Yeah, it's a brutally tough roguelike inevitably inhering the divisive traits of the genre, striking a tricky balance between that adventurous excitement of every new run and the frustration of progress beholden to RNG. All that being said, Returnal is my favourite PS5 exclusive so far, one of the most conceptually ambitious titles PlayStation Studios has published in years and one of the highlights of the year. A beautifully surreal cosmic horror narrative encases absurdly tight gunplay set in visceral arenas. Both blisteringly modern in its flaunting of particle effects and non-existent load speeds but deliciously old-school with its callbacks to bullet-hell classics like Ikaruga and coin-op shmups begging you to give them one more go. The more I played, the more I came to appreciate its unique design, its obscure storytelling, its ruthless difficulty. Moments of frustration paled in comparison to the ridiculous highs I felt during far greater portions of the game. A brilliant achievement by Housemarque and gave me a bit of faith in the industry once again.