kinda interessed in this game. how hard is it?

[henri]

do you need super reflex in this game? harder then dark souls or elden ring or its kinda different?

[Kashra Fall]

Game's super forgiving (At the start,) but when you get to later portions of the game, one hit really hurts. However, you have a lot to deal with it and by the time you get there, you're pretty use to how things work. There are some enemies that are so fast to move/teleport around that they likely can and will catch you off guard, ESPECIALLY if they are elites, dear lord some of the elites haha. RNG in how they spawn in and some of the combinations are just bad.

[NLxAROSA]

While reflexes certainly help, the game does allow mistakes, esp. if you make sure you have a good build and weapon.

[SaltHuntress]

I went into this having seen all the "this game needs easier difficulty modes" threads and videos. Its way easier then expected. Lots of health pickups and consumables, plentifull weapons to choose from every stage.

Its nothing like souls games at all, this game feels strangely more like Enter The Gungeon, just a bit easier.

For arguments sake lets just say dark souls 1 first playthrough is a 10 on the difficulty than this is like a 5

[Nerdmigo]

For me its very hard.. almost to a degree where i think its too hard in certain moments. But iam not a Elden Ring/Souls pro or anything, just a normal person with an intereset in games that are a bit different. And that Returnal certainly is. But as has been mentioned if you have bad luck with RNG you get wiped off the floor. The combinations of certain enemies makes it basically GG for me. But its a rogue like.. you die and play again.. thats the genre. I personally dont think that Returnal does deliver enough exciting new items within a certain amount of playtime. What carries the whole the game is how the gameplay feels.

[Grampire]

IMO - reports of the difficulty of this game are really overblown. It is harder than your typical Ubisoft/"Emergent Gameplay" type of game that's all the rage, but that's really not saying much. This is probably the second most approachable rouge-like I've played next to Hades from a difficulty standpoint.

Make no mistake - gameplay is the central focus - it feels very arcade-like and that's by design. You will need to learn the game and improve to finish it - there's few meaningful RPG elements or progression so you can't farm stats or weapons to steamroll through the game. Gameplay is the core of this game, and it feels fair and great, but there are plenty of systems to compensate for not being super twitchy or having amazing reflexes. Being able to aim well is a very, very distant requirement that almost never matters.

It requires you to understand the enemies, how they attack, and what your options are, which will vary slightly each run.

And each run won't be completely consistent. On one run you'll get a homing automatic rocket launcher that annihilates everything in the arena whether you can see it or not, on another you'll get a pistol that requires more effort to kill with. And there's many other consumables and upgrades that will slightly alter difficulty.

The biggest drawback I'd say is that each run can take hours, which means if you make a mistake and die 2 hours into a run it can feel frustrating. But when you realize *SPOILER* a successful run starts you in the same place as dying anyways then it will either feel pointless or keep you focused on the gameplay.

IMO it's nothing like Souls or Elden Ring and those are very bad comparisons - those games can be chessed so, so hard and require almost zero skill if you don't want them to. You won't be able to break this game in the same way and you will need to learn to play it.

Much longer post than I intended, hope it helps.

[himynameisjoe]

I don't have a lot of time in yet, but from what I've played "difficult" isn't the right word. It's not a hard game, there just needs to be some sort of strategy to your play. The fact that there are no respawns and you always go back to the sip upon death is rather annoying at first. Especially if you go into like I did, thinking you could just run and blast your way out of any situation. (Hint: you can't. lol) But if you slow it down, put a bit more thought into your play, and keep the no respawn in the back of your mind, it's a lot of fun and fairly easy so far.

Granted, I've read it's only harder from here. But like any game, if the difficulty progresses naturally, by the time it gets harder, you'll be better.

I will say right now it seems to be a bit buggy, and I've had it crash, and there is some random frame rate freezing (that could just be my system though, this game is surprisingly taxing!) which has made the no respawn thing actually annoying.

It does also seem to curb your enthusiasm for extra exploring, because of course if you $%*# it up, back to the crash site you go!

If any of the gameplay/trailers you've seen peaked your interest, buy it!

[Nerdmigo]

Originally posted by Grampire:

IMO - reports of the difficulty of this game are really overblown. It is harder than your typical Ubisoft/"Emergent Gameplay" type of game that's all the rage, but that's really not saying much. This is probably the second most approachable rouge-like I've played next to Hades from a difficulty standpoint.

Make no mistake - gameplay is the central focus - it feels very arcade-like and that's by design. You will need to learn the game and improve to finish it - there's few meaningful RPG elements or progression so you can't farm stats or weapons to steamroll through the game. Gameplay is the core of this game, and it feels fair and great, but there are plenty of systems to compensate for not being super twitchy or having amazing reflexes. Being able to aim well is a very, very distant requirement that almost never matters.

It requires you to understand the enemies, how they attack, and what your options are, which will vary slightly each run.

