Returnal

Returnal

Developers
	Housemarque
Windows	Climax Studios
Publishers
	PlayStation PC
Engines
	Unreal Engine 4
Release dates
Windows	February 15, 2023
Reception
Metacritic	87
OpenCritic	86
IGDB	91
Taxonomy
Monetization	One-time game purchase
Modes	Singleplayer, Multiplayer
Pacing	Real-time
Perspectives	Third-person
Controls	Direct control
Genres	Action, Roguelike, Shooter
Vehicles	Space flight
Art styles	Realistic
Themes	Sci-fi, Space

Returnal is a singleplayer and multiplayer third-person action, roguelike and shooter game. It makes use of a modified version of Unreal Engine 4.

It was developed originally by Housemarque and Climax Studios and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment for the PlayStation 5, which got released on April 30, 2021. The PC version was developed by Climax Studios and published by PlayStation PC. The PC version got released on February 15, 2023, almost 2 years after its initial release. Notable additions to the PC release compared to the original PlayStation 5 release are ray traced reflections and ray traced shadows. Additionally it added support for DLSS 2.4, FSR 2.0, XeSS and NIS.

General information

Steam Community Discussions

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Epic Games Store
GamersGate
Green Man Gaming
Humble Store
Steam

Monetization

Type	Notes
One-time game purchase	The game requires an upfront purchase to access.

Microtransactions

Type	Notes
No microtransactions	None

Essential improvements

Skip intro videos

Delete, rename or move intro video files
Got to <path-to-game>\Returnal\Content\Movies. Delete, rename or move Logos_PC.mp4, Logos_PC_UW21.mp4, Logos_PC_UW32.mp4, Logos_Short_PC.mp4, Logos_Short_PC_UW21.mp4 and Logos_Short_PC_UW32.mp4.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System	Location
Steam	%LOCALAPPDATA%\Returnal\Steam\Saved\Config
Steam Play (Linux)	<SteamLibrary-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/1649240/pfx/

Save game data location

System	Location
Steam	%LOCALAPPDATA%\Returnal\Steam\Saved\SaveGames
Steam Play (Linux)	<SteamLibrary-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/1649240/pfx/

Save game cloud syncing

System	Native	Notes
Epic Games Launcher
Steam Cloud

Video

Graphics feature	State	Notes
Widescreen resolution		16:10 resolutions are officially supported.
Multi-monitor
Ultra-widescreen		21:9 and 32:9 resolutions are officially supported.
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)		-10 to +15 degrees FOV bias slider.
Windowed
Borderless fullscreen windowed		Named as Windowed fullscreen. Exclusive fullscreen also available.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)
Anti-aliasing (AA)		TAA forced on with low, medium, high and epic presets.
High-fidelity upscaling		DLSS 2.4, FSR 2.0, NIS, XeSS
Vertical sync (Vsync)		On/Off toggle.
60 FPS and 120+ FPS		Fully adjustable frame rate cap slider available with increments of one and lowest value of ten.
High dynamic range display (HDR)
Ray tracing (RT)		Ray-traced shadows and reflections.
Color blind mode		Support for deuteranopia, protanopia and tritanopia with adjustable filter strength, UI tone and collectible colors.

The game engine may allow for manual configuration of the game via its variables. See the Unreal Engine 4 page for more details.

Gameplay visible in the background while at the graphics menu, allowing to see the effects of settings adjustments in real-time.

Features option to display an in-game performance UI.

Features option to run an in-game benchmark with detailed results overview after about any possible performance bottlenecks.

Features optional variable rate shading (VRS) option under Screen optimizations with several presets available. Cannot be activated while using any of the available upscaling techniques.

Input

Keyboard and mouse	State	Notes
Remapping		Left-handed and right-handed presets also available.
Mouse acceleration
Mouse sensitivity		Separate aim sensitivity and look sensitivity sliders available.
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion		X-axis can also be inverted.
Controller
Controller support
Full controller support
Controller remapping		Adaptive and classic presets also available.
Controller sensitivity		Separate look speed and aim speed sliders available separately for each axis.
Controller Y-axis inversion		X-axis can also be inverted.

Controller types

XInput-compatible controllers
Xbox button prompts
Impulse Trigger vibration

PlayStation controllers		DualSense controller is fully supported. Haptic feedback and adaptive triggers support requires wiring the DualSense controller to the PC.
PlayStation button prompts
Light bar support
Adaptive trigger support
DualSense haptic feedback support
Connection modes

Generic/other controllers

Additional information
Controller hotplugging
Haptic feedback
Digital movement supported
Simultaneous controller+KB/M

Audio

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls		Separate Master, Music, SFX and Dialogue volume sliders available.
Surround sound		Stereo, 5.1, 7.1, Dolby Atmos, Auro 3D (3D audio), resonance audio (3D audio) and ray-traced audio options available.
Subtitles		On/Off toggle. Adjustable size, color, speaker name, speaker color and background opacity available.
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost		On/Off toggle. When on, it pauses the game on focus loss.
Royalty free audio

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English
Arabic
Simplified Chinese
Traditional Chinese
Danish
Dutch
Finnish
French
German
Indonesian
Italian
Japanese
Korean
Norwegian
Polish
Portuguese
Brazilian Portuguese
Russian
Spanish
Latin American Spanish
Swedish
Thai
Vietnamese

Network

Multiplayer types

Type	Native	Players	Notes
Local play
LAN play
Online play		2	Co-op

Cross-play with PlayStation 5 is not supported.

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
Direct3D	12

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows

Middleware

	Middleware	Notes
Physics	PhysX, APEX	PhysX v3.4.0.0, APEX v1.4.0.0
Audio	XAudio, Wwise	XAudio v2.9
Input	LibScePad	V1.0.4.1, support for DualSense controller
Multiplayer	Epic Online Services

System requirements

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	10 (build 1903)
Processor (CPU)	Intel Core i5-6400 AMD Ryzen 5 1500X	Intel Core i7-8700 AMD Ryzen 7 2700X
System memory (RAM)	16 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	60 GB (HDD)	60 GB (SSD)
Video card (GPU)	Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 AMD Radeon RX 580 6 GB (Nvidia), 8 GB (AMD) of VRAM	Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 Super AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT 8 GB (Nvidia), 12 GB (AMD) of VRAM

A 64-bit operating system is required.

Minimum system requirements are for 720p, 60 FPS at low settings. Recommended system requirements are for 1080p, 60 FPS at epic settings. Medium (1080p, 60 FPS at medium settings), Epic (4K, 60 FPS at epic settings) and Ray Tracing (4K, 60 FPS at Epic settings with Ray Tracing) system requirements are also available.