But I had more fun with this Left 4 Dead-inspired shooter than I have with most of the games I played this year. That’s usually a FromSoftware-exclusive state for me, but Returnal managed it despite my misgivings, and I am that much more grateful for it.īack 4 Blood may not have introduced a revolutionary mechanic, impressed with next-gen tech, or delivered a memorable narrative. But here’s the thing: no other game has haunted my days and nights like that this year. I am happy to admit it has problems, too. But the way I think of it is this: what if the bullet hell, arcade-inspired action of Housemarque’s other games was recreated in third-person, while maintaining the visual spectacle and without compromising readability? And what if - since arcade games’ one-life kind of makes them rogue-likes in a sense – that core mechanic became the basis of the entire structure of the game’s world and narrative? More than that, though, I didn’t think Returnal would so elegantly achieve what it set out to do.įor such a simple concept, it’s hard to know where to start with Returnal. But most of all, I didn’t imagine a rouge-like would land anywhere near my favourite games of the year. Or work while having its boss themes on loop.

Housemarque has a style of action, speed, presentation and flow that somehow manages to make arcade relevant in the current era.īut I didn’t expect to go to bed thinking about the plot of Returnal. I have loved almost every modern game the Finnish studio has made. There was very little chance I wasn’t going to like the next game from Housemarque.

Returnal plot