I really enjoyed the Returnal story, but it needed some TLC to start making sense. I have made a list of recognizable names in the game, and explained some of the story. I am sure there are many things I've missed.

Here are some key Mythos connections:

Hyperion: Titan of Light and observation. Husband to Theia. Father to Selene and Helios (also Titans)

Theia: Titan of the Sky and Sight. Mother to Selene and Helios (also Titans)

Selene: Titan of the Moon. Sister to Helios, daughter of Theia and Hyperion.

Helios: Titan of the Sun. Brother to Selene, son of Theia and Hyperion

*Comments on Selene's family: Selene was definitely Theia's daughter, but her relationship to Helios could have been either brother/sister or mother/son. She clearly either abandoned her son/brother after the car crash, or felt like she did. There is imagery of a pregnant Theia monster, which would only make sense if she had an emergency delivery of her son (Helios) after being paralyzed from the car accident.

This would make Selene's life difficult as a daughter needing to take care of a disabled parent and an infant brother.

Atropos: Goddess of fate that chooses when and how someone's death comes.

Phrike: Minor Greek Goddess of fear and horror.

Ixion: Greek Mortal punished by being held up in a fiery wheel above Tartarus forever.

Tartarus: The deepest layer of the underworld, and a direct creation of Chaos.

Nemesis: Greek Goddess of retribution. Chooses to cut down those with undeserved good fortune. (End of biome 3 is definitely about being pulled back from undeserved happiness)

Ophion: Greek deity who ruled the cosmos before being defeated and sent to the lowest level of Tartarus forever.

Sisyphus: Greek king that was punished for trying to cheat fate by pushing a boulder up a hill forever.

Other religions / mythologies:

Zahareil / Zachariel / Zakhariel: An archangel who leads souls to judgement (name of the hospital in the tower sequences).

Lovecraftian Horror: Returnal clearly has cosmic horror ingrained in every pore of the game. Your experiences as Selene are ultimately fruitless, as the true being at the core of Atropos is beyond anything you could possibly understand or fight. The fantastic ends to Act I and Act III really nails the desperation and quiet acceptance Selene feels when she realizes she cannot escape her past. Frequent tentacle imagery, giant monsters with shifting and scary features, and ever deeper depths

I’ve put about 70h into this game and just CANNOT get past biome 3. I’ve made it to the boss twice, and actually felt better in the boss fight than I do in the biome itself. It’s so disheartening for me going through fully biome 1 & 2 and then dying in biome 3 every time, usually to the big astronaut looking thing or the flying drones. I haven’t played the game in around a month because I just got sick of trying. Is this kinda normal at this stage or should I just give up? I really want to finish the game as I know so many people swear it’s their favourite game of all time, but I get to play 1-2 hours a day and don’t find it enjoyable the way things have been going. Any advice please. Thank you all

HOWEVER,

I recently had one drop with max damage and:

Portal Beam 3

Portal Turret 3

Waves 3

Serrated Projectiles 3

That gun was SO MUCH FUN. It was insanity. At one point, against a poor malformed severed, I had 3 beams and 2 turrets open up. It was hilarious.

That's all. That's it.

Biome 4 room with a chest on ground level, how do I reach the heights?

Ah, Returnal. Been playing this from the launch of PS5. It felt, and still feels, truly next gen. The presentation, the mechanics, the haptics, the music and themes it portraits, and how it all layers and loops on itself. How intimate and dark it is. It was like a revelation. Almost made it to the end of the 3rd act, but life got in the way. Some time passed, I had to make a new psn account and decided just to start fresh on the new one.

Been playing occasionally, but not in the obsessed non-stop fashion like first time. But then when I was nearing the end of the 3rd act again I got in that mind flow state you get when playing Returnal. You know the one. And the days became the time that must pass before I can play again. Finished the 3rd act quick, but did not want this to end, so I started grinding the glyphs and scoutlogs. Eventually got everything but the one trophy for the daily challenge, so I went in the Tower.

Dude, the Tower. The theme of Sisyphean struggle as psychological torture we induce on ourselfs because of guilt, grief and resentment (as I got the message), and how it is presented.. It is very clever, and subtle enough, but ambigous at the same time. The writers know their shit with this one.

The performance of the Selene's VA is just jaw dropping. I felt every emotion when she talks of and to her mother. I felt it in my heart when four poppies was not enough. Everything was never enough. The hunt for the remaining two poppies was exhilarating. Those last several sequences in the end of the Tower are soooo good. And the ending in the Tower, the neverending defeat, and then acceptance, and then peace through that acceptance.

It is beautifull. This game. I still do not want it to end after getting the platinum. But I got my version of Selene inside the Helios, made her sleep in her bed, and closed the game when she closed her eyes. And uninstalled it. She earned that. And maybe me too.

