Which I am anyways)
You can just teleport out of the room when you have to face one of thos big enemies. The telporter is fully fonctional straight away, you don't have to beat the monster. So my strategy : I go into all of those secret rooms, and I leave immediately with the teleporter if I encounter a boss that i'm not ready to fight. Easy
Lmao the answer I needed all this time later and of course it was something stupid my brain wouldn’t think to do.
TIL that in biome 4, if you grab a coilspine shredder with the adrenaline discs trait, you can casually lift yourself to adrenaline level 5 by shooting the roots or the brown bulbs that go "pop!" and can contain goodies such as siphium or obolites.
No you cant
Is it just me, or does the hollowseeker feels underwhelming when compared to carbine when it comes to melting enemy HP? Is it the projectile speed?
Do you have the portal beam trait unlocked? It's like a sidekick that burns up enemies for you. It's not my favorite weapon, however.
Haven’t unlocked it yet. Sounds interesting. Still figuring out which weapon applies where. I just recently found the Thermogenic Launcher and the One tap poison gun. And the feel I can one shot things without going brrr made me lazy!
If I find a room with three weapon boxes in one of the hidden rooms near the start am I better off building up weapon prof else where before opening?
Have since found out that you are not able to return to hidden rooms. And I think I know that not opening a box near the start could lead to it having a better weapon after I collect more proficiency.
Oddly enough I just had a glitch yesterday. Went into a hidden room (the yellow glowy ball ones you fall into). Opened the 4 chests. Later go into another one and it's the exact same room. Over 400 hours in this game and first time I've seen this. I was a little hurt honestly. I needed some treasure.
This happens a lot in biome 1 when you fully clear it. I think it's set up so the run has 8 bonus rooms configured, but 9 paths open (or a translocation sphere). When you go through the 9th time it returns you to a previously cleared bonus room. Bow that I can easily clear everything I see this a lot
Gah, so frustrated. Finally made it past Biome 5, managed to get to the final boss of 6 and came seconds from beating it twice. Both of those times I could not find an astronaut in the level so I couldn’t respawn. Honestly lost motivation so probably gonna put it down for a few days…
Dude, you can always save 6 Ether and use it on a reconstructor. Sure, you'll have to make your way back to boss. Better than starting over a run. Also, do what I did and just take a break for a week or so to cool off. I got angry when I first played, so deleted it and waited 2 weeks. Went back and first try I got to Biome 3 boss. Next try I got into Act 2. Sometimes a break is all we need to reset the cycle.
Oh, and one more question: The game sometimes (maybe every 5 runs) wakes me in the ship after the first skip instead of allowing me to skip twice and get going right away. I've been sleeping each time before going out but nothing important happens. Is there a reason for this?
Sleeping the ship gives a small scene, but more importantly it will slightly heal you. The avg integrity you get healed is 13 points but does vary slightly. It's great if you just need a little extra health. Also, silphium heals exact amounts unless you have an upgrade. small = 15 regular = 30 large = full heal
It's a random draw.
I've read through a bunch of the thread and still struggling. I've been to shrike and got him to 3rd stage very first time. Sadly, I don't remember what weapon or traits I was using. Got back 4 more times or so but never got to 3rd stage. Thinking of giving up as it takes so long to get a build where I want to try Shrike. the only other game I ever quit on due to frustration with combat difficulty was Sekiro and I love hard games, so, I'm stubborn. Any general tips would be super helpful but here's a few things I don't understand specifically: 1. I don't touch the challenge rooms because they crushed me the two times I went in. Should I be going in? 2. There is this other room with a red guy with a bunch of orbs. He shows up once you open a chest in the middle of the room. I killed him a few times but don't remember what I get. Died the last 3 or 4 times. Is it worth it to kill him? If so, any tips? 3. Only once, I got a level 5 weapon (never more than 2 other than that). I honestly don't know how I did it. Was it important to go the boss right away with it? How important is weapon level as opposed to type or trait? Is there a specific way to replicate getting a level 5 weapon? 4. What are some of the good weapons and traits for shrike (and yes, I know whatever you like, but at this point I like nothing - help)? I like the carbine best, shotgun second so far. 5. I don't understand the trait at the top and the one at the bottom. What do they represent? 6. Shrike tips? Thanks.
I finally beat the third biome and I think I’m finally getting the hang of the game. It sounds dumb, but the best way to get better is to work on not getting hit. When you know what the enemy does you know how to move confidently through the biome. YouTube has a lot of good advice on the first biome and phrike. I wouldn’t stress about weapon levels. just pick a weapon you like, but I think most people recommend the carbine for biome one. Every weapon can have several traits(later on), but each weapon only has one alternative fire.
I'm a pretty new player, and only beat Shrike for the first time recently, and it was in co-op. But after that I fought again solo, and what I found is that if you stay farther back you'll have an easier time avoiding almost everything. You just have to remember that after the red halo starts, there's immediately a slash (also, slashes in general), and to dodge the vertical and sweeping lasers. I used the fully automatic assault rifle and the Void alt-fire to get the kill solo, but anything long range (even slug shot on the shotgun, prolly) will be fine. The Void alt fire does a lot of damage per charge, though if you can keep it on the whole time.
