Revealed earlier this month at Sony’s State of Play, roguelike shooter,Returnal, is receiving one of its most significant updates almost a year after its launch.Returnal’sAscensionupdate adds a new game mode and a co-op feature for players ready to explore Atropos with a friend, available today.
Developed by Finnish game studio Housemarque,Returnalis a PS5 exclusive title that mixes standard roguelike game structure with Housemarque’s signature bullet-hell style combat.Returnalreceived high praise from criticsupon its release in April of last year. Since launch,Returnalhas received a number of patches, the most significant of which is patch 2.0, which added in a pause feature and a photo mode after many requests from fans. Today’s update adds substantial new gameplay elements, enticing players to revisitReturnal’s various biomes with a friend.
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Players with an active PlayStation Plus subscription can start playing co-op via the Chronosis station,Returnal’s catalyst for multiplayer play. Together players can overcome the host’s pending levels and area bosses while the guest player is rewarded with increases to their Scout Rank, Weapon Traits, and Databank. Guest players will still have to progress through biomes on their own worlds to make progress. Additionally, co-op is limited to only two players at the present time. However, the new content doesn’t stop there as theAscensionupdate also brings the newTower of Sysiphus game modetoReturnal. This challenging tower, available only in solo play, is an endless mode for the game with new secrets and story elements for players to uncover as they climb higher and higher.
So far, developer Housemarque has continued support forReturnalvia free updates with no paid DLC released a year from launch. Instead, the Finnish developer has taken time to listen to its fans and patch the game accordingly with quality of life updates. With today’sAscensionupdate, Housemarque has released the game’s most content-heavy patch, adding toReturnal’s challenging naturewith the Tower of Sysiphus and expanding the universe with co-op.
Along with theAscensionupdate came an official PlayStation Blog post from the developers detailing the challenges faced in bringing co-op toReturnal. Factoring in gameplay elements such as “downed” mechanics, technical limitations, and difficulty scaling, it is evident that Housemarque put plenty of care in making sure that this update was done correctly and felt true to the spirit ofReturnal. While today’s massiveAscensionupdate is sure to keep returning players and new fans busy, there is still plenty of room forpotentialReturnalDLCexpansions that will further expand the story surrounding Selene.