And each run won't be completely consistent. On one run you'll get a homing automatic rocket launcher that annihilates everything in the arena whether you can see it or not, on another you'll get a pistol that requires more effort to kill with. And there's many other consumables and upgrades that will slightly alter difficulty.

The biggest drawback I'd say is that each run can take hours, which means if you make a mistake and die 2 hours into a run it can feel frustrating. But when you realize *SPOILER* a successful run starts you in the same place as dying anyways then it will either feel pointless or keep you focused on the gameplay.

IMO it's nothing like Souls or Elden Ring and those are very bad comparisons - those games can be chessed so, so hard and require almost zero skill if you don't want them to. You won't be able to break this game in the same way and you will need to learn to play it.

Much longer post than I intended, hope it helps.

While i respect your post and opinion please respect others when they say its difficult for them. I

[Plagues]

It's really really reaaaally NOT that hard.

Its hectic, but forgiving. It's nowhere neat as hard as people say. I've bested 5 bosses so far, 2 I beat first try, only 1 I had to fight more than 2 times.

[Nerdmigo]

Originally posted by Plagues:

It's really really reaaaally NOT that hard.

Its hectic, but forgiving. It's nowhere neat as hard as people say. I've bested 5 bosses so far, 2 I beat first try, only 1 I had to fight more than 2 times.

let me help you with that statement:
ist not hard FOR YOU

[i whiffed that]

Biomes 1-4 were a breeze for me. Biome 5 is proving to be challenging.

I think the difficulty is spending all that time getting the perfect gear only to lose it all from dying.

[Grampire]

Originally posted by Nerdmigo:

Originally posted by Grampire:

IMO - reports of the difficulty of this game are really overblown. It is harder than your typical Ubisoft/"Emergent Gameplay" type of game that's all the rage, but that's really not saying much. This is probably the second most approachable rouge-like I've played next to Hades from a difficulty standpoint.

Make no mistake - gameplay is the central focus - it feels very arcade-like and that's by design. You will need to learn the game and improve to finish it - there's few meaningful RPG elements or progression so you can't farm stats or weapons to steamroll through the game. Gameplay is the core of this game, and it feels fair and great, but there are plenty of systems to compensate for not being super twitchy or having amazing reflexes. Being able to aim well is a very, very distant requirement that almost never matters.

It requires you to understand the enemies, how they attack, and what your options are, which will vary slightly each run.

And each run won't be completely consistent. On one run you'll get a homing automatic rocket launcher that annihilates everything in the arena whether you can see it or not, on another you'll get a pistol that requires more effort to kill with. And there's many other consumables and upgrades that will slightly alter difficulty.

The biggest drawback I'd say is that each run can take hours, which means if you make a mistake and die 2 hours into a run it can feel frustrating. But when you realize *SPOILER* a successful run starts you in the same place as dying anyways then it will either feel pointless or keep you focused on the gameplay.

IMO it's nothing like Souls or Elden Ring and those are very bad comparisons - those games can be chessed so, so hard and require almost zero skill if you don't want them to. You won't be able to break this game in the same way and you will need to learn to play it.

Much longer post than I intended, hope it helps.

While i respect your post and opinion please respect others when they say its difficult for them. I

As stated, this is obviously my opinion. This isn't an attempt at incriminating anyone who feels the game is hard. I'm not a e-sport pro or anything like that, just a normal guy with some time to spend. This game is designed for the latter - people like me.

It's my experience with the game - I think difficulty should take a back seat to other considerations when deciding whether or not to play Returnal.

[Tourette's Guy]

Originally posted by henri:

do you need super reflex in this game? harder then dark souls or elden ring or its kinda different?

You will get wrecked in your first run. You will still get wrecked in a handful of subsequent runs, until you understand the mechanics of the game and the attack patterns of the enemies. Then, your next milestone will be first stage boss. You will get wrecked a handful of times by him, until you learn his patterns.

Then, the second stage will be your next milestone, until you reach the boss of the second stage. This boss is way stronger than the first one, so don't feel bad if you die many times. Perfectly normal.

Third stage is when things begins to get serious. Enemies hit REALLY hard.

It's a great game, and the story is very interesting.

[Hazard]

its not that hard , easier than From Soft games imo.

The hardest Boss is the stutters

[Grampire]

Originally posted by Hazard:

its not that hard , easier than From Soft games imo.

Depends on how you play the Fromsoft game.

[Plagues]

Originally posted by Nerdmigo:

Originally posted by Plagues:

It's really really reaaaally NOT that hard.

Its hectic, but forgiving. It's nowhere neat as hard as people say. I've bested 5 bosses so far, 2 I beat first try, only 1 I had to fight more than 2 times.

let me help you with that statement:
ist not hard FOR YOU

Its not that hard in general. Its tough, but people act like this makes souls games looke like tetris.

I feel 90% of the people who find it hard are makign it hard for themselves. I even had to tell a friend that he didnt have to pick up every item just because its there, you can end up doing more harm than good way.