Here's my interpretation. There are two car crashes. The first with Theia, Selene, and Selene's unborn brother Helios. And a second with Selene and her son Helios who is named after the dead unborn brother. Selene was already stuck in a cycle before reaching Atropos. Selene distracts Theia causing the first crash, killing her unborn brother Helios and severing Theia's spine, which stops Theia becoming an astronaut (the refusal letter you can find in a few places is for Theia, not Selene). Selene feels guilty and becomes an astronaut for Theia, but resents and ignores her child in her persuit just like Theia did with Selene. The astronaut on the bridge is the emobdyment of Selene's obsession with becoming an astronaut at the expense of her child Helios, which causes the crash. There's ambiguity about if the astronaut was real, one alien text says that it 'may or may not' have been there, and in both text and audio logs it is shown that Selene was secretly taking medication which may have either meant that the astronaut was a hullucination, or the astronaut was real and the medication was an attempt to stop her seeing it. It's implied that the astronaut may have been 'following' her for a long time. Selene's child Helios drowns during the second crash, and Selene survives. It is not clear if the red eyed creature was really present for that, it may have been. 'Do you see the White Shadow' may be a reference to White Shadow by Peter Gabriel, which is a vinyl that has a locked groove, so it repeats in a cycle infinitely until it's stopped, and may be interpreted as 'Do you see the loop?'. Selene manages to join Astra's Origo mission to escape her guilt by leaving Earth behind. In a conversation with her Astra colleagues in one of the early ship logs it's shown that she doesn't keep any momentos of earth, and says she has no family left. Selene is drawn by a force to Atropos, likely the red eyed alien, and this may have started when she first began seeing the astronaut. She disobeys her colleagues and breaks regulations to fly to Atropos. The alien archives imply that Selene freed the creature that created the Severed. The red eyed monster is probably the creature orchestrating everything, and she probably IS on Atropos with the 'it was all an allegory' thing being a red herring. The loop on Atropos may be half-allegory half-literal, 'ABANDONED HELIOS' for instance, and the spine-like architecture and bones you find everywhere perhaps symbolising Theia's injury. That is just my interpretation, a lot of it is intentionally ambiguous. There's another story thread with paragraphs you unlock with 100% research for all the items, I don't think anyone has unlocked all of those and figured out their correct order yet. An important thing to note is that the developers are keen fans of the cosmic horror genre, which makes me more inclined to believe Selene is in Atropos, and the red eyed creature (which is perhaps named Xaos) called her from the void to free it, and is trapping Selene in the loop. Interested to see what other people have figured out!
Dude! That is a fantastic interpretation! Thanks for sharing! I finished the game yesterday, and I can't recommend it enough. As far as I know, you need to complete the game 3 times in order to see the "real ending". Sad that it doesn't have a save option, though. I will play it again at a later time, seeing I have to play RE: Village one of these days.
@@andrescruz735 Thanks! Yes, it does seem to take at least 3 playthroughs to get the real ending, more if you miss some sunface fragments on your 3rd run.. The Sunface representing Helios (Selene says "My sun" at one point, and also Helios is Greek for sun/the sun god). In order to unlock the story in the items menu, it would take many many playthroughs, I have not found anyone who has managed it yet! RE: Village looks awesome, enjoy it!
I like yours more than mine. I believe the five bosses are representations of the five stages of grief. Phrike is Denial. The tabs around the first biome speak of madness taking them. Or possibly him specifically. Denial taking over before you get to the second stage. It’s a stretch though. Ixion is Anger. I feel like this one speaks for itself. I’d personally argue out of all the bosses he’s the most aggressive. Blasting past, getting incredibly up close and personal. Screaming and very clearly a Severed. Nemesis is Bargaining not for his fight, but for his place in the story. When you beat him it all seems business as usual and Selene gets to go home. All seems well and she lives a long life. By the looks of it her kid was alive as well. Until... Hyperion. Depression. Sat atop his tower and playing a sorrowful piece that he cannot stop. The music is maddening and has driven past versions of Selene to such insanity as well. And then... Ophion and the subsequent interaction with who you called Xaos. Acceptance. She cannot fight what happened. She has accepted it. She understands why she must be on Atropos. Xaos has trapped her in the loop and she will be tormented with the house, her mistakes and death for eternity. Stuck in the endless cycle. Fighting through Phrike, Ixion, Nemesis, Hyperion and Ophion forever. Fighting through Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression and Acceptance for eternity. Or it’s way simpler and Xaos really likes watching her defeat tentacle monster with the power of gun.
I found out it was Selena that caused the her ship to crash. She shot it unintentionally. Atropos is warped her in a time bubble. Future version of her shot the ship with possibly an Electric canon. She wasn’t even consciously aware. She even breaks the cycle and makes it to earth. Praised for her survival Then grows old and dies at 80 She gets sucked back to same planet with same younger age 30? And wants to break the cycle again. Finds the creature and then returns. So All this Only to find out that she can’t break the cycle. The game says break the cycle but you don’t. That’s your 70 bucks bye
@@HiCZoK tl;dr - a mother kills her child in a car accident and feels guilty about it. The entire game is just a metaphor for her suffering, that's basically it.
When you find out the "white shadow" was the reflection of the moon on the lake , I was left devastated. Best PS5 game at the moment and by far the most unique, seriously wish more people played it
Right? Haha and this game is not physically hard, it's mentally frustrating, they say the hardest battles are fought in the head 😎 most people are lazy too it looks like, keep pushing that boulder upwards 🤘
I think people would play it more if the entire game didn’t restart when you die. The difficulty isn’t the issue its the lack of check points. Even after the updates the constant issue people had with the game is the fact that it requires to much of your time when it isn’t necessary. Having to restart entirely feels like a waste of time.