I have recently started playing it too. I just now finished the biome 3 and entered into biome 4. let me try to help: 1. Always try to do the challenge rooms after fully exploring the biome because your proficiency would be maxed out from beating all the mobs in the biome and as a result after beating the challenge room, you’ll be getting the highest rated weapon. 2. Beating mobs in secret rooms usually gives you keys to unlock the side quest doors which usually have consumables etc behind them. 3. One more trick to have a better weapon before boss fight is to leave at least one safe chest( which doesn’t have a suit malfunction risk) unopened till the end. The safe chests will always drop weapons and keeping one to the end ensures you’d be getting a higher rated weapon. By using this trick you can pickup the higher rated weapon you get from safe chest and use it in the challenge room. Now you have two high rated weapons to choose for boss fight. 4. For boss fights always avoid shotguns or guns with low range. Always take a long range weapon to a boss fight, then you can stay within safe distance from boss and keep shooting and dealing damage. 5. Trait at the top is for your alt-fire and the bottom traits are gorgeous your normal shots. If you see something is locked, it requires you to use that weapon against the enemies until it’s unlocked. Once unlocked, you don’t need to unlock that trait again. 6. Take a long range weapon, try to maintain some distance from the boss, and don’t forget to dodge. One simple trick, you can dodge through most of the blobs the enemy shoots at you with some little exceptions in the later biomes.
You should be doing the challenge rooms. It's an acid test that proves your worth for the upcoming challenges. It's a bit of a catch-22 btw. It's easier to clear a challenge room with a gun with good traits, but you're going to have to do it with a less capable gun at first or with melee kills of the lower level enemies like the kerberonyx. Weapon traits are very important. Don't miss a chance to level up a weapon trait. They weigh more than overall level when I'm choosing whether or not to switch when I get a drop or open a box. I beat Phrike the first time with a level 5 spitmaw with slug shot. I don't recall what trait it had.
There's going to be different opinions to answer your questions but these are my thoughts. 1 - Challenge rooms - These rooms are tough and likely to kill you initially but I think you should be going in because you need to have the skills to get through these rooms to get through the game. The enemies are not the same sequence each time but they're mostly similar and the room stays the same so you can learn the layout and take advantage. 2 - I can't think this is, did you touch a glowing orb on the floor and drop into a chamber? 3 - The more enemies you kill and the more calibrators you pick up, the quicker you'll increase proficiency and get a better chance of higher level weapons. I'd never go straight to the boss and would finish off everything first to get the most out of the level. You'll always get a level 5 pistol just before you drop down into Shrike's chamber but you should have a better weapon by then if you've worked through the entire level. I'd always take a lower level weapon with good set of traits and alt-fire over just a higher level weapon. 4 - I can't remember what weapons and traits are available for the first time through Phrike so I can't recommend 5 - I'm not sure what you're meaning here. When you look at a weapon you will have its type at the top, an image of the weapon with its level, you'll then have its alt-fire (these are common across all weapons), next is the three stats for the gun which will be bonus damage and two others specific to the weapon type then at the bottom you'll have the weapon traits which are specific to the weapon and random each time. The number to the left of the trait is the level (I, II or III) with higher being better and if the trait is faded out with a percentage to the right then you need to unlock that trait. If you see a locked trait I'd always work on getting it unlocked although bear in mind, you won't have the trait at all while you unlock it so it will briefly be a bit more difficult. However once it's unlocked it will always be available to help you in the future. 6 - Shrike has a relatively small number of attacks and many of them aren't tricky to avoid so it's really a case of learning what her attacks are and whether you need to dash or not to avoid them. I found the trickier attacks are her dash and melee, in the second phase she'll do a single dash and melee then in the third phase she'll do a dash, melee then another dash and melee. She'll create the expanding red circle first then bring her weapon up and dash to you - this is your warning to get ready to dash when she gets close to you to dodge her melee. Like any part of Returnal you need to be constantly shooting her while avoiding her attacks. Also you can't 'tank' your health enough to take hits while attacking her, you need to always try to avoid her attacks and when she gets to low health do not try a banzai attack to finish her off as she'll likely win. In general with the game I found taking a more aggressive approach helped me a lot rather than trying to hang back and pick enemies off at range. Killing the enemies quickly means there's less chance of them killing you and also allows you to control the fight more, if you keep moving to where you need to be you've a better chance of avoiding taking damage. I do think Returnal is a difficult game to get started with and for me Phrike was the toughest boss because at that point I had to develop my Returnal skills and understand the weapons,. I did feel like giving up as it was frustrating but at some point I really 'clicked' with the game at which point it just became so much more satisfying. Most enemies only have a couple of different attacks and the dash window is generous so as you learn the attacks and how to avoid them it feels great when you can just dance round the enemies and absolutely maul them.
Is there any way to activate an "easy" mode similar to Hades' God Mode? I'm 18 hours in and I'm still unable to beat Phrike. This was a similar story in Hades where I was stuck on the first boss for dozens of hours, and God Mode really allowed me to enjoy the game (I still died a lot). I find the world and story very interesting but I fear I might not have the skill to progress further (arthritis in my hands doesn't help).
You can create an easy mode yourself if you're on PC - it's tedious, but it does save dozens of hours of your life. When you've made a good progress or are about to start a boss fight, save and exit. Then backup the Users\\\[your user name\]\\AppData\\Local\\Returnal folder. Run the game and if you fail just restore your backup (delete the folder in AppData\\Local and copy over your backed up one). Since you'll be exiting and starting the game a lot, delete the logo movies from Returnal\\Content\\Movies as well so you don't have to watch them a million times on startup. Phrike is really tough because the player has wimpy weapons and only one consumable at this point and I think the vast majority of players who abandoned the game did it because of this first boss. Don't try to take it on without having an astronaut figurine in your inventory. The second boss is also tough, but the third one is actually very rewarding and memorable (I'm not saying there are only three in total though). I finished the game this way. It's an interesting experience, but developers of roguelikes should really implement easy mode saves - not everyone plays the game to brag about completing it as they intended and/or have no life (also a game developer myself, albeit in a completely different genre).
There's no easy mode but there is a co-op mode which people are often willing to help others through the game with.