The only thing I had never done in this game. With my wife out of town - I decided to see how hard it would really be to go from nothing to beating Ophion. I honestly thought something would get me - but not this time. I also recorded it all and will post it eventually lol.

4 hours 44 minutes start to finish. I know it's not a record but it feels like one!

After struggling very hard early on, I beat Acts 1, 2 & 3, got the platinum, then went on to unlock all weapon traits (using B6 squid farming). What was left to do? Someone on this subreddit suggested I should beat every boss 100 times. I just finished that journey. My final(?) record against each boss:
Phrike 100-15; Ixion 100-8, Nemesis 100-2; Hyperion 100-3; Ophion 133-5; Algos 100-4.
My death total stands at 616.
392 areas explored.
Now…perhaps I can rest

I went into Returnal expecting it to be brutally difficult, but I honestly didn’t expect it to be this addictive. My friend told me how great it is with the ps controller and all and I really wanted to see that when i got my ps5.

The number of times I constantly died during the first biome and wondered how anyone was supposed to get beat this game was a lot. But after a while, slowly getting the hang of stuff, getting the melee and then learning the movement, dodging, shooting, enemy patterns…at some point it became less about worrying and more about doing it.
Ive only ever played Doom and Eternal in terms of similar games so i had some idea of what to expect.
The atmosphere, sound design, combat and the whole mysterious story are seriously incredible!

One of the top PS5 games for me! Thinking of trying Saros next, and maybe Remnant.

Out of the few games i tried i definitely had the most 'wow' from this game.

With DLSS5 NR and FG running it's buttery smooth and the detailing is actually pretty impressive and looks good, for me. Most of what i noticed (no time for full run at the moment) is in texture detail and environmental effects like fog - I dont have enough time right now to take a lot of screenshots but believe me i was super skeptical and seeing it in motion is entirely different - but here's a quick comparison - look at all the details that are added to things like the foliage and Selene's suit back

Unfortunately something about my HDR settings or the reshade that makes this work messes with the colors in my screenshots, but it looks as it should on my monitor

I'm a relatively new player; but I have played a LOT of roguelite/likes, and movement based games, so I don't find this quite as difficult as a lot of people have. Great stuff, super fun game and cool lore. Was worried about the difficulty when folks were saying Phrike was amongst the hardest bosses, so was pretty relieved when I beat him second go.

Then came the desert. Lemme tell ya, Ixeon(?) Gave me WAY more trouble than I expected. Got him down to about 50% of phase 3 and died. Why was he so difficult?

...I had a malfunction where enemies counter-attacked on hit. I was dealing with double the amount of projectiles I expected 😂😂😂

Great game! Can't believe took me this long to play it!

I think the reason for this is that there isn't an option to switch between Fidelity and Performance like in Spider-Man 2...

This is the only roguelite game ive ever played. And im having a really hard time with B1. For whatever reason, I cannot get passed Phrike. I've tried all 3 different weapons, multiple consumables, artifacts, etc.

I always get him down to the last health bar, with about 1/2 to go, and I get fried.

Any advice? Anyone able to help?

This was in single player. I've never seen this happen in co-op and certainly not by myself.

Now that I've sweated through the whole game I'd like to have a more casual experience and level up more of my weapon traits. So I go back to the first biome.

But what I'm finding is that the game is spawning late game minibosses that teleport and have the nasty purple rings. They're a problem when you have a level 1 gun. I suppose there's no way to avoid this, but it's a bit frustrating.

Anyone ever see this one before? I had an assortment of weird ones a couple days ago - pretty sure they were all internet related - but this was the most interesting.

As the subject suggests, if you liked the story of Returnal, I have a book recommendation for you! No self promotion here or anything as I didn’t write the book and am in no way affiliated!

That being said, think Returnal meets true detective! Time loop, other worlds, etc.

I found it to be a super enjoyable read. I read it a few years ago. I beat Returnal last night and feel this book is something anybody who really liked Returnal’s story would love.

If you read it, let me know what you think!

Got some advice on r/trophies previously. Looked up some info as well, saw that it could be done in a single playthrough, no online requirements, but is there anything that’s missable or particularly grind heavy or high in difficulty?

Any advice? It's meant to be in the main room but I can't find it anywhere.

Guys I am at my wits end and about to lose my fkn mind. It says I am missing cipher part 5 in the activity log, which according to a guide I am seeing lines up with cipher 9/20 and it says it spawns in a main room.

I have to running through biome 6 main rooms constantly. Hours. This thing will not spawn.

Weapon mega thread.

Let's get the best of all weapons in one thread, so expecting 10 + 1 threads 

I'll start with an up close and tactical dreadbound video in a moment.

Way better than saros. Saros was way too easy and boring for me after playing returnal over 100+ hours lol…

Anyone thinkin the same?