@@TheGhettoMozart That's not true at all. Especially later. You unlock metroidvania-style powerups all the time, that let you shorten each run dramatically, and return to the stage boss much faster. The route to the final boss is literally like ten 2-minute rooms, after you unlock everything necessary. The powerups and keys stil transfer from run to run, along with unlocked weapons, weapon perks, unlocked artifacts, one of the currencies, and your understanding of the game. There's not a single time you have to restart the game.
@@TheGhettoMozart Yes so true, i sold the game because of that, i think this game waste my time alot because of wanting to upgrade my gear like 1-2 hours and then suddenly die upon the locked area, and then when your gear is ready and then you cannot heal yourself to fight the boss is frustrating.
By the time I got to this boss, I had so many perks, damage/healing buffs and a high stat Electropylon gun that the last boss turned out to be the easiest to beat; I was surprised after the cinematic to be met with the credits when I thought their was going to be something more challenging. Also, the conceptualization of alien meta realm is fantastic, and both the final bosses is impressively hellish, the first one being like a combination of Lovecraftian and Giger horror.
First time I got to this boss, not only did I have the Electropylon Driver, but I had just picked up the parasite that gives you +25% damage for the next 15 kills. Yeah, he died REAL quick.
Facts. I didn’t even know this was the Final Boss. Beat him in a single try and barely broke a sweat 😭😭😭. I had a level 30 carbine with stuff rising pitch and leech rounds. Leech rounds the best ability in the entire game. I also had an ability that let me lvl my adrenaline every 2 hits instead of 3 and made getting through the game a breeze.
I didn't play the game but I like figuring stuff out. The main character is in her own personal hell that she was taken to after dying in the crash, that's why her brain is shown at the end. The white shadow is referring to her white space suit, and her focusing on exploring the great unknown destroyed her relationship with her family. This is why the house is shown to be damaged after she picks up her picture of her in the white spacesuit. Instead of valuing what she had in front of her, she abandoned her family for the great unknown. So in hell she is alone in an everchanging landscape she will never fully know, and her former life is her shadow. To her daughter, her mom's white spacesuit is the white shadow because it was the only thing she left behind. So the "white shadow" is the grave mistake that sealed her fate. The white shadow signal is her calling to follow the path she is doomed to repeat over and over. The white shadow also could be referring to the the scene where she sees the moon's light shining from under the water, that was the moment she completed the cycle, being completely informed as to why she's in hell. And then it repeats. The planet is called Atropos b/c it's based on a greek mythological character who is one of 3 sisters of fate in greek mythology. The moon represents her/them b/c they are also associated with the night.
And maybe taking it a bit further and saying her DAUGHTER is the white shadow as well! White symbolizing her daughter's purity, and that's why in the house that bright white light was coming from her daughter's bedroom. That's why at the end of the game she reunites with her daughter & her daughter says "do you see your white shadow?" as she is sitting BEHIND the protagonist. The protagonist looks in her rearview mirror and sees both of them, but adjusts the mirror so she can only see herself; the mom is selfish. As soon as she sees the white spacesuit she veers off the road b/c that's what caused her to follow the wrong path & sealed her fate. So the white shadow is both her daughter and her spacesuit. The daughter is the white shadow of the protagonist looking at it from the mom's perspective & the white spacesuit is the white shadow of her mom from the daughter's perspective & that represents the loop.
your theory seems absolutely perfect to me! after seeing the true ending, I'd even add Helios means the Sun, on the surface, if she's able to swim and save herself (though I don't get that house cutscene with the tv, when the news says "the doctor miraculously... and escaped unharmed...")
*Unforgettable* Finished the game tonight and I have *NEVER EVER* been pushed into a box like the world of Returnal had me (Atropos you absolute cruel savage monster AHAHA!) It became a tremendous set of learning curve's for my life getting past each Biome (particularly the derelict citadel and abyssal scar) many games have scared me all of a sudden especially jump scares but none have consumed me and spat me back out only to tell me then to try again all over again with barely anything Returnal I say this about every game I finish I shall treasure you and your a master piece however more than putting you with other games I cherish I put you on top having taught me *KEY* things in life THANK YOU ALL INVOLVED WITH RETURNAL YOU HAVE MADE ME REALISE I AM MORE THAN I THOUGHT ;)
When I beat this boss I actually thought that other creature she encounters afterwards was the second half of the boss fight. Lol. Great game I hope they have some additional content planned.
The way she speaks to Ophion definitely implies that each boss represents a stage of grief. In this case, she is fighting to accept what happened. On repeat encounters with Ophion, Selene says that after suffering light years of pain, Ophion’s answers are beneath her. Showing that she knows her enemies have nothing to offer her and that she has the answers she seeks.
She says the answer she seeks is beneath Ophion, so he should just give it to her. As in, my answer means nothing to this Eldricht horror. Not that Ophion's answer is beneath her.
a light year is a measurement of distance, so you're basically saying she endured kilometers and kilometers of pain (9.6 trillion to be exact).. i'm that guy.
For some reason this was the easiest boss for me. By the time I reached it, I had so many upgrades and like 300% Integrity, plus a fully upgraded rocket launcher, that it just ate shit. Ixion, on the other hand, was a nightmare. Anybody else have the same experience?
By then you had already gone through 4 other boss fights so you instinctually learned the pattern and rhythm of the game.\ Personally I found the minions and miniboss's way more difficult simply because of their numbers.
Same. I more than tripled my health, I had two large silphum vials, 4 damage siphons, 50% repair efficiency, 20% protection, and a level 28 pylon driver with 4 upgrades, including a silphum extractor. I literally could not die by that point. Ironically, Phrike was the most challenging for me. It took me more than 8 attempts to bring him down. Ixion took 3, Nemesis took 2 (in a single run bc of the reconstruction chamber), and Hyperion and Ophion took 1. Imo, the mid to late game weapons seem remarkably overpowered against individual foes. The pylon driver is especially stupid. Almost all the tough enemies that trigger lockdowns get vaporized by it in seconds.
