The latest Returnal patch is live now, and it makes the roguelike shooter just a bit easier while fixing some of the issues players have had with the game’s trophies. On top of these fixes, Housemarque has also added additional locations for certain scout logs, tweaked some of the DualSense haptics, and provided performance enhancements.
Notoriously, certain scout logs needed for the Returnal platinum had been previously hard to come by. The game’s RNG elements mean that certain logs (and Xenoglyph ciphers, as well) don’t appear in every run. However, some players, including myself, were forced to grind for hours to find them. According to Housemarque, that grind will now be a little less intensive with patch 1.4.0.
Changes to how trophies are counted have also been implemented, allowing for some trophies to retroactively pop for certain areas and activities that “cannot be replayed.” There’s also now support for replaying certain sections of Act 1 and Act 2 to acquire trophies that were previously locked after completing specific sections.
Additionally, one of the biggest criticisms about Returnal (aside from its ungracious save system) is its difficulty. Returnal is an unforgiving game; both its boss fights and the enemies haunting its biomes up to those boss fights can be maddeningly tough. Housemarque said that it has made “difficulty adjustments in all biomes for a more balanced gameplay experience.”
The full Returnal 1.4.0 patch notes can be seen below, courtesy of Housemarque.
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Platinum: Added support for replaying certain Act 1 & Act 2 Trophies
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Platinum: Added support to retroactively award Trophies which cannot be replayed
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Platinum: Added additional locations for Scout Logs 9, 34, 35 & 46 to appear more often
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Platinum: Fixed an issue where 1 Cipher was sometimes unobtainable for Biome Survey Trophies
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Platinum: Fixed an issue where some Activity Cards displayed an incorrect count
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UI: HUD labels for items are now hidden when Selene is firing a weapon
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UI: Fixed an issue where 2 actions could be mapped to a single button after switching controller presets
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Cinematics: Fixed a rare audio sync issue in the secret ending
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Audio: General mix improvements across the experience
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Audio: Improved surround sound setup support across the experience
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Audio: Added more DualSense haptics across cinematic moments for deeper immersion
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Audio: Added DualSense haptics when using the Icarian Grapnel
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Audio: Improved the dynamic range recommendations system
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Audio: Allow users to override the dynamic range recommendations
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Audio: Allow users to change audio output from the game menu
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Balance: Various bug fixes to certain artifacts, parasites, consumables, and when certain malfunctions can occur in the early parts of the game
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Balance: Players no longer receive parasites as rewards when players avenge their corpses
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Balance: Enemies, Weapons, and Bosses – difficulty adjustments in all Biomes for a more balanced gameplay experience
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Fixed an issue where Hyperion may drop the Key out of reach
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Fixed an issue where Ophion may become invisible if the player uses a Reconstructor during the fight
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Fixed weapons not being found in Biomes after scanning but not collecting them
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Fixed an issue where Selene could jump impossibly long distances
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Fixed multiple issues where Selene may become trapped in a room
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Fixed a rare freezing issue when teleporting in Crimson Wastes
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Fixed occasional frame rate drops when using the Electropylon Driver
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Performance improvements, crash fixes, and multiple minor bug fixes
If you’ve yet to pick up Returnal and are wondering what it’s all about, consider checking out our review, where we called Housemarque’s roguelike shooter a tightly designed roguelike with some of the best gameplay the genre can provide, and it’s the first game since Demon’s Souls to provide a reason to own a PS5.” If you’re playing Returnal and looking for a little help, consider heading over to our Returnal guides hub.