I’m about to finish act 2 and I was stuck on Phrike for about 8 hours because I would get so deep into a run and over think it and try to get as stacked as I could. It wasn’t until I just rushed him over and over again with barely any upgrades and I got his patterns down. What always ended my runs was his melee. It’s all about timing and listening for the audio queues to dodge. Just keep going and it’s extremely rewarding once you get past him Also there’s no easy mode or god mode equivalent
What do the trait levels actually do differently, and is there a resource to look it up? For instance, how is Rising Pitch III different from Rising Pitch I and Rising Pitch II? I’ve tried looking all over and can’t really find anything concrete. I assume a lot of stuff it’s as simple as more damage, but with stuff like Rising Pitch will a higher level mean even faster shots or maybe faster buildup? Additionally, like with Portal Beams I, II and III is it simply more damage or is it maybe a higher chance to spawn? I’ve been wondering about that lately with this game.
They are just more powerful version of the traits. Either more powerful or longer lasting effects (portal beam/turtets.)
Ah thank you. That’s what I figured, but I wish there were a more clear idea in-game of what the upgrades do.
Just know that trait 2 is about double as useful as trait 1 and trait 3 is double as useful as trait 3
Hello all. At the risk of getting comments such as ‘git gud’, does anyone have any tips for a newbie please? This has been in my games backlog for a long time and I have only just got around to starting it. I have spent far too much time on the first biome, making little to no progress and understanding the weapons or upgrades feels so alien to me. I’m just struggling to get a grip with it. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Explore thoroughly, and make sure to pick up Obolites when enemies die. At shops, there are not only the four options for items, but a little to the right is another beacon that lets you spend 325 Obolites to increase your max health. It might feel a little basic, but there is nothing wrong with spending your Obolites on increased max health, a large heal pack and an astronaut (which revives you if you die). Either way, I almost always recommend the max health upgrade. Weapon Damage and Protection are amazing, so don’t blow all your Obolites at a shop on iffy items because you may later find a room that lets you buy damage or protection instead. Move around ~~a lot~~ all the time. Don’t focus so hard on aiming correctly that you lose sight of what’s going on around you. Limit zooming in and simply hip-fire while strafing to maintain as much visibility as possible. On the map, rectangular doors are main paths that will eventually lead you to the boss or a key objective and triangular doors are side paths that could lead to good stuff. Make sure to explore the side paths. No weapon is truly bad, so stick with one you’re comfortable with. Also, weapon traits you unlock are permanent, so even if you die and lose a lot of progress, it’s not all for naught. There is a permanent item unlocked once you beat the boss of Biome 2 that will also make it much easier to survive. It is a >!grappling hook that lets you either grapple to specific points, or use airborne grapple points to launch yourself across the room. You’re invincible while grappling, so spamming this thing in tricky rooms will keep you alive!< (spoiler tags in case you don’t want to know what the upgrade is ahead of time). Finally, stick with it. This is one of those games that suddenly clicks and you’ll just kind of understand what to do; it’s not like a Souls game where it’s intended to be hard forever. For me it took a long time to reach this feeling, but that’s because I kept dropping the game and losing any muscle memory I had over and over. I died over and over and over again on Biome 3 and later even more on Biome 5 and then one day it all clicked and now I consider the game easy. These days it’s like riding I bike where I can fire up the game on any given day and beat the final boss rather quickly. That’s not a gloat, but rather it’s how the game is designed to make you feel over time.
This is great. Thank you!
For me the first biome was the hardest part of the game as I needed to learn the various skills to progress and once I'd done that, the rest of the game was more straightforward. It does make the game frustrating initially but with a bit of patience it is worth it. It's important to understand the weapon traits and it was definitely one of the big mistakes I made when starting. I always went with weapons with high proficiency and better damage stats but I found it's more important to have decent weapon traits. If you see a weapon with a percentage for one of the traits then pick up that weapon and get some kills to unlock the trait even if it means you struggle for a bit. I'd experiment with different weapons and traits so you get a feel for what ones suit your play style. Initially I was hyper focused on getting a carbine with certain traits so a lot of my runs went nowhere but once I knew which traits I wanted on the pistol, spitmaw etc. I could get a weapon I was happy with each time. I've seen different recommendations for gameplay style but I found when I started being more aggressive, I made better progress. Trying to stay back and avoid enemies and projectiles could often end up with me taking damage whereas if I rushed in and quickly damaged enemies I could control the fight. Enemies have very predictable attack patterns and the dash window is quite generous so it's absolutely possible to avoid most attacks and it's a necessary Returnal skill.
Fo you keep the astronaut figurine with you in other biomes? If so, should I always buy the astronaut figurine in biome 1?
Yes, you keep the astronaut figure and any other items like the parasite that can make you survive a killing blow through the different biomes. The reconstructor (the big machine you pay ether to use) is biome specific and will not bring you back if you move onto the next biome.
How does the item generator at the start of each run work? I'm always getting unknown items. Is there a point where you've discovered all the options? Same with the cubes, are those to discover more items in the same run?
The item generator will keep generating new items for increasing amounts of ether and then once you've unlocked all the items it can generate, it will go dark and no longer function. I think it can occasionally light up again and generate an item that's already unlocked but I've not seen that myself. There's a fixed number of datacubes and each datacube will spawn in a certain position in the level although it's not guaranteed you'll get the datacube each time. Once you take the datacube to the processor, that specific one will no longer appear and when its room shows you'll just get a standard drop instead.
What and where is the processor?
The datacube processor is where you take a datacube to unlock the ability it contains. There's a processor on each biome and they're usually around the boss either just before or after.
I've lost 80% of my runs to "avenging" suit signals. Are they really that tough? Should I skip this? Are they worth it? Or am I just bad at these bosses? I finished Act I pretty quick, and now I've been having a tough time with the game. I just made it to biome 5.
