While many of the PlayStation 5’s features are meant to improve the experience for gamers, one feature seems to have had the opposite effect forReturnalplayers. After developer Housemarque pushed aReturnalpatch live, some PS5s reset the current progress for players depending on which features they have turned on.
It has been widely reported thatReturnaldoes not offer any form of mid-run save, so players will need to make a certain amount of progress within the game in order to get to something that resembles a checkpoint. Even then, runs can take hours just to get to a good stopping point.
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However, there is a way forReturnalplayers to use the rest modeon the PS5 and “save” the game that way. As long as the PS5 remains in rest mode and they don’t switch to any other games, PS5 owners can retain the progress they made inReturnaland pick up another day. Unfortunately, a different PS5 feature can impact that handy trick.
If PS5 owners have automatic updates turned on for their games, then the console will periodically check if a new patch or update is available, download it, and then restart the game. It’s that last part that has frustratedReturnalplayers that were using the rest mode as a way to save. On Monday morning, Housemarque pushed a patch live forReturnaland PS5 users who had automatic downloads turned on found that their game had closed.
Closing the game is part of the process of the automatic update download and outside of the player’s control if they have the feature turned on. Many players didn’t even realize that they turned on the feature or didn’t know that it would impact theirReturnalprogress, and unfortunately, now they do. And for the record, the patch didn’t even include any notes about what it fixed or changed.
For as long asReturnalplayers are working through thecyclical story of Selene, it’s recommended that they go into their settings and turn off the automatic update download feature. Developer Housemarque has hinted that it might offer players a way to save their runs in-game, but until that feature is added any interruption can put an existing run at risk. Disconnecting the power to the PS5, for example, will also “kill” a run.
There has been some debate online about the nature ofReturnalas a rogue-like and whether or not it should have a save feature. Rogue-like games typically don’t offer a way for players to save their game mid-run, but usually those runs are much shorter than afull playthrough ofReturnal. Players can spend hours scouring every room in just a fewReturnalbiomes, and losing that progress can be very deflating.
Hopefully, the discussion has at least left Housemarque with some considerations when it comes to saving the game. Losing progress to a mistake in-game is one thing, but losing progress because of a useful PS5 feature is another.
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