Return: How does it stack up against other roguelikes?

The returnComing on PlayStation 5 last week was a major milestone. Despite the popularity of rotating bikes over the past decade, there has never been a full-price, big-budget release for the genre. but if The return Expects to stand the test of time like the classics Isaac’s bond, Spelunky, And Hadis, The liability for its players has only begun.

The reason roguelikes have become so popular with indie developers is that they scale well to small teams. Once the core gameplay loop is ready, it is easy for players to add comparatively new content or tweak variables to improve the experience. Games creators like Nuclear throne And Hadis This strategy was implemented, with the initial access release after countless updates, entirely in the public eye. In Hadis‘Case, those updates let the game grow from a very good action rosgulik in Reporter Door games in 2020.

The return Developer Housemark went another way, with the option to skip the entire game at once with mixed results. Although the art’s design and minute-to-minute action have been praised – no shock, given the pedigree of the homemaker – there are plenty of kinks in it The return That an early access stage may have knocked.

The one that has received the most attention is the lack of a mid-life saving system. Suppose that The return There is a roguelike, no one should ask for multiple save slots, or the ability to reload from a previous checkpoint. But runs in The return It can take three hours, and like many newly released titles, the game does have a pencant to fuck it up from time to time. Worms and hard accidents result in runs that are prematurely wasted. I myself have lost two runs.

During 25 hours, it doesn’t look so bad, but considering The returnBecause of both of those accidents, which lost me an hour or more of progress – punishing difficulty, almost never getting me to bring the game down and play it again. Saving some sort of backup “shadow” at the beginning of each zone provides a good backstop against potential bugs and crashes when you reload from that point on.

I am not saying that a savings system is easy to implement, but it is definitely the kind of thing that will come up much earlier in the feedback process, with Housemark opting for the early access route. The return. Players have more patience with the game that is openly in the midst of development – less if they are just thrown down $ 70, only to have their hard work disappear before their eyes.

Housemark has said It is listening carefully to the players’ reaction, but a savings system is really just the beginning of expectations for full-price rogulic. The return There is currently a balance problem, with some guns and loadouts performing wildly better than others. Weapons can come down to personal choice, however. Is a simple example of The returnThis imbalance is how the game handles keys.

Atropian keys have few resources The return; You can only find five in an entire run, so using them wisely is incredibly important. After 25 hours with the game, I can never see a reason to use the key on anything, but a closed chest. Do all those closed doors come across you? You can safely ignore them and their inconsistent rewards, saving your key for chests, which always cough up valuable artifacts. But there must never be a “right” way to spend resources like a key in a roguillike. Tough midrun options that involve weighing many possible outcomes make Ruglaike stressful and exciting. The atropian prime example is one of several elements (such as implementation of a game malfunction, which you should also ignore). The return It seems that this is in dire need of some balance patch.

Once imbalances and insects get out of the way, there is still much to be done. Other roguelikes have set the bar incredibly high with post-launch content updates. To see Enter gunguard And Dead cells – Two games that saw a staggering number of post-release updates, not only for bug fixes and balance improvements, but also for major (free!) Content expansions that included new enemies, weapons, and entire territories. Enter gunguard Less than a quarter is $ 14.99 The returnThe price is there, but it continues to reward players for a long time after their initial, palate purchase.

Right now, Housemark’s priority is the need to address bugs and more important balancing issues, and it’s clear that the studio is listening to all feedback. Initial patches are fast and furious to address bugs and performance. But once released, the dust accumulates and The return Reaches a more stable location, a long-term material support plan should actually materially begin. Otherwise, this full-price roguillaike will have a harder time toe-to-toe than games that have stood the test of time (while costing a lot less).