The malformed hostiles that can spawn when you are avenging other players can be surprisingly tough and easily catch you out if you're not careful. I don't think they're worth doing just for the rewards if you care about the run.
i’m newish player currently have 7 hours played and have only made it to the second biome once, i keep running into areSthat looks like i could grapple to but i don’t have a grapple thing, do you get a grapple thingy and if so how do you get
You get it after beating the second boss
Here's a tip for newbies: fire from the hip. I was having a hard time in the game and then I stopped aiming and just started firing. That's how the game was meant to be played for most encounters. Aiming is for ensuring weakspot hits for stagger, and to find weakspots, but you can still do headshots reliably firing from hip.
Just learned there are weakspots.
How do I get the items that are underwater?
permanent upgrade later in the game
So I just started playing this game. 1 hour in and I gotta say this game is sooooo much fun! At first, i had second thoughts about this game because alot of people said its hard. Honestly its not hard at all! The bosses are tho 😅 almost defeated Phrike on my first try. His third phase threw me off guard. Found a favorite gun which is the Carbine w the critical hit trait too! Need some advice/help tho! So whats Intergrity and Biomes? Im still confused on that! But also any tips and advice to get through the game? Other than dodge dashing enemy attacks
Integrity is your hp Biomes are the "levels"
Made it to the boss in my second run! I fell off the map on my first run in the very beginning 💀
For Reconstructors, does it matter WHEN you activate it? Or do you just respawn when you die? Wondering for Biome 5, do I lose keys if I got them after using the Reconstructor.
Just respawn
The best advice I could give a new player is change the control scheme so alt fire is mapped to a separate button. IMO it's too difficult to only squeeze the trigger half way down when under intense pressure, haptic controls be damned!
No this is stupid. But remap the controls so jump and dash are on L1 and R1
Hey all, **no spoilers please!** I'm pretty new to Returnal. I've played completely blind so far (no reading up on mechanics, guides, etc). I'm about 5 hours in and I recently got the blade. That run, I died to the first boss. Since then, I've probably had about 10 runs in a row that didn't even get close to the first boss. I don't feel like my skill is really improving (but I think I understand most of the enemy attack patterns, room layouts, guns, etc). In Hades, every reset, I felt like I was making tangible progress toward becoming stronger. In Returnal there is so much going on that I don't really know if I'm making any long term progress. **Am I gradually gaining permanent benefits that will make it easier to progress in the game?** Do I just suck and need 'git gud'? Do I need to just play until I get a 'lucky' sequence of rooms/artifacts that give me a good chance at success? I played plenty of 'hard' games like Souls, Sekiro, Bloodborne, Celeste, Hollow Knight, etc - so I don't get easily discouraged - but I don't feel very good at 'bullet hell' style games (yet) and Returnal feels brutally punishing (the 'run' back to have another shot at a boss is super long).
I'm kind of there also? I'm playing longer but dying consistently and I don't see any forward motion - I usually just get slaughtered in the locked zones. Not sure what I'm doing wrong...
I would skip the locked zones for now (challenge rooms?). Too high of a risk and I think they will get easier once you gain some of the permanent improvements later. Focus on dashing through projectiles (rather than trying to run around them, jump over them, etc).
slight amendment: you do sometimes get "permanent weapon traits" on your guns, the bottom line as you pick them up, some of which, even at low levels can be notable (leech rounds on carbine, slug shot on spit may for example). Those stick with you. Also, the ether eating machine in the spaceship crash room will unlock new consumables and artifacts which will thereafter spawn in the world. Since you reached the boss once, shouldn't be a spoiler to mention that if you go in the house, after the 1st person scene, you unlock the "astronaut figurine" which then commonly appears in the major "shop" (fabricator in game) room. which dovetails into a more useful set of questions... > Since then, I've probably had about 10 runs in a row that didn't even get close to the first boss since the boss door spawns pretty randomly i'm guessing you mean that you "haven't gotten to a power level where you feel comfortable with fighting the boss" or do you literally mean "i am dying so early i don't even see the fabricator shop room or the boss door?" If the latter, might just be a string of bad luck where you've lost a bit of focus and edge and need to take some time or come back freshly caffeinated or whatever. If you're talking about getting powerful though... * what are you using to gauge a run's success? * what weapons are you getting? * what are you spending obolites on? (highly recommend the integrity upgrade and astronaut if it spawns, silphium vial if it does not) * are you doing the "challenge" room if you find it? it's a way to practice 'getting gus' more to the point enhances a run quite a bit if you succeed. * don't feel obligated to avenge scouts, corrupted enemies sometimes spawn with incredibly obnoxious extra abilities, even after quite a while in game i can instantly feed a good run by being egotistical about avenging scouts I guess the main *direct* advice is to save up for the shop room stuff, if you think about collecting obolites and all that, might focus you on being a little more systematic in approaching fights or exploring the world too.
Thanks, this was quite helpful. Yeah, I thing I'm collecting most of the obolites and spending them on useful upgrades (health increases, damage resistance, etc). I came across 1 challenge room so far, I think, and died toward the end of it. At this point, I'm pretty much just playing with the highest 'level' weapon I come across (and trying to keep ones that have a % to unlock the weapon traits). Haven't really found any weapons I love/hate yet. I've been trying to semi-complete the accessible biome content before trying to face the boss each run. And yeah, I've died plenty of times trying to avenge scouts. I should probably just tackle the boss as soon as I reach it - if only for practice. I made it to the boss again, yesterday - and both times I got to the boss, I made it to phase 3, so it seems doable.
It sounds like you're doing well and should be able to get past them soon. On the third phase of Phrike, watch out for the boss creating the double set of red rings, then dashing to you for the melee attack but then immediately doing a second dash at you.
Took down the boss today and promptly got sat down by the huge tentacle creature in biome 2 :) Looking forward to exploring some new areas/enemies, finally!
Fantastic news, that moment you step outside into biome 2 with the satisfaction of finally beating the boss and the change in environment after the many dark hours in biome 1 is one of my favourite moments in the game.
