Returnal Guide: 10 Beginner Tips And Tricks To Survive Longer In Atropos

Housemarque’s Returnal is no picnic as it is indeed a challenging game and the randomness of what you’ll earn and encounter can add frustration. I’ve completed the game and have listed down 10 tips and tricks beginners will need to know in order to improve their odds at surviving longer.

Break those purple alien eggs every chance you get

You’ll most likely come across these purple alien-like eggs just sitting there in some rooms of the first biome. Make it a habit and crack those suckers as there’s a chance you’ll get Obolites (currency), parasites, Resins, or Silphium, which heals you instantly for a certain amount when picked up. A similar version of these eggs will be worth breaking as well in a future biome, you’ll know what i’m talking about once you get there.

Always pick up the astronaut figurine artifact

This is a must-get in any scenario and is probably the most valuable item you can find in any run of Returnal. What does the astronaut figurine do? It’s simply an extra life. Once you go down with that in your inventory, you are instantly revived with a portion of your life back, breaking the artifact in the process. 

It’s perfect to have when you’re preparing to beat a boss for the first time, so be sure to not pop the artifact prematurely by dying before you reach the boss. 

You can take a rest in your crashed ship to heal

This option is only available in the first biome and a future one as you can return to your ship to get a quick rest and heal a good portion of your total life. There’s no limit to it too! If you find yourself down to your last sliver of life, teleport back at the start of the area where your ship is and just rest up a couple of times.

This is also a sound option to do before you fight a boss in the area, or clear a yellow door (mostly a tough encounter for great rewards). Better to go fully healed than barely standing up. 

Always work on unlocking a weapon trait

You’re starting out, so there’s a lot to unlock to make things a little easier in your future runs. One of them is unlocking weapon traits for each weapon. When you get a new weapon and notice a new trait - or a stronger version of a trait you’ve already unlocked - pick it up and work on getting it. 

Unlocking only requires you to kill things, so keep at it until you permanently have it available, giving future versions of that particular weapon a chance to have strong trait combinations, which will greatly contribute to succeeding in a run.

You can dash through red beams and projectiles

Red beams are bad, and during your first runs you’ll feel how bad it can be. Dodging them is the best way but don’t forget that dashing through them is also an option. You’ll encounter some rooms with beams completely blocking an entrance, or moving beams making it harder to move forward. Don’t stress too much as you can dash through these traps with the right timing. 

Your dash is your best natural defense as it can also be used to go through projectiles, especially during bullet hell segments that sometimes feel like you’ll get hit no matter what you do. Get comfortable with the dash animation and cooldown and you’ll see yourself dashing towards the bullets rather than running away from them and surviving more often than before.

Unlock grates/doors by shooting the yellow button nearby

During my time with Returnal, I thought it was a permanent unlock that I will find as I progress through the game. Apparently, that’s not the case. When you find these grates or doors locking away chests or items, look around for a yellow button in nearby walls or pillars. Simply shoot it with your gun to open it. 

The yellow button of sorts also turns red when you zoom in and hover your cursor on it. Another indicator that you need to shoot it. 

You can destroy yellow barriers with the your upgraded melee attack

In most biomes you will come across yellow barriers that prevent you from getting rewards such as chests and other valuable items. All you need to gain access to these areas is the Blade Balancer artifact, a mod that enhances your melee attack and destroys these barriers with one press of the melee button. This artifact is mostly found in the room with a series of items available for purchase with Obolites, or can be randomly found in one of the rooms. 

This is also a must-get similar to the astronaut artifact as it just gives so much value for the run. Plus, a stronger melee is always good as it’s a strong move with even stronger stagger potential against most large enemies. 

Use those tentacle vines to reach high ledges

When you see tentacles that grab you and pull you upward when you get too close, don’t freak out. It won’t damage you (unless you reach the top) and all you need to do is dodge to free yourself. But these tentacles aren’t just to annoy the player, it can also be used to reach high ledges or platforms that usually have valuable items. When you see one, look around to see if it can be used to your advantage. 

Don’t use Ether to cleanse containers, Resins, or Obolites early on

Ether is the only currency that retains once you die and starts at the beginning. It's a valuable item that can be used in various ways and based on the many runs I’ve done in Returnal, cleansing chests or items you find isn’t the best way to use them. 

You’ll often come across malignant items that will give you a medium to heavy chance at getting a malfunction debuff. You can take the chance or cleanse the item with Ether. I find that a waste and must only be done during dire situations like you need a heal right away. 

The best way to use your Ether is either to convert some of them for Obilities if you’re short in buying a key item (like an astronaut figurine) or use them in a Replicator, a device that if activated with six Ether will revive you in that room, saving your run to reset. It’s even better to use Ether on the device available at the beginning of the game, which gives you a new random item or artifact you’ve never seen before. 

DO NOT PICK UP A THIRD MALFUNCTION  

This is mentioned during the tutorial and can be seen again for clarification in the tutorials section in the menu, but I can’t stress this enough as it’s not worth triggering a critical malfunction, a severe debuff if you trigger another malfunction while holding already two.

A critical malfunction is random but always seems to be a big blow to your overall build. It can destroy keys, artifacts, take out a Resin count, and more. It’s not worth taking a chance at opening a malignant chest with two malfunctions active, so keep an eye out on how many you have active as triggering a critical malfunction must be avoided if you want to have a smooth run. 

Hopefully these tips will steer you into good runs during your first hours of playing Returnal. It will be stressful no matter what, but it will slowly get better as you unlock permanent upgrades and get a feel of what gun best suits your playstyle. 

Returnal is now available exclusively for the PlayStation 5.

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