In my opinion, the developers were freely inspired by Philip K. Dick's novel "A Maze of Death". Selene's mind is inside a virtual reality simulator created specifically to train astronauts in the event of a crash landing on an exoplanet, but Selene's psychological trauma and guilt are somehow interfering with the simulation, making her live a distressing experience.
GAME ISNT OVER!!! (Now there are 6 new things thrown in every biome. One in each. After you get those, go to the house, after house, clear the last areas again for the TRUE ENDING) Ps: before those 6 things pop up, you have to have seen the 3 house sections in the first forest, and the 2 house sections in the other forest before the new 6 things pop up.
@@IMTHEAN7 go back to the first biome again for the 3rd. 3 in 1st, 2 in 4th. After that, 1 secret item in every area (AFTER), lastly, house again in either 1st or 4th biome. Then just finish the final boss again.
I got him first try without the items but strangely enough there was a large silphium dropped on the floor didn't even know where it came from 🤔 still I might have been able to do it since I had that parasyte that gives you 2 malfunctions in order to survive a death blow.
6:30 (You Half to listen closely to here the beginning of the song but soon after you here the lyrics) I like how Don’t Fear the Reaper is playing on the radio
@@michaelmyersplays4992 I don't care for co-op but the tower of Sisyphus mode is not well done. I got past phase 3 and the game becomes a repetitive slog. Unfortunately they didn't add much new content.
I had half and still have beaten this boss first time without watching UA-cam or anything else. It's the easiest boss fight in the game. Weird though you get all these upgrades but you only use them once cause I was expecting to die at the boss, but I didn't. Now watching title screen. Hoping there is more....
Also a thought just popped into my head, this game is called "Returnal" because it's a combination of the words Return and Nocturnal, therefore meaning "return to the night", referencing the night of her death.
this isn't really the true true ending, reviews stated that there is way more to the plot than 1 run, most said they were 40 hrs in and there was still much to figure out. can't wait to play some of this game tomorrow, hope to finish It before RE8
its a pain in ass. dying and not returning to where you just were. not a large selection of guns. you don't have a huge inventory to stock up. the end fights happening 3 times is just overkill. at the moment its the only new decent game for ps5.
There's dozens of interpretations this game has but one of them is plain and simple. She's in hell. She died in that car crash with her daughter, unable to find the answers she's looking for and with countless of "lives" and resets she gets close enough to the truth only to be sent flying back and farther away from ever finding out that she's already dead. And there's nothing that she can do. Forever pursuing the infinite emptiness that is death.
It's crazy that even though I've completed this game many times I have to come to UA-cam to see the first ending because you get to experience it only once when you play. Unless you start a brand new game on a new profile you only get the 2nd ending when you beat the final boss in subsequent playthroughs. I think I prefer the 1st ending. The cinematics for the 1st ending seems longer than the ending you get after collecting all the sunface fragments. It's a shame you can't replay the video for the 1st ending from the option screen. I think you can replay the ending for the tower of Sisyphus dlc just by returning to the hospital since you have the poppies as a permanent unlocked item.
This game honestly deserves more praise. One of the best PS5 game to this day. I feel like the difficulty will turn ppl off potentially, but learning the game and understanding how to play is extremely rewarding. Even as far as difficulty, I think the game starts off much more difficult and is easier as you collect items and playthrough. Beat the last 3 bosses without dying.
Seeing as how no one has posted a full walkthrough or a all cutscenes video, imma assume she and her daughter did actually die in the crash and Selene, throughout the entire game, is just in her own personal Hell for (I assume) not caring for her daughter all that much
@@veryconcernedjesus2584 I partially agree with your take on it, but the daughter survived the crash (it's explained on the news report). WAAIITTT....looking back, how would she know about the news report of her death? I think the mom isn't dead, but in a coma, her brain is still functioning, & that's why she was able to hear parts of the news report on her death.
There's actually a true ending to the game that nobody seems to have reached yet. This isn't the complete ending, there's another. Similar to Hades, the game isn't over after the first complete run. Nobody has actually managed to reach the secret ending from what I've seen here yet but all we know is that it exists.
Tell me about it that part with those 2 jellyfish summoning kamikaze. Littles shits made me use my heals before the boss 😭😭 still got him first try funny enough
The final boss was a too easy for me. Maybe cuz since the nemesis fight I somewhat gained super powers, I remember having a mate in the party and when he noticed I died for like the 1000000th time I started to play the ukulele and I became broken
I hate stories like this that are TOO symbolic . You are waiting for intergalactic existential secret and you end up with the lame "it was all in her head" . Waste of dialogue . She was probably playing Metro Prime and have watched Pirates of the Caribbean before the accident .
I beat the final boss from the first try! I think because I left the game for a couple of days and came back and leveled up to the max and explored the entire map before I got to it! I left it wanting more, now that I got good at it 😄
I find that you actually get better at gaming when you take lengthy breaks in-between. Like sort of a subconscious rewiring takes place after being refreshed. Idk, tho. I'm not a neuro-scientist
So she practically died and the game story is the process that her spirit realises this and the trauma that she caused the death of her daughter. And that water and swirling smoke effect at the end is wow. PS5 wow!
So, you know how Hyperion is like, her dad playing an organ at the funeral? Well carrying that forward, Ophion is this incoherently screaming, immobile, humanoid, who’s trapped underwater. We…. We fucking know WHO this is, right?
So basically she’s in hell. Set to fight and dye for eternity in a endless loop (kind of depressing). It’s a good game but I could never get past the hadal key stage. It’s way too long of an area with no checkpoints to beat. Also how TF did this guy get such a crazy health bar?
I was absolutely overpowered when I beat this boss. I had two revive items, 3 large silphium, 2 small silphium, 10% protection and 201% integrity lol If I had played it with my feet, I would probably win anyway.
Same, I was pretty much op with a maxed out bonus damage weapon. Had plenty of self heal and shield with another bonus weapon damage. My health was 2 health bars.