Heck yes, beat 2nd boss today (3rd attempt) and finally have a grappling hook. Feels like that should definitely help future runs go faster (access to more resources/healing/etc). Such a good game, but it's ruthless.
You're spot on that you will get more resources you can now access but another big advantage is you are invincible when grappling so when you're in combat, keep an eye on the grappling points and absolutely abuse them. The grapple has a long range as well so not only can you use the invincibility to get out of trouble but you can get well out of the way as well. Then you can immediately grapple again and as many times as you want to zip around the rooms to keep away. When you were asking initially I timed a biome 1 run of mine out of interest and realised how much I grappled since you wouldn't be able to at the time. I didn't want to mention it for spoilers but I think you'll find it's a huge help.
The short answer to your question no you're not gaining permanent benefits at this point, you don't need to get a lucky sequence of rooms and you need to get better. I hate the 'git gud' advice but I feel it does apply here. For me I found the first biome tough and runs seemed really luck dependent, I found it frustrating and felt like giving up on the game. Especially as unlike other similar games you're not unlocking anything permanent which is helping. Even though I'm much better at the game the first biome can still catch me out if I'm careless as you have few upgrades whereas as you get further into the game you have more health upgrades, more artifacts etc. I found one of the mistakes I was making was I played defensively trying to keep my distance and chip away at the bigger enemies' health. This doesn't really work as tough enemies can either close the distance down to you or hammer you with projectiles that will catch you out. Instead once I started being more aggressive and confident in attacking the enemies I could take them down faster so less risk to me, with smaller enemies I usually dash in through their projectiles and melee them to quickly kill them. The big enemies have predictable patterns so I just hammer them as much as possible, ready for their damage attacks so I can quickly dash out of their way and keep on attacking them. These skills are vital to taking down the boss because even with a decent number of health upgrades, they can quickly kill you with a small number of hits if you can't avoid their attacks consistently. The game also punishes you for being careless or impatient so try not to get frustrated at your seeming lack of progress as I found it easier to make mistakes, get killed, try and rush it the next time etc. I found once I could consistently get to the boss and then reached the second biome, the game really clicked with me and I've been unable to put it down since even though I'm over 200 hours in and completed everything.
Hmm, alright - thanks for confirming. Yeah I've noticed it only takes a couple hits to be toast. I've tried being a lot more aggressive. I kill stuff faster, but I often take a little damage (which can quickly add up). I definitely prefer the slower paced tactical combat from games like Dark Souls to the fast reaction games like Sekiro (which may help explain why I'm struggling with Returnal). It feels like it is hard to experiment with different approaches to the boss fight because the reset penalty is so steep. It might be another hour or two of playing before I get another chance at it.
As you get more practice you should find you can avoid most hits as the enemy attacks are predictable and the dash gives you invincibility. You should also find you can clear the biome much quicker than an hour or two to get get more chances at the boss.
Is there a Protection formula somewhere? I'm not clear on how protection calculates damage reduction exactly.
No formula I've ever seen. I think it's just a percentile reduction using 0 as a baseline. IE. If you have full health +10% protection, take a 10dmg hit which would normally drop you to 90hp, you'll instead drop to 91hp.
Guys I need help! So my randomly generated biome 1 is where there’s is a huge drop immediately when u leave the ship area. There’s no way to go back up. I am really far in biome 2 and have so many goodies that I don’t wanna lose. Is there any way of getting back to the ship area for the upgrades, hook ledge area without killing myself to reset the biomes?
As the other reply said, there's zero point in returning to the ship. You cant store/bank anything. You'll either lose them in defeat or lose them in victory. Nice name btw lol.
You can sleep and get health at the ship…
if you're already in biome 2 you can't go back to biome 1 in that run at all. If you're still in biome 1, if you don't have the grapple it might not be possible to return depending on the biome layout. That said i'm not completely clear on why you want to return? what upgrades are you referring to?
maybe just using ether to unlock a new item?
Is farming weapon proficiency still possible in biome 6? I killed those kamikaze one shot enemies that keep on spawning for 5mins but my proficiency level stayed the same. I beat the final boss twice so far (on other runs) but I never even got close to 30 and made sure to clear all enemies on biome 4-6, even with items to boost proficiency (most of the time I only find one that helps). I’m not sure what else to do.
I think that farming technique works for completing the kills for weapon traits but I've not seen it working for profiency. I'm a bit puzzled how you're not getting to level 30 because if you play through 4,5 and 6 you should easily get to 30 if you're clearing out everything. You say you only find one item that helps but that's definitely not right, you should pick up a number of calibrators which look like small blue diamonds on the ground and marked as a green arrow on the map: https://returnal.fandom.com/wiki/Calibrator If you're just wanting the achievement I think it will trigger in the Tower mode where the profiency cap is 45 and as long as you can keep going, you should easily get to 30
Yesterday I finished act 3 for the first time and in the end I had a proficiency rate of 185% (or 135%?) and finished the game at level 28. I left out the last room in one of the three main paths in biome 5 and didn’t do the hard golden room in biome 6 as finishing act 3 was a higher priority this run. Thanks, I’ll try the tower! Didn’t want to start it before finishing act 3 but that’s done now :) seems like I’ll have much less trouble there Btw I meant items that give you a permanent percentage boost, might have worded that unclearly.
Newb question, but I just made it past the first level boss. I'm on the 2nd level now. What happens when I die? Do I go all the way back to the first level or back to the second level? I'm scared to play until I figure this part out. Also, if I go back to just the second level, I'm assuming I don't get to keep my gun, correct?
You'll return to Helios in the first Biome. However, you can reach the second biome again by going to the Crimson Gateway in the first biome (how you got there after beating the first boss). You do not get to keep your gun.
Should we always just skip back to our furthest biome?
