Returnal v Deathloop

Returnal by a mile.

I really enjoyed Deathloop, but since finishing I've had absolutely no desire to return to it or ever play it again.

I haven't played either Returnal or Deathloop but from the comments i've read and other people's impressions i'd say go with Returnal and R&C and pick up Deathloop down the road in a sale.

Deathloop is great and people really enjoy it but not many people have said they'll return to it when they've completed it. Returnal has more people replaying it even if the save system is a pain in the ass. There's no save when in a level/run so you have to leave the PS5 in suspend mode and can't play anything else until you finish and get back to the hub. Maybe someone else can explain better but it's kind of a pain for some people.

I played the shit out of, and loved both. They are however, very different games. Returnal is harder, Deathloop is very lightweight and you can have more "fun" with it, if that makes sense. Returnal is the better game personally but it really is dependent on taste. Deathloop is groovy, silly, banter-filled and a pure chaotic sandbox of joy. Returnal is bleak, grim, atmospheric as hell and comes across like a sci-fi horror at times. Deathloop is forgiving, Returnal can be bullet hell.

They are certainly not too similar to get both, in fact I would recommend both.

I know it really doesn't mean anything but who else is peeved that Deathloop was nominated for Game of the Year on The Game Awards but Returnal wasn't?

It's not really a save system, it's a turn it off mid run and resume later system 😉

Add to the chorus, Returnal is much better. Genuinely brilliant. Deathloop is fine but I've forgotten it already.

I didn't even finish Deathloop. Ironically I found the core gameplay loop pretty dull and got bored. Loved it for about 10 hours though.

I recognize that it's a decent game, just not to my taste.

Returnal is one of my favourite games of all time.

A game labelled GOTY by publications, isn't GOTY by gamers. Where have I heard this before? HMMMM

I've honestly played about 3 hours of Deathloop and feels fantastic to play. Taking a little while to get into the flow of things. Haven't played Returnal yet as it hasn't gone below my personal magic £30 mark.

You can turn them off.

Oh, I got fucked over early doors by somebody who knew what they were doing and had some jazzy weapons with side-effects: that wasn't fun. I've turned it off till I git gud.

Get whichever one you find cheaper - it’s going to be Deathloop - and ignore the people saying get Returnal because it’s better. Get the kid the cheaper, second-best thing they asked for and then they won’t be disappointed in comparison when they get the other, slightly better game later, but will be happy with both games.

Yeah, I didn't mind the invasions initially, as I was winning them. As soon as I had a run of being slaughtered by the invader constantly it became frustrating as it felt like a constant block to progressing. I was also continually getting invaded in the level with loads of mines and quite a few enemies around the antenna thing you have the hack (this was before I realised you could disable mines). I had an objective on that map I had to do and everytime I was being invaded, with the Julianna just hanging around the mines.

The last straw was when I was finally about to break this run of losing to invaders, only for them to disconnect before I could get the kill. Switched it to offline and started enjoying the game again.

The invasion mechanic is great when it works and when you get into a good duel with Julianna. As with most of these PvP things though, it is open to players abusing and exploiting not very interesting tactics that make it not very fun (like Dark Souls invaders that just run away all the time, ugh). It isn't as bad as Dark Souls, but still has it's annoying moments that outweigh the times it works.