Housemarque has updated the official FAQ for Returnal on their discord servers to clarify the saving system of Returnal and is aware of the issues surrounding it.
Returnal is available now for the PS5. The game has received some criticism regarding its saving system which has now led to Housemarque sharing an update on it and clarifying how it actually works in the game.
On their Discord server, Housemarque has updated the official FAQ today to detail the various aspects of the game that trigger a save point.
About saving in Returnal
Permanent progress in the game includes (not limited to): Permanent progress items such as utility equipment. Any picked up weapons and items go into the loot pool and can be encountered later. Unlocked weapon upgrades can appear on weapons later. Ether is kept between runs. Keys to shortcuts in all biomes after defeating the boss. After certain biomes, proficiency starts at a higher level.
These are the permanent upgrades that the players will keep after each death. These are saved in the game while the rest of the progress is lost thus leading to the player starting from scratch. This is the nature of rogue-lite gameplay so it was not a surprise but this is the first time a high-profile game like Returnal is facing criticism with its rogue-lite implementation, mainly due to the fact that each run can take on average 2 to 3 hours.
In addition to updating the FAQ, Housemarque has reiterated again that they are aware of the conversation around the saving system and they don’t the players to point at it again. Earlier, they had listed it as one of the issues that were being investigated around the launch of Returnal.
Returnal is available now exclusively for the PS5. The game was developed by Housemaruqe and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment.