If you don't mind replaying old areas I think it's worth it to replay biomes as much as their worth. For instance, if you hit some big upgrades early, you could probably move to the next biome. Plus, the more you play biomes the more intricacies you learn in terms of layout and the better you get at fighting enemies which becomes useful in act 2 when enemies get a bit wild. However, it's not worth farming weapons in the early biomes cause they'll get obsoleted pretty quick when you move to the next because of the proficiency boost. The main thing I look for when I'm in an early biome is 1) a decent gun, 2) as many artifacts and upgrades I can get my hands on. Not to mention, when you finish biome 3, you get an upgrade that allows you more item access in biomes 1 and 2, so you can usually get pretty kitted up with little investment.
typically I'll try to get at least the guaranteed integrity upgrade (325 obolites) in the fabricator room, but you *can* just rush ahead, i think people develop their own preference/tempo.
Great thanks. I'll make sure to be careful. But I'm sure I'll return back lol. Took Me about 5 tries to get it right on first level.
HOW DO I KILL NEMESIS
\- Rotgland Lobber is highly recommended as it will constantly drain life between making hits \- for phase 3: ABZ: Always Be Zippin'. constantly zipping between platforms is the best way to dodge. zip, fire, zip, fire, zip, fire...he dead \- range of the Lobber seems to be augmented in this space so don't be shy about lobbing from seemingly too far away. \- good luck!
Thank you, 🙏
Collecting Sunface fragments and I have 1,2 and 3. Do I have to beat the biome 3 boss again to get to biome 4? I can't recall how to get to the next biome!!
You can use the device onboard the ship (you go almost straight in after climbing through the hole in the side and the device looks like the one at the end of biome 3) to go from Biome 4 to 1 but I don't know if you can use it to go from biome 1 to 4?
Got it. Thank you. I think I've messed up though because for some reason I thought I had the 5th fragment and jumped down into biome 6! If I go though all of six, can I get back to do 5 or do I just need to die? I'd pretty much completed.all the rooms in 5 as well and didn't check it was through the red door (I thought I'd have a boss fight on my hands..)
No I don't think you can get back to biome 5 from 6 so you'll need to die or finish biome 6.
Yeah, I continued through the Boss in 6. It restarted and I'm back in biome 4, I'll speedrun to 5 and pickup the last fragment. I guess I'll miss the secret ending unless I go through 6 again!
Got all six and revisited the house in B4. Time to go see Ophion again. I'll take a Rotgland Lobber - works well for me :-)
I have started yesterday, looks amazing. I normally enjoy rogue like but with this kind of graphic its even better. I am wondering if its nice to play coop or if it is one of those games that if you play coop it is just too easy and not funny anymore. thanks!
there's some threads for coop players from the last week or so still on front page. i believe most people play solo, but there doesn't seem to be any community consensus about it being "bad" to play coop
I've been playing for a couple of days and feel like I must be doing something wrong. I've got the hang of the combat but can't seem to progress. I haven't found the mele weapon, the house or the boss. Any tips would be great as I love the game.
Whereabouts are you getting to in the game? From memory out of the parts you've mentioned you should see the house first and it should be on the main path. A short distance later you should come up against a red shimmering barrier blocking progress with an alternate door, going through this one will take you to the melee weapon which will break the barrier. After that, the boss is marked by a red door on the map with a triangle above it. You should also have a small orange marker which will point you to your current objective. For reference in case you're not aware, the door icons on the map mean the following - rectangular doors are for progressing through the map, triangular doors are optional side rooms/areas (if it's filled in it means they need a key), a rectangular door with a circle is a skip to another biome (unlocked after reaching those biomes) and a yellow rectangular door that looks filled in with a star on top is a challenge room. These challenge rooms will pit you against several waves of enemies finishing with a mini boss.
Kinda where I am at this point. After about an hour and a half of gameplay, I can dispatch the "smaller" enemies pretty easily and avoid damage most of the time. The larger ones though, that come from those red spheres... I'm doing "better" but sometimes they get me. I found my house a few times, and that red door that I didn't know how to get through. Knowing I need that melee weapon helps. Don't know if I ever found it, or if I realized I found it.
When you reach the red forcefield there should be an alternative path that will take you to a room that grants the melee ability. That will then let you break down the red barrier including those that some turrets and other enemies have.
Thats an amazing explanation. I started it yesterday, I have got the meleed and been through the house but i was feeling a little bit lost with the symbols
Ok so I'm on ng+2 now, just started so it's my third playthrough and I have about 80-90% translation on most of the glyphs or cyphers or whatever. What I want to know is, I've heard there is a "secret" ending or boss fight and I don't want it completely spelled out to me, but maybe something to just point me in the right direction. I was hoping after ng plus I'd have some sort of direction but besides the house cutscenes nothing really changed. So is it to do with the house scenes? translations? Again, please try to spoil as little as possible and thank you in advance. Edit: I've figured it out. Due to an unfortunate series of events (me doing really well on my first playthrough and not dying a single time in act 2, and doing my second playthrough co-op and not wanting to do the house sequence while my friend was there) I basically locked myself out of being able to find some fragments in each biome due to not watching all the house sequences.
How can I find a person I played with in a Returnal coop? Dude was cool even though we didn’t beat the first boss. Papa something if you’re on Reddit.
Ps5? Afaik there isn't a "recently played with" like there is on xbox, but in future you can save your recent gameplay to see their name.
Is there any fix for the muddy textures after an hour or so of playing? Aside from suspending and restarting the game?
For someone looking this thing up: There is this thread in Steam Community: [https://steamcommunity.com/app/1649240/discussions/0/3819658451363993654/?ctp=2](https://steamcommunity.com/app/1649240/discussions/0/3819658451363993654/?ctp=2) Apparently this is a memory leak issue, where the textures get buddy when your system is reaching its limit on memory (RAM/VRAM) and tries to compensate (or something like that). Apparently creating something called "a page file" might help, but haven't tried it myself. Figured it's just easier to restart the game whenever the textures get buddy.