Hahahahah i'd love to see that fight. Btw, do you have any tips for a beginner? I started playing today and I'm having a hard time understanding the game (like, what i should take, what i shouldnt, etc).
Welcome to the great world of Rogue likes, where the end is meaningless so you have to do more runs to accomplish more objectives even if you finish the game 40 times
I had a parasite that can regenerate my healing items and I have beaten the boss with still 5 healing items, 2 of which were big ones lol. It was very easy
I gave up on this one (way too hard) but I appreciate the world design, the gunplay and the stunning aliens. The difficulty and the overall roguelike elements (who in the hell wants to repeat the same stuff endlessly) just isn´t for me.
the final boss wasn't all that bad. It was that whole area under water that was rough. Those stupid orbs that fire a million projectiles and then those giant monster dudes who come at you super fast and smash you. Plus all the little squid things that you cant even see until they are a foot away from you. It took me a bit to get through it.
![[FWR] Returnal speedrun in 42:07.8](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/I6eLVPY2IGI/mqdefault.jpg)
This is more like a version of "I've finally completed Returnal so you don't have to"
Exactly
Final boss is EZ, some of them are pretty hard
Here's my interpretation.
There are two car crashes. The first with Theia, Selene, and Selene's unborn brother Helios. And a second with Selene and her son Helios who is named after the dead unborn brother. Selene was already stuck in a cycle before reaching Atropos. Selene distracts Theia causing the first crash, killing her unborn brother Helios and severing Theia's spine, which stops Theia becoming an astronaut (the refusal letter you can find in a few places is for Theia, not Selene). Selene feels guilty and becomes an astronaut for Theia, but resents and ignores her child in her persuit just like Theia did with Selene. The astronaut on the bridge is the emobdyment of Selene's obsession with becoming an astronaut at the expense of her child Helios, which causes the crash. There's ambiguity about if the astronaut was real, one alien text says that it 'may or may not' have been there, and in both text and audio logs it is shown that Selene was secretly taking medication which may have either meant that the astronaut was a hullucination, or the astronaut was real and the medication was an attempt to stop her seeing it. It's implied that the astronaut may have been 'following' her for a long time. Selene's child Helios drowns during the second crash, and Selene survives. It is not clear if the red eyed creature was really present for that, it may have been.
'Do you see the White Shadow' may be a reference to White Shadow by Peter Gabriel, which is a vinyl that has a locked groove, so it repeats in a cycle infinitely until it's stopped, and may be interpreted as 'Do you see the loop?'.
Selene manages to join Astra's Origo mission to escape her guilt by leaving Earth behind. In a conversation with her Astra colleagues in one of the early ship logs it's shown that she doesn't keep any momentos of earth, and says she has no family left.
Selene is drawn by a force to Atropos, likely the red eyed alien, and this may have started when she first began seeing the astronaut. She disobeys her colleagues and breaks regulations to fly to Atropos. The alien archives imply that Selene freed the creature that created the Severed. The red eyed monster is probably the creature orchestrating everything, and she probably IS on Atropos with the 'it was all an allegory' thing being a red herring. The loop on Atropos may be half-allegory half-literal, 'ABANDONED HELIOS' for instance, and the spine-like architecture and bones you find everywhere perhaps symbolising Theia's injury. That is just my interpretation, a lot of it is intentionally ambiguous. There's another story thread with paragraphs you unlock with 100% research for all the items, I don't think anyone has unlocked all of those and figured out their correct order yet. An important thing to note is that the developers are keen fans of the cosmic horror genre, which makes me more inclined to believe Selene is in Atropos, and the red eyed creature (which is perhaps named Xaos) called her from the void to free it, and is trapping Selene in the loop.
Interested to see what other people have figured out!
Dude! That is a fantastic interpretation! Thanks for sharing!
I finished the game yesterday, and I can't recommend it enough.
As far as I know, you need to complete the game 3 times in order to see the "real ending".
Sad that it doesn't have a save option, though. I will play it again at a later time, seeing I have to play RE: Village one of these days.
@@andrescruz735 Thanks! Yes, it does seem to take at least 3 playthroughs to get the real ending, more if you miss some sunface fragments on your 3rd run.. The Sunface representing Helios (Selene says "My sun" at one point, and also Helios is Greek for sun/the sun god). In order to unlock the story in the items menu, it would take many many playthroughs, I have not found anyone who has managed it yet! RE: Village looks awesome, enjoy it!
I like yours more than mine.
I believe the five bosses are representations of the five stages of grief.
Phrike is Denial. The tabs around the first biome speak of madness taking them. Or possibly him specifically. Denial taking over before you get to the second stage. It’s a stretch though.
Ixion is Anger. I feel like this one speaks for itself. I’d personally argue out of all the bosses he’s the most aggressive. Blasting past, getting incredibly up close and personal. Screaming and very clearly a Severed.
Nemesis is Bargaining not for his fight, but for his place in the story. When you beat him it all seems business as usual and Selene gets to go home. All seems well and she lives a long life. By the looks of it her kid was alive as well. Until...
Hyperion. Depression. Sat atop his tower and playing a sorrowful piece that he cannot stop. The music is maddening and has driven past versions of Selene to such insanity as well. And then...
Ophion and the subsequent interaction with who you called Xaos. Acceptance. She cannot fight what happened. She has accepted it. She understands why she must be on Atropos. Xaos has trapped her in the loop and she will be tormented with the house, her mistakes and death for eternity. Stuck in the endless cycle. Fighting through Phrike, Ixion, Nemesis, Hyperion and Ophion forever.
Fighting through Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression and Acceptance for eternity.
Or it’s way simpler and Xaos really likes watching her defeat tentacle monster with the power of gun.
I found out it was Selena that caused the her ship to crash. She shot it unintentionally. Atropos is warped her in a time bubble. Future version of her shot the ship with possibly an Electric canon. She wasn’t even consciously aware. She even breaks the cycle and makes it to earth. Praised for her survival Then grows old and dies at 80 She gets sucked back to same planet with same younger age 30? And wants to break the cycle again. Finds the creature and then returns. So All this Only to find out that she can’t break the cycle. The game says break the cycle but you don’t. That’s your 70 bucks bye
funny how each character have greek gods name, i supsoe it'sn ot there by mistake.
