Returnal PS5 Review: 9 Ups & 3 Downs

DOWNS

3. Story Can Get Confusing Or Undermine Emotional Moments

Returnal PS5
Sony

While the story is mostly interesting, the presentation of it isn’t perfect.

With the structure of the genre, it can mean beats land differently depending on the player. For instance, if you find yourself on a big session, progressing from biome to biome in one life, it can feel like you’ve leapfrogged a bunch of narrative points.

Of course you’ll eventually die and get the blanks filled in, but proceeding too quickly can result in some big moments feeling more confusing than they should, or lacking emotion.

Still, meshing a story like this with the structure of a Roguelike isn’t easy, and Returnal mostly pulls it off.

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Josh has over 11 years of experience as a published writer, having worked full time as a content producer at WhatCulture for nine years. In that time he has created hundreds of articles, videos and podcast episodes for multiple channels, specialising in subjects such as gaming, horror and film & TV. He now primarily works as a senior content producer and presenter on WhatCulture Gaming where he co-hosts the WhatCulture Gaming Podcast, a top 3 most listened to gaming podcast in the UK that he co-created in 2018. Over the years he has reviewed several high-profile gaming releases, covered industry events with on-site reporting, covered breaking news, and even kicked off his interviewing career by chatting to childhood hero, Tommy Wiseau.