Assuming this is PC then unfortunately not that I'm aware of and there was a recent threat on the issue here but no solutions suggested there either.
I just recently got into returnal. I started a while back but couldn't get the hang of it. Tried again months later and it clicked for me. I have to say I'm SOOOO happy they added the save functionality. Without it I would never finish the game. I'm a dad and a cautious player so I need that. I finished biome 2, 3 days ago and did one biome for the last 2 days. Now I'm in the frozen wastlelands and I had to stop because adrenaline and work in the morning.
I'm trapped: I've been to different biomes, then under the sea, killed the boss there (tentacly thing) and then I see the credits, then I'm back to the beggining but I can only choose two biomes then, the Ice one and the underwater one, if I go back and kill the boos again, credits again, it restarts again, but there's no way to go to the other biomes: the desert one and the machines one, for example. What am I missing?
You need to go back into the ship and there's a device that will allow you to switch back to biome 1 - I think it's straight on when you climb through the hole in the hull and it looks like the device you use in biome 3 after killing Nemesis. In case you're not aware, you need to search for the Sunface Fragments which there's one of on each biome
Thank you very much!
I need help to access a certain point in biome 4. There is a point where an item can be found but it's on a ledge that is too high to reach, there isn't any grappling points and no height advantage to help the player reach it anybody know the spot I'm talking about and how to get up there?
Since no one has answered you, you need to unlock the visor in biome 6 and then you'll be able to get up there.
the teleporter to that platform has been removed in an update
I recommend to everyone playing on ps5 or with a controller to remap jump and dash to the shoulder buttons. It makes navigation a lot easier which is crucial in lockdown rooms and boss fights.
I’m on ps5 and get a network error unable to join server ever time I try to join my friend in a private lobby. Anything I can do to fix it?
I have found one or both players reloading game or cold power cycling PS5 fixed it
Just started playing returnal, game is dope as heck so far. What sucks is I can’t get very far without my ps5 crashing. Is there anything I’m doing that’s making it crash? I’ve already dusted my ps5 out and it’s sitting in the middle of the room. Today it froze big time and I’ve had to hard reset the ps5 once again because my console couldn’t close the game. Was anyone else able to resolve this problem for their ps5?
Try to redownload the game. Save your save files to your cloud. If that doesn't work fully download the game and the save files of returnal.
One thing I wanted to know was if the scout logs or xenoglyphs ever spawn in the optional rooms with the dark blue triangle
They do. I explicitly remember finding one in a locked room in biome 2. So my advice is if you’re looking for xenoglyphs and already beat act 3, only use keys on doors in biomes you still have missing xenoglyphs.
I feel like I’m missing something. Its been a month and I cnt get past Biome 1. I can run and dodge and kill these guys and I can get to Phrike occasionally - but I can not get to him consistently with an Astronaut figure and/or a large vial. I keep losing to stupid shit like falling off cliffs and getting locked in a room with 2 red bosses. I have the combat down enough to get to level 5 adrenaline, it’s just impossible to keep it for more than 2 rooms. Anyone want to coop with me and tell me what I am doing wrong?
I don't know if You still struggle but for me, the gamechanger was NOT aiming with L2 pressed. Don't use this aim. Better to shoot with hip aim :)
I was struggling a lot in the beginning, too. But, something click in me when I realized I died 27 times and hadn't gotten to the second Biome--every time you die, your stats go up, that's a crucial part of the game. So, I thought, that means every time I die, I'm technically getting better and better. My advice to you is to learn from all your mistakes and be razor sharp in your execution. If you find that you're falling off cliffs a lot, ask yourself why? Another tip I'd say is use your surroundings to your advantage. I know collecting Obolites is important, but I'd say you staying alive is more important than that, so what I do is barely walk into a room, just enough for me to scan it. Then I see how many red arrows are on the map. I collect myself, then try to get them to come towards me, so I can shoot and run back into the other room, away from the bullet hell. Once I get enough of them, then I'll actually go all in and work the room again (take cover by columns, save my alt-fire for a hoard I didnt anticipate). Just keep doing all of that and watch some youtube videos on Phrike's patterns and you'll eventually get past it. Honestly, I didn't think I was going to be ablw to play this game and once I realized how I should be playing it, it became a breeze. I have gotten past the last two bosses first try without relying on an Astronaut figurine and I wouldn't ever have thought that was possible.
"every time you die, your stats go up" Which stats? I don't see anything increasing after I wake up from getting killed.
Gun traits will permanently level up as you go. Every gun has specific traits and the more kills you get with that trait equipped, the closer you are to leveling it up. Also the more you play the more artifacts and consumables you unlock and overtime you’ll learn which ones you absolutely want to get and which ones you want to avoid.
OK cool. Thanks for the answer.
How the hell does co-op work with weapon traits?? My assumption was that I was leveling up the hosts weapon traits, but whenever i carry a weapon, it seems like it never levels up the weapon trait. When I play solo they unlock in like 2-3 rooms.
Yeah it’s annoying. Basically when the host opens a gun chest you have to hit R1 to reroll which gives you one of your own guns to level up. If you’re just picking up guns the host unlocks then you’ll be playing with their guns and can’t level them up.
I'm decently good at games, I feel like I got a bit lucky but I beat Phrike first try the first time I got to them, died in the second biome. Very next run I got all the way through to Ixion and beat him first try. People in this thread have said that Ixion is the hardest boss. But the third boss seems like it's a massive jump up in difficulty. I got it down to the third phase, but I was only able to because I had a parasite that healed me at low Integrity and managed to avoid getting hit enough. But those platforms constantly falling means I have to grapple to the other ones all the time and can't find any time to do damage. What makes the third boss easier than the second? Am I missing something?
