Returnal is a 2021 third-person sci-fi roguelike developed by Housemarque and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment. It was originally released as a PlayStation 5 exclusive, but two years later made its way to PC.
Given its strange mix of genres, you may be forgiven for thinking that Returnal didn’t play well with critics. However, that isn’t the case at all. Right now, the game sits at an impressive 86 on Metacritic, indicating very favorable reviews. The only publically available sales figure for the game is 560,000, reported all the way back in July 2021. With an entire PC release since then, it’s safe to assume that Returnal was a strong performer for Sony Interactive Entertainment.
Returnal Premise
Returnal is a third-person shooter single-player game with heavy roguelike gameplay. The game puts you on an alien planet, equipped with a bunch of powerful weapons to fight against the hostile locals. If you die, you’re resurrected as part of a time loop, respawning at the beginning of one of the game’s two halves. Each half has three different biomes to explore, offering a ton of variety in the gameplay. Throughout, you’ll always be finding new weapons to use in combat, making it easier to complete with each loop.
While this main campaign is the only game mode in the game, the Ascension update brought in online co-op, meaning you and a friend could complete the story as a duo. It’s definitely a game that benefits from this type of gameplay – the chaotic combat in Returnal is just better with a friend.
Returnal Main Characters
As a roguelike, the story and characters in Returnal are there to supplement the gameplay when necessary. They’re certainly not the focus of the game. It’s a shame, given how strong the overall setting is. There’s plenty of potential there for a deep story, and maybe it’s something we’ll get in a sequel.
The only character in Returnal you really need to be aware of is Selene Vassos, the protagonist. She’s a space explorer who finds herself stuck on the planet Atropos, which is filled with hostile alien beings. To top it off, she’s stuck in a time loop, too, and must discover how to break it for good.
Returnal Titles in the Series
As a relatively recent release, Returnal isn’t a big-time franchise just yet. Housemarque is a celebrated studio, but it focuses on new IPs for the most part. In fact, its last sequel came all the way back in 2002, with Transworld Snowboarding.
A combination of Returnal‘s strong sales and Sony’s purchase of Housemarque could see a sequel come in the future. The studio has never had a hit like this, so it would be a shame if it didn’t capitalize on its potential going forward. Nothing is certain of course, but we’d say it’s likely that there’s more to come from Returnal.
- Returnal (2021)
Returnal Cheat Codes
Bizarrely, Returnal used to have cheats on the PlayStation 5 version, but they were actually patched out by Housemarque! If you plugged your keyboard into your PS5, you were able to enter a few different developer codes in-game. This is what they did:
- CTRL + Shift + Alt + 1/0: Dropped weapons at your current proficiency level
- CTRL + Shift + 4: Teleports you back to your ship, keeping your inventory, health, adrenaline, and proficiency level
- CTRL + Shift + 8: Teleports you to the beginning of Derelict Citadel, keeping your inventory, health, adrenaline, and proficiency level
- CTRL + Shift + 3/7: Instantly crashes the game
It seems as though these codes for Returnal were just an accidental leftover from the game’s development. They used to work online, so it’s understandable that they were eventually patched out.
Nowadays, you can’t cheat in the PlayStation 5 version. On the PC version, it’s another story entirely. By using a third-party trainer like WeMod, you can continue to cheat in Returnal. This actually provides far more flexibility than those developer codes, with a wide variety of settings you can alter in-game. For example, the WeMod trainer allows you to give yourself invincibility, change your speed, or give yourself max adrenaline. You can even make all enemies a one-hit kill, among other settings. In the absence of traditional cheat codes, this is the best you’ll get.
Returnal Cheat Code FAQs
When Were Returnal Cheats Removed?
The cheat codes available in the original version of Returnal were removed with the 1.3.4 update, which arrived in May 2021. They’ve been gone for quite a while at this point, unfortunately.
Why Were Returnal Cheats Removed?
They were never intended to be there in the first place. It’s not like these particular cheats gave players a massive advantage, though. One of them even purposefully crashes the game! You have to imagine that the developers weren’t pleased when an accidental holdover from development made its way into the full game, and the decision to remove them was based on that alone.
The image featured at the top of this post is ©Sony Interactive Entertainment.