They really knocked it out of the park with the cinematography and mature story telling. Such an amazing game that deserves more praise.
yeah cinematography so mature, I have no idea what is going on...
Absolutely agree. Game of the Year in my opinion. Excellent, excellent game. So well done!
Yeah great game im sure people would appreciate it if you didn’t have to restart the entire game so easily….. no praise should he given
@@TheGhettoMozart just say you aren't good enough to beat it.
@@HiCZoK tl;dr - a mother kills her child in a car accident and feels guilty about it.
The entire game is just a metaphor for her suffering, that's basically it.
When you find out the "white shadow" was the reflection of the moon on the lake , I was left devastated. Best PS5 game at the moment and by far the most unique, seriously wish more people played it
Shits hard I bet most people who play it quit sometime later because of how hard it is
Right? Haha and this game is not physically hard, it's mentally frustrating, they say the hardest battles are fought in the head 😎 most people are lazy too it looks like, keep pushing that boulder upwards 🤘
I think people would play it more if the entire game didn’t restart when you die. The difficulty isn’t the issue its the lack of check points. Even after the updates the constant issue people had with the game is the fact that it requires to much of your time when it isn’t necessary. Having to restart entirely feels like a waste of time.
@@TheGhettoMozart That's not true at all. Especially later.
You unlock metroidvania-style powerups all the time, that let you shorten each run dramatically, and return to the stage boss much faster.
The route to the final boss is literally like ten 2-minute rooms, after you unlock everything necessary.
The powerups and keys stil transfer from run to run, along with unlocked weapons, weapon perks, unlocked artifacts, one of the currencies, and your understanding of the game.
There's not a single time you have to restart the game.
@@TheGhettoMozart Yes so true, i sold the game because of that, i think this game waste my time alot because of wanting to upgrade my gear like 1-2 hours and then suddenly die upon the locked area, and then when your gear is ready and then you cannot heal yourself to fight the boss is frustrating.
By the time I got to this boss, I had so many perks, damage/healing buffs and a high stat Electropylon gun that the last boss turned out to be the easiest to beat; I was surprised after the cinematic to be met with the credits when I thought their was going to be something more challenging. Also, the conceptualization of alien meta realm is fantastic, and both the final bosses is impressively hellish, the first one being like a combination of Lovecraftian and Giger horror.
I had 3 4 health resin and didnt even use one lol
First time I got to this boss, not only did I have the Electropylon Driver, but I had just picked up the parasite that gives you +25% damage for the next 15 kills. Yeah, he died REAL quick.
by far the games easiest boss, even if your not stacked with buffs, should have honestly made it harder tbh
Facts. I didn’t even know this was the Final Boss. Beat him in a single try and barely broke a sweat 😭😭😭. I had a level 30 carbine with stuff rising pitch and leech rounds. Leech rounds the best ability in the entire game. I also had an ability that let me lvl my adrenaline every 2 hits instead of 3 and made getting through the game a breeze.
I didn't play the game but I like figuring stuff out. The main character is in her own personal hell that she was taken to after dying in the crash, that's why her brain is shown at the end. The white shadow is referring to her white space suit, and her focusing on exploring the great unknown destroyed her relationship with her family. This is why the house is shown to be damaged after she picks up her picture of her in the white spacesuit. Instead of valuing what she had in front of her, she abandoned her family for the great unknown. So in hell she is alone in an everchanging landscape she will never fully know, and her former life is her shadow.
To her daughter, her mom's white spacesuit is the white shadow because it was the only thing she left behind. So the "white shadow" is the grave mistake that sealed her fate. The white shadow signal is her calling to follow the path she is doomed to repeat over and over.
The white shadow also could be referring to the the scene where she sees the moon's light shining from under the water, that was the moment she completed the cycle, being completely informed as to why she's in hell. And then it repeats. The planet is called Atropos b/c it's based on a greek mythological character who is one of 3 sisters of fate in greek mythology. The moon represents her/them b/c they are also associated with the night.
good theory
And maybe taking it a bit further and saying her DAUGHTER is the white shadow as well! White symbolizing her daughter's purity, and that's why in the house that bright white light was coming from her daughter's bedroom. That's why at the end of the game she reunites with her daughter & her daughter says "do you see your white shadow?" as she is sitting BEHIND the protagonist. The protagonist looks in her rearview mirror and sees both of them, but adjusts the mirror so she can only see herself; the mom is selfish. As soon as she sees the white spacesuit she veers off the road b/c that's what caused her to follow the wrong path & sealed her fate. So the white shadow is both her daughter and her spacesuit. The daughter is the white shadow of the protagonist looking at it from the mom's perspective & the white spacesuit is the white shadow of her mom from the daughter's perspective & that represents the loop.
your theory seems absolutely perfect to me! after seeing the true ending, I'd even add Helios means the Sun, on the surface, if she's able to swim and save herself (though I don't get that house cutscene with the tv, when the news says "the doctor miraculously... and escaped unharmed...")
MIND BLOWN😶
How dod you guys finish it so fast?
That car crash scene was straight up Silent Hill 1.
A lot of movies and games have done that. Majority are horror movies.
*Unforgettable*
Finished the game tonight and I have *NEVER EVER* been pushed into a box like the world of Returnal had me (Atropos you absolute cruel savage monster AHAHA!)
It became a tremendous set of learning curve's for my life getting past each Biome (particularly the derelict citadel and abyssal scar) many games have scared me all of a sudden especially jump scares but none have consumed me and spat me back out only to tell me then to try again all over again with barely anything
Returnal I say this about every game I finish I shall treasure you and your a master piece however more than putting you with other games I cherish I put you on top having taught me *KEY* things in life
THANK YOU ALL INVOLVED WITH RETURNAL YOU HAVE MADE ME REALISE I AM MORE THAN I THOUGHT ;)
tf are you tryin to break into the freelance business or somethin?