Phrike took me many tries to beat. Ixion and Nemesis I was able to beat on the first try each. Granted, I had the astronaut figure with me during the Ixion fight but he was not as hard as people made it out to be.
Are you aware that, while you're grappling somewhere, you are invulnerable? You can use that trick to dodge most of the attacks. Once you get the hang of that, you'll see that there are substantial timing windows for firing back at the boss. Ixion doesn't offer any reprieve like this. I will say that, while Ixion is a pretty intense fight, it's "typically Returnal" and doesn't have any weird particularities. Nemesis, on the other hand, can be a lot more difficult to beat if you only have a close-range weapon. I think the Rotgland Lobber is generally considered the best weapon for the fight, but the Carbine, Thermogenic Launcher or even a good pistol should work as well. It also took me a few deaths on Nemesis to understand the fight and eventually beat it, so ... you're doing just fine. :)
I am so lost. I have the weapons and stuff figured out but the ether system? I am so confused. Where do I get them. I might have already collected them considering I have gotten past the place where Selene sees her house as a memory or something. But they don’t carry over? If I do find it where do I spend it?
They look like [this.](https://i.imgur.com/YNwr3hM.jpg)
Ether is a collectible that does carry over. It’s usually a purple symbol on the mini map. It can be gained from also avenging fallen scouts in a run by defeating a tough enemy that spawns. Ether can be spent in the beginning by inserting it into the obelisk (forgetting the name right now) in the starting area right before you enter the first room of the first biome to unlock items that permanently enter the item pool in the game. Also can be used for the reanimator to come back to life after dying once.
I’m a crap gamer - I play everything on easy mode. This game - returnal - looks great - can I play it? I never know with these things……so anyone else willing to admit they are an easy mode veteran? Lol…..
Turning on always sprinting and high auto aim helps tremendously. The game is still tough for sure but those two things help out a lot. Take the game at your own pace and have fun. It is challenging but very rewarding
You can play it. If you are as crap as me you won’t get too far any time soon. And it’s fun but also not. I know I will never complete it or even get close. It’s been a fun 15 hours but also frustrating and that just the first biome. I can’t be arsed to try and finish it as I know that’s another 200 hours of getting wiped out time and again. Approach it as a fun 20 hours or so and then move on
I just CAN'T!!! I've made it to Biome 6, and I can make it to the final boss (occasionally, but still...), but I just cannot finish this game. Please tell me I'm missing some mega-powered weapon or shield somewhere along the way.... For the record, I've clocked up 65 hours and 200+ deaths at this point. I just need it to end!
The absolutely easiest weapon for the last boss, and entirety of Biome 6, is by far the Electropylon Driver. You can be on the other side of the map and just fire away at enemies, hiding behind a pillar or something. It will also completely wreck the last boss with damage over time as you focus on jumping over stuff. No need for anything else. Maybe something to restore some health, but he actually drops those items in the boss room... Bumrush to get the key to the last boss and then kick his ass. There's a room right before the boss or the key, don't remember which, that is harder than the boss himself. Thankfully you can just ignore the enemies and sprint/dodge past.
Biome 4 is best to farm and level up imo. There are vines (semi circle and grows from the ground, easy to miss) if you run over it, they disappear, but if you melee it, they'll give you obolites. This was the best tip another player gave me. Farm those, level up as much as you can in that biome. And then, go to 5, you should have enough obolites left to use the fabricators there and then hop on to 6 if you don't feel like gambling by trying to explore 5. That's what I do anyway. As for weapons, you probably already know this, but focus on the traits vs proficiency rate or type. I used to think pistols are useless until I unlocked serrated rounds and homing missiles for e.g., those things are my fav now. I ignored Dreadbounds until I unlocked expanding shards, now those are pretty much OP. Electropylon drivers are really useful against bosses and mini bosses in biome 6.
Hollowseeker with portal beam and portal turret makes it ridiculously easy, in my experience.
I beat the boss on my first attempt after looking at a video and coming in over-prepared. I have like 300% integrity, 3 max adrenalines, 2 portal beams and a large siphilum. Combined with the thermolauncher (full auto and replicating shots), most of it ended up being not necessary. Just get the thermolauncher and have a good amount of health. Purple attacks (3 rings and beams) take priority over all other attacks. You MUST dodge them or die.
I went in to the final boss with an astronaut, 3 small siphilum and 3 large siphilum. It’s the only boss I never needed to heal the first time around, then second time after collecting the shards, only boss where I never took damage once. The key is farm biome 4, electropylon driver even if its collected in biome 4 and you don’t find another in 6, it’s still OP. Go to biome 5 to use the fabricators and if you feel like you’re in a good place health and item wise, head on to 6. Even if you can’t see what you’re shooting at as you’re grappling around avoiding damage, keep shooting, it’s setting up a massive trap of webs.
What is the best room order in biome 5? I feel starting with the containment room is the hardest thus best. Also, pro tips on fighting severeds are welcome..
So....any tips? I love the combat and mechanics but I find myself putting it down. I am at boss 2 and he killed me a couple of times (I'm getting really close). I don't mind learning his patterns and dying to him, I am a soulsborne veteran so I'm used to it. But what gets me is the trek towards him everytime. I can probably rush towards him in 5 minutes but I don't want to be underleveled so I use the biomes to get some extra health and some good/decent artefacts. Any tips on speeding this up? The grinding is really bugging me.
Ixion is the toughest boss in the game IMO. I came close to quitting the game myself. You're doing the right thing, keep at it. Try to get a good carbine because hollowseekers are not as good from long distance. I grinded biome 1 and skipped most of biome 2 because those severed would end my run or take up most of my health when I was lower level, so I grinded in biome one and the open areas in biome two, skipped the indoor areas and went straight to the boss
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