Topic: Returnal

@Thrillho Well done 👍, that’s an awesome record to have. Will check the video out soon when I manage to distract the kids. Kind of wish I’d recorded mine now as it’s probably the best boss fight I’ve ever managed. I just thought the extra pressure of videoing it would have a negative affect on my effort 😂.

@render Remember that the PS5 is always recording anyway. You can use the "save recent video" option - it's 1080p instead of 4K but that's still good enough for most things

@render Like @Voltan says, I save the video after the event. I wouldn’t want to jinx myself by broadcasting it!

Geeeeez I feel terrible having 50+ deaths already and still not finishing the 3rd Biome haha

Most important thing for me is I'm still enjoying the game though. I'm gonna rack up well over 100 hours in this for sure

@Voltan @Thrillho Ah damn I didn’t know that, thanks for the tip. Is that just in the share menu? I’ve not used those features much other than to take a few screen shots.

@roe I stopped worrying about the number of times I was dying around that point as well. I think I had 42 deaths in the first act and only 17 in act 2 so you definitely will get either better or more powerful. Not sure which one it was for me 🤣

@JigsawPieces thanks!

I feel like I was the slow one here with almost 40 hours 😅 I am not that good at shooters but I made it.

Is anyone else generally noticing a lot of texture pop in? Now I'm used to the game, I don't think it's as technically accomplished as possible. Vegetation is non-reactive too, which is a shame.

Still a great game, of course, but I would not have expected texture pop with that super fast IO.

@PossibLeigh That's Unreal Engine for you. The best parts of the game are the custom ones (particles and light).

@render - yeah, you'll find it there. It's pretty straightforward but you'll probably want to trim the video after saving (which is also not very complicated).

@render It’s worth looking in the main system settings to customise. I have it so a long hold of share will take a screenshot, one press will bring up the choice to screenshot, save video, or broadcast.

@roe I was surprised it was so low for me and I think almost half were biome 4. I got lucky that I got a great run on 2 and then immediately got through 3, and had the same for 5 and 6. I also took lots of time to replay early ones to get health up and get more artefacts.

@Voltan Ah, right. That stunning tech demo Epic released a while back, was Unreal 5, right?

@PossibLeigh That's right. I'm sure UE5 will be able to make better use of the specific tech in the PS5. Meanwhile pop-in in UE4 games is very common and not too bad in Returnal.

@Voltan Our definitions of not too bad vary, but I agree it definitely doesn't affect gameplay at all.

@PossibLeigh Fair enough 😃
I can’t say I’m bothered by that kinda stuff 😉

@Voltan @Thrillho I will take a look at those settings and have a go the next time I do a boss fight. Thanks again though, I was totally ignorant on all that stuff.

@PossibLeigh I’m not totally familiar with how UE4 works but as it’s a general use engine rather than a custom one then it’s probably making certain sacrifices. There was an interview with a few Housemarque developers (was it IGN?) and they said that the few dips in FPS were due to it “being unreal engine”, so pop in is probably also one of those instances where it’s just down to how that works in UE.

@Voltan We all have different limits for these things. I generally don't notice minor FPS drops in the heat of the moment, but the popping textures are really noticable to me personally when travelling round. Different horses and all that.

@render Yes, I see, thanks for sharing. It's gonna be interesting seeing R&C on an engine more closely entwined with the PS5 architecture.

@Feena Waaaaaaaaaaaay ahead of me!

(I'm fine with that.)

Man, I’m torn. I’ve been following this thread from a distance; my physical copy of Returnal resting comfortably on the shelf, never been opened. Everytime a get really excited seeing people actually finish the game and laud the experience, it’s countered by someone with a catastrophic crash that has to be talked off the ledge. Then now the word on the street is that Housemarque is going to patch in a save option. So, as much as I was stoked to play this game on release, think I’m going to wait another week or two. Mostly I’m waiting to hear that there is better stability. Game crashes in this specific game sound soul crushing.

@Th3solution I've just finished downloading everything and am raring to start it up shortly. If you are looking forward to playing it that much, just play it. Worry about any crashes etc, if they happen. You've not even played it yet, so you might not even need the save option.

@Th3solution Obviously anecdotal data only with no statistical significance but I beat the game, have over 30h on the clock and haven’t encountered a single glitch that would make me end a run prematurely.
I know some others haven’t been as lucky but I don’t think the game’s very unstable for most.