Returnal: How to Break Yellow Barriers

How do you break the yellow barriers in Returnal? What do you need to open and get through the yellow energy walls? As you play Returnal, you'll notice some yellow barriers that are blocking off optional rooms or concealing useful items. How do you get through these yellow walls? As part of our Returnal guide, we're going to explain how to break those barriers and open up even more options while you explore each biome.

Returnal: How to Break Yellow Barriers

Here's how you can break those darned yellow energy walls.

Early on in Returnal, you'll get your hands on the Atropian Blade, which is your melee sword weapon. This melee attack is very useful in combat, as it not only deals considerable damage, it can also break through red energy shields that some enemies have, as well as those red vine walls. However, if you approach a yellow barrier in the environment and slash at it with your sword, nothing happens. What gives? Well, the sword just isn't strong enough to bust through these yellow energy walls. So, how can you break them?

To break through the yellow barriers, you need a specific Artefact called Blade Balancer:

Blade Balancer powers up your melee attack (as highlighted in the image above), making it much stronger. What the game doesn't tell you is that the Artefact will also allow you to break open those yellow barriers.

Where to Find Blade Balancer in Returnal

Because of the game's procedurally generated maps, you may find the Blade Balancer Artefact more or less anywhere at random (once unlocked). However, there's a more reliable way to find it: Fabricators. The large Fabricator locations in Overgrown Ruins (pictured above) or Echoing Ruins very often will have the Blade Balancer Artefact available. It can be bought for 250 Obolites, so save up those yellow gems for the shop.

Once you have Blade Balancer equipped, it will stay with you for the remainder of your current run. It will let you break open any yellow barriers you see, and it comes with the additional bonus of making your melee attack stronger.

Have you been using Blade Balancer to destroy yellow barriers in Returnal? Slice and dice in the comments below, and be sure to check out our Returnal guide for loads more on the game.