It"s not LinkedIn buddy, relax
When I beat this boss I actually thought that other creature she encounters afterwards was the second half of the boss fight. Lol. Great game I hope they have some additional content planned.
That didn't age well
@Rodrigo540 why?
Have u tried the dlc?
@@udaysingh-wr2kw yes
The way she speaks to Ophion definitely implies that each boss represents a stage of grief.
In this case, she is fighting to accept what happened. On repeat encounters with Ophion, Selene says that after suffering light years of pain, Ophion’s answers are beneath her. Showing that she knows her enemies have nothing to offer her and that she has the answers she seeks.
She has more guilt than grief. She wanted Helios to get out of her way. She's guilty for not being happy as a mother
She says the answer she seeks is beneath Ophion, so he should just give it to her. As in, my answer means nothing to this Eldricht horror. Not that Ophion's answer is beneath her.
a light year is a measurement of distance, so you're basically saying she endured kilometers and kilometers of pain (9.6 trillion to be exact).. i'm that guy.
For some reason this was the easiest boss for me. By the time I reached it, I had so many upgrades and like 300% Integrity, plus a fully upgraded rocket launcher, that it just ate shit. Ixion, on the other hand, was a nightmare. Anybody else have the same experience?
By then you had already gone through 4 other boss fights so you instinctually learned the pattern and rhythm of the game.\
Personally I found the minions and miniboss's way more difficult simply because of their numbers.
Same bro. First and Second Boss were so damn hard.
Yea I agree. Beat the boss first time, took me forever to get there but I thought there was 3 more stages for some reason. So pissed!!
Same. I more than tripled my health, I had two large silphum vials, 4 damage siphons, 50% repair efficiency, 20% protection, and a level 28 pylon driver with 4 upgrades, including a silphum extractor. I literally could not die by that point.
Ironically, Phrike was the most challenging for me. It took me more than 8 attempts to bring him down. Ixion took 3, Nemesis took 2 (in a single run bc of the reconstruction chamber), and Hyperion and Ophion took 1. Imo, the mid to late game weapons seem remarkably overpowered against individual foes. The pylon driver is especially stupid. Almost all the tough enemies that trigger lockdowns get vaporized by it in seconds.
2nd and 3rd boss were the hardest for me for sure. The final one was the only one I actually beat my first try
I finished this boss with only 1hp left I was sweating and internally screaming for like 5 minutes straight until I beat it 😅
Being underwater is terrifying enough for me.... 😳
u so funny
Bullshit. Fucking snowflakes everywhere
Ye same
You just got called a snowflake for being terrified lol. People just talk to talk nowadays
@@bimmer8602 Yep. I think the guy doesn't know that other people can also have fears. 🤔
In my opinion, the developers were freely inspired by Philip K. Dick's novel "A Maze of Death".
Selene's mind is inside a virtual reality simulator created specifically to train astronauts in the event of a crash landing on an exoplanet, but Selene's psychological trauma and guilt are somehow interfering with the simulation, making her live a distressing experience.
I like this theory
After trying to beat the first boss for the 5th time, I said fuck it and just came here to see the ending.
hahahahaha good one
Likewise. And I'm damn glad I did because I'm not potentially giving myself a stroke trying to beat this game to see such a vague ending 🤣
@@adamantiumrage It's not even the actual end of the game, just the end of the 2nd act (of 3)
GAME ISNT OVER!!! (Now there are 6 new things thrown in every biome. One in each. After you get those, go to the house, after house, clear the last areas again for the TRUE ENDING)
Ps: before those 6 things pop up, you have to have seen the 3 house sections in the first forest, and the 2 house sections in the other forest before the new 6 things pop up.
I found 2 house sections in the 1st biome and then 2 house sections in the 4th. Where is the last one?
@@IMTHEAN7 go back to the first biome again for the 3rd. 3 in 1st, 2 in 4th. After that, 1 secret item in every area (AFTER), lastly, house again in either 1st or 4th biome. Then just finish the final boss again.
@@krisisgod666 thx bro this is really helpful 👍🏻
You cant get back to the fitst biome that was the dark area not the jungle looking area, or do i miss something
@@dendagaming3225 youcan go back by device in ship
With two healing items, and quick reactions you’ll get over this boss fight easily.
I got him first try without the items but strangely enough there was a large silphium dropped on the floor didn't even know where it came from 🤔 still I might have been able to do it since I had that parasyte that gives you 2 malfunctions in order to survive a death blow.
6:30 (You Half to listen closely to here the beginning of the song but soon after you here the lyrics) I like how Don’t Fear the Reaper is playing on the radio
I just kept thinking, wow, she drove off the bridge because she needed more cowbell...
Wish it would've transitioned right into the credits with that song. Missed opportunity!
@@princessoscar3089 uhh no
This scene kinda looks like silent Hill ps1
so this is....bullet hell in 3d
Clever, a LITERAL bullet HELL
looks super fun. I didnt know what it was so I started looking into it and already started my pre download lol...
Its Nier but westernized
@@1buszybudy13 what?
@@WAyuso34 You should play Nier
Such an amazing game, but it tears me apart that they didn't add more content to it. Even an ascension mode with modifiers would've been welcome.
Coop now
@@michaelmyersplays4992 I don't care for co-op but the tower of Sisyphus mode is not well done. I got past phase 3 and the game becomes a repetitive slog. Unfortunately they didn't add much new content.
@@smellypatel5272 I mean it’s a roguelike
holy shit look at that health bar
I had half and still have beaten this boss first time without watching UA-cam or anything else. It's the easiest boss fight in the game. Weird though you get all these upgrades but you only use them once cause I was expecting to die at the boss, but I didn't. Now watching title screen. Hoping there is more....
