Be amazed on repeat

I am Selene. I have crash-landed my spaceship Helios on a hostile alien planet called Atropos. Something attacks me. I die quickly.

I am Selene. I have crash-landed my spaceship Helios on a hostile alien planet called Atropos. I have died but come back to life, and I am standing outside my spaceship again. Something attacks me. I die quickly.

I am Selene. I have crash-landed my spaceship Helios on a hostile alien planet called Atropos. When I explore this planet for a second (a 52nd?) time, I notice the environment has changed, and things are no longer where they were. Something attacks me. I die quickly.

I am Selene. I have crash-landed my spaceship Helios on a hostile alien planet called Atropos. Without realising it, I have acquired knowledge, and I find I can navigate areas of this strange place easier than before. Something attacks me. I die quickly.

I am Selene. I have crash-landed my spaceship Helios on a hostile alien planet called Atropos. There is a strange signal, something called White Shadow, and I must explore this area and defeat a range of brutal enemies to find it. Something attacks me. I die quickly.

I am Selene. I have crash-landed my spaceship Helios on a hostile alien planet called Atropos. That appears to be a corpse lying on that rocky outcrop and ‘‘OH MY GOD, THAT CORPSE IS ME’’. Something attacks me. I die quickly.

I am Selene. I have crash-landed my spaceship Helios on a hostile alien planet called Atropos. Something attacks me. It is some sort of super-creature, a boss if you will. I die quickly.

I am Selene. I have crash-landed my spaceship Helios on a hostile alien planet called Atropos. I do not have special powers but I can run like the wind, and dash quickly from side to side, and I notice that when I do that, these balls of fire coming at me have no impact on my health. Something attacks me. I die quickly.

I am Selene. I have crash-landed my spaceship Helios on a hostile alien planet called Atropos. Strangely, that building up ahead looks exactly like my childhood home, and when I explore it, vivid memories come flooding back. Something attacks me. I die quickly.

I am Selene. I have crash-landed my spaceship Helios on a hostile alien planet called Atropos. After some exploration, I discover unusual bits of alien technology, that I can scavenge and use to find out more about an extinct civilisation that once lived on this planet. Something attacks me. I die quickly.

I am Selene. I have crash-landed my spaceship Helios on a hostile alien planet called Atropos. I have a plain sidearm, but it has the neat effect of producing a special firing mode if I depress the trigger all the way, and there are new, more powerful weapons that I find scattered around the landscape. Something attacks me. I die quickly.

I am Selene. I have crash-landed my spaceship Helios on a hostile alien planet called Atropos. This feels like deja vu, and I notice that upgrades to my operating system and some new weapons stay with me even if I ... but I am distracted. Something attacks me. I die quickly.

I am Selene. I have crash-landed my spaceship Helios on a hostile alien planet called Atropos. I am skilled in many areas but there is something about this adventure that is just horribly difficult, and I feel at the end of my tether. Something attacks me. I die quickly.

I am Selene. I have crash-landed my spaceship Helios on a hostile alien planet called Atropos. Everything is so dark. Something attacks me. I die quickly.

I am Selene. I have crash-landed my spaceship Helios on a hostile alien planet called Atropos. All is lost, and I just want to get out of here. Something attacks me. I die quickly.

I am Selene.

I die quickly.

I die quickly.

I die quickly.

I die quickly.

(You get the point. Returnal is amazing, and frustrating. It is simple, and the hardest game I’ve ever played. It is a third-person adventure space shooter — technically known as a roguelike, or a time loop game — but it is about so much more. You will love it, and you will hate it. Either way, you must play it. And you will die quickly.)