Top critical review
2.0 out of 5 starsA rogue-like that doesn't know how to be a good rogue-like
Reviewed in the United States on August 30, 2021
Luckily, I bout this several months after the release. If not, I guess I would rage a lot. I'm not hating, but, well, disappointed because this game has a potential but it wasted it in the most important aspect - the gameplay.
Okay, let's take "The Binding of Isaac" as an iconic rogue-like and see it in action - you run through several levels-bioms, grab/buy random artifacts, beat enemies and bosses in bullet hell, die or run to the exit. Repeat. I put aside small nuances that actually bring some chill and madness into this game but that's no the point.
Now let's take Returnal. You run through several levels-bios, grab/buy random artifacts, beat enemies and bosses in bullet hell, die or run to the exit. Pretty familiar, huh?
No. Way.
The thing is that Returnal's one biom(level) run demands the same amount of time as the whole the Binding of Isaac complete circle! Besides, developers suggested that you don't need any saves neither inside a biom, nor between them. Jeez, they even don't have a main menu, just a pause options list. Just a reminder that in Isaac you can exit the game any time and the progress will be saved in the room you stopped. That issue makes you either spend 2-3-4 hours on a full circle (depends on a skill, luck and the % of your overall progress) or put your console on sleep, which is after Xbox with it's Quick Resume feature looks ridiculous.
Okay, you can admit that after you beat several bioms, you will be granted shortcuts from biom 1 to biom 3 at a glance. Good idea that is intended to shorten grind moments, but nope. If you decide to jump to biom 3 skipping biom 2 you will be very quickly teared apart by local fauna as your char doesn't auto level, only her weapon proficiency (which allows to find more powerful guns). If you don't have artifacts setup and long health bar (or at least +30% of damage resist) you will likely finish the game very quickly.
The game world itself is cool, gathering or even quoting H.R. Giger or H.P. Lovecraft vibes, but overall the amount of locations is feloniously small - for the 1st biom you have ~10 variety of rooms, 2nd will be 3-4 and the 3rd biom looks to be in a single form. For the rogue like that demands grinding this is quite repetitive and very quickly palls.
On the good part i can name good feature utilization of a Dualsence controller - you fell all these footsteps and the rain, plus the bind alt fire and aiming on a left trigger and it works surprisingly well. Really enjoyed shooting. As well as the story, unfortunately it's blurred behind the grind process.
This could be a good story-telling 3rd person shooter, but authors decided to turn it into a rogue-like, which, to my mind, only harmed the game. A shame and disappointment.