It felt more like a light show
lol
And I think I developed epilepsy from that
Yep an atari game
It looks like a dubstep 2012 live show
Also a thought just popped into my head, this game is called "Returnal" because it's a combination of the words Return and Nocturnal, therefore meaning "return to the night", referencing the night of her death.
Ah that explains the name then, nice catch! 💯
@@tannerhill9648 thank ya!
Big brain 🧠
@@siddharthsharma3291 lol I didn't realize it until after I watched the ending, now it makes sense.
@@theactualtruth4951but hey this game didn't make much of an impact on the contrary to some other games
Housemarque has really surpassed any expectations from small game which i loved them all to this masterpiece .
this isn't really the true true ending, reviews stated that there is way more to the plot than 1 run, most said they were 40 hrs in and there was still much to figure out. can't wait to play some of this game tomorrow, hope to finish It before RE8
Dont know about you but if i see credits rolling its an ending.. Theres only a secret ending
@@dino007fernandes5 game have more one ending
@@dino007fernandes5 you shouldn't play NieR then
@@SlavKnightVlad I wont thanks
It only took me 13 hrs to get the normal ending. I’ll see how long it takes for me to get the true ending
I’m thinking about getting this game it looks so sick and badass
you should, it's awesome
its a pain in ass. dying and not returning to where you just were. not a large selection of guns. you don't have a huge inventory to stock up. the end fights happening 3 times is just overkill. at the moment its the only new decent game for ps5.
@@rachealgarcia8028 it’s a roguelite game....the premise of the game is returning to the start everytime you die.
Well 100 buck for a 12 hours games this is the problem
@@saltriver1401 $100? It’s $70
There's dozens of interpretations this game has but one of them is plain and simple. She's in hell. She died in that car crash with her daughter, unable to find the answers she's looking for and with countless of "lives" and resets she gets close enough to the truth only to be sent flying back and farther away from ever finding out that she's already dead. And there's nothing that she can do. Forever pursuing the infinite emptiness that is death.
It's crazy that even though I've completed this game many times I have to come to UA-cam to see the first ending because you get to experience it only once when you play. Unless you start a brand new game on a new profile you only get the 2nd ending when you beat the final boss in subsequent playthroughs. I think I prefer the 1st ending. The cinematics for the 1st ending seems longer than the ending you get after collecting all the sunface fragments. It's a shame you can't replay the video for the 1st ending from the option screen. I think you can replay the ending for the tower of Sisyphus dlc just by returning to the hospital since you have the poppies as a permanent unlocked item.
I don't remember this Touhou series before...
The stillness, loneliness and ambience of the alien planet, I have never experienced in any other game.
That cutscene man... showed so little but said so much
This game honestly deserves more praise. One of the best PS5 game to this day. I feel like the difficulty will turn ppl off potentially, but learning the game and understanding how to play is extremely rewarding. Even as far as difficulty, I think the game starts off much more difficult and is easier as you collect items and playthrough. Beat the last 3 bosses without dying.
Seasons DONT fear the reaper!!
I don’t get it what the hell happened. Did she die or something?
She has succumbed to the anti-life equation.
Seeing as how no one has posted a full walkthrough or a all cutscenes video, imma assume she and her daughter did actually die in the crash and Selene, throughout the entire game, is just in her own personal Hell for (I assume) not caring for her daughter all that much
@@veryconcernedjesus2584 I partially agree with your take on it, but the daughter survived the crash (it's explained on the news report). WAAIITTT....looking back, how would she know about the news report of her death? I think the mom isn't dead, but in a coma, her brain is still functioning, & that's why she was able to hear parts of the news report on her death.
There's actually a true ending to the game that nobody seems to have reached yet. This isn't the complete ending, there's another. Similar to Hades, the game isn't over after the first complete run. Nobody has actually managed to reach the secret ending from what I've seen here yet but all we know is that it exists.
@@theactualtruth4951 she's in a spiritual realm I'm guessing
Yo that shot at the end where you’re getting pushed (pulled?) back down before the title card is scary as fuck. Such hard-hitting visuals
Which weapon do you have? Thermogenic launcher?
It seemed like the game ended abruptly. Fun to play while it lasted.
8:36 the clock in the house says that as well.
Its like GRADIUS in nutshell
This boss was easy for me. The real challenge is getting to the boss. The under water part is insanely hard
Tell me about it that part with those 2 jellyfish summoning kamikaze. Littles shits made me use my heals before the boss 😭😭 still got him first try funny enough
The hardest Boss is to actually get a PS5.
Beat him last night. The Ophion and Act 2 trophies didn't unlock, though. I was really hoping they'd have fixed the trophy issues by now
I just wish I didnt die so much so I can beat the game. The game is incredibly fun but so hard and frustrating
What’s the device behind the hole after you beat the boss, I forgot to check it?
wait what? this game just got out ._. how is this video a year old???
What is your weapon?
The final boss was a too easy for me. Maybe cuz since the nemesis fight I somewhat gained super powers, I remember having a mate in the party and when he noticed I died for like the 1000000th time I started to play the ukulele and I became broken
I watched this now....because I'm struggling with Phrike....
Wish I hadn't watched this now.
İve finished the game ! İ have never rage quit quite so many times ever in my life !
I hate stories like this that are TOO symbolic . You are waiting for intergalactic existential secret and you end up with the lame "it was all in her head" . Waste of dialogue . She was probably playing Metro Prime and have watched Pirates of the Caribbean before the accident .
Going to have to keep waiting for someone who has that existential answer.
Same. No disrespect but i think it's lazy writing tbh.
TheActualTruth can basically tell you the reasoning and he is in these comments and it is a pretty good answer.
That or this is hell. Her being trapped in this loop of suffering and death revolving around her relationship with her mom.
I hate u more . Love thid game . Worth every penny
Anyone can tell me the title of the song that she's listening In the car please ?
Got this guy on my third try. What a boss! Easily the highlight of the game.
I feel like he was one of the easier bosses. For me, the last boss in the first Act was a pain in the ass.
For me it was the easiest boss literally I didn’t get hit from him
The new Resogun Commando Expansion is amazing!!!
The particle FX
I’m actually disappointed with the end I just smash passed through the 5th and 6th area and killed the final boss on my first attempt.
those shooting from boss reminds me very much of CONTRA game :) lovely
Its a space shooter without your spaceship.
That must be some suit to have no problem with the pressure down there
Name of the criature?
I beat the final boss from the first try! I think because I left the game for a couple of days and came back and leveled up to the max and explored the entire map before I got to it! I left it wanting more, now that I got good at it 😄
I find that you actually get better at gaming when you take lengthy breaks in-between. Like sort of a subconscious rewiring takes place after being refreshed. Idk, tho. I'm not a neuro-scientist
Beat him 1st try aswell, leech rounds lvl 2 broken af
And then she wakes up in Silent Hill ?
Is That it? Just like that? I was having fun and I thought I have a long way to finish the game but suddenly End screen show up 😐
How are you playing this.. i bought it and gotta wait till 10
Some countries get it early
Buy physical
What wreapon you using?
I beat this with no audio ;(
Same, my audio cut out on the final fight. Had to pull up this vid while watching the ending
Yes it happened to me too 😢😢😢
Same
So she practically died and the game story is the process that her spirit realises this and the trauma that she caused the death of her daughter.
And that water and swirling smoke effect at the end is wow. PS5 wow!
So, you know how Hyperion is like, her dad playing an organ at the funeral?
Well carrying that forward, Ophion is this incoherently screaming, immobile, humanoid, who’s trapped underwater. We…. We fucking know WHO this is, right?
Looks like that Spiral building from the first FF7
So basically she’s in hell. Set to fight and dye for eternity in a endless loop (kind of depressing). It’s a good game but I could never get past the hadal key stage. It’s way too long of an area with no checkpoints to beat. Also how TF did this guy get such a crazy health bar?
Wtf space car ?
I just finished the game, was a true challenge but I didn’t get the story, can some one explain please? She never crashed in a planet?
I was absolutely overpowered when I beat this boss. I had two revive items, 3 large silphium, 2 small silphium, 10% protection and 201% integrity lol If I had played it with my feet, I would probably win anyway.
Same, I was pretty much op with a maxed out bonus damage weapon. Had plenty of self heal and shield with another bonus weapon damage. My health was 2 health bars.
hahaha likewise
Hahahahah i'd love to see that fight. Btw, do you have any tips for a beginner? I started playing today and I'm having a hard time understanding the game (like, what i should take, what i shouldnt, etc).
So week or so and someone will beat this game in one sitting no hit run.
You know it will happen.
Buddy of mine beat it day one , zero damage one playthru 11 hours
@@morgannarigby4958 this game isn’t that hard lol it’s very possible
@@ohgeez4354 footage or it didn’t happen
@@morgannarigby4958 i posted his two eek old reddit link w his proof , enjoy
@@ohgeez4354 bullshit
People got bamboolozed for playing a Rogue-like for the story instead of the gameplay, lol
This game is absolutely nuts! 😳
yep i figured the plot was going to end in that manner, so annoying
game have more one ending
@@thang0412334 ive seen them and its just more variation of the same
I agree it’s disappointing ugh..
I hAte the “it’s all happening inside the head” bs
God damnit
@@Michael019x honestly I’m under the possibility that this is some afterlife stuff. Like she’s going through hell until she figures her crap out.
Welcome to the great world of Rogue likes, where the end is meaningless so you have to do more runs to accomplish more objectives even if you finish the game 40 times
I just finished the game and I'm even more confused now
The end is bad we don’t now what happened so
confused like you
مع السلامة
I'm confused as to how people can finish it LOL.
@@LarryJ602 ?
@@AD-eu4px game isn’t bad you have to beat it 3 times for real ending...
There is a secret ending you have to play it again
I had a parasite that can regenerate my healing items and I have beaten the boss with still 5 healing items, 2 of which were big ones lol. It was very easy
I think this was his first try with the boss, caus he is just hitting the head not the red dots on his body.
I gave up on this one (way too hard) but I appreciate the world design, the gunplay and the stunning aliens. The difficulty and the overall roguelike elements (who in the hell wants to repeat the same stuff endlessly) just isn´t for me.
What gun is this please.. its literally eating up his health
That’s a rapid-fire thermogenic launcher, shoots more projectiles and quicker than the base salvo.
the final boss wasn't all that bad. It was that whole area under water that was rough. Those stupid orbs that fire a million projectiles and then those giant monster dudes who come at you super fast and smash you. Plus all the little squid things that you cant even see until they are a foot away from you. It took me a bit to get through it.
A cosmic horror bullet hell game...
*Game of the decade*
I haven’t even got to the first boss 😂
the story is confusing
It’s silly
It’s goofy
This boss in 1.0 patch is nightmare AF they really nerfed his fight
Is it possible to finish the game on first run ?
If you are skilled enough yes
you would need super power skills to not come back once
Too much random found artifacts, Parasite.
Not the end boss fyi.
Needs more cowbell.
wow this is a deep ending that almost made me go to tears... i thought of my son :)
Really depressing story
This boss should’ve been the biome 3 boss and the biome 3 boss should’ve been the final boss
Agreed, the arena for that fight was way more epic
kinda predicted this ending, every triple A game seem to have this set script where their "plot twist" comes from a textbook or something
Being the final boss hes a cakewalk for sure
I found the normal enemies harder than the bosses.
I only took 1 hit from this boss. Very anti climactic, was waiting for a Nemesis type on steroids but I’m glad I beat the game finally
Bro I finally just beat this game last week 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Lol 😂
it never ends does it
Gotta watch before it may be taken down!
what a show of colors. they look like fireworks.
I just finished the first boss fight… and i thought that was hard