Indie game 3A price, but can win the best action game award, what is the unique charm of "Return of the Dead"

As the only new IP in PS's recent masterpiece, "Returnal" developed by Finnish studio Housemarque can be said to be the most unexpected dark horse, although it was questioned a lot before its release, believing that a work with roguelike elements should not use the pricing of 3A games, coupled with the studio's only experience in making small games, making people doubt whether the production team has the ability to control 3A games.

However, the novel gameplay of "Return from the Dead" not only received unanimous praise from the media after its release, but also won the best action game award in the TGA, and also won the title of Game of the Year in the UK last year. However, it must also be admitted that even if "Return of Death" makes many players have fun, it is not suitable for every player, due to the high difficulty and high punishment mechanism of the game, many players choose to abandon the pit before experiencing the fun of the game, but if you can stick to the setbacks encountered in the early stage and treat each failure as a process of enjoying the game, then "Return from Death" as a masochistic game will definitely bring a unique experience.

Return of the Dead is a third-person action shooter with horror elements, the story of a space scout named Selene, who travels to the unknown planet Atropos against the orders of the organization in order to investigate mysterious signals. The ship was shot down during the landing, and Selene survived and set out to explore the perilous planet. In addition to battling alien creatures, you also have to find the source of mysterious signals.

Soon Selene found himself trapped in a never-ending cycle, each death in addition to retaining memories, but time will go back to the beginning of the spacecraft just crashed, the cycle that cannot be broken, Selene's mental state oscillates between reality and illusion, the planet also changes after each reincarnation as if consciously, and even reads Selene's memories, making the environment slowly become like the world she is familiar with. The weirdest thing is that the map also shows the house where she lived as a child.

Is all this real or the imagination of the protagonist? The answer is in each reincarnation, allowing players to freely piece together and interpret in a fragmented narrative.

"Return of Death" tells the story very cryptically, using a first-person perspective to remind the protagonist of the unbearable past in the house, the objects of the house will bizarrely change and move themselves, and the white astronaut will stand from a distance from time to time and watch you, it will not attack, you don't even know if it is friend or foe, but it invisibly causes great mental pressure.

The plot is full of clues, Selene's words and actions on the verge of collapse are also doubtful, making everyone interpret the story completely different, and reading other players' plot analysis is also one of the pleasures. But many players prefer the great gaming experience to the story of Return from the Dead.

The graphics, music, and art of "Return of the Dead" all have a triple-A level, and the movement and shooting feel of the characters are perhaps one of the best in recent years. Don't look at the protagonist is an elderly aunt, people are flexible and only afraid that your hand speed can not keep up, if the configuration of the computer is good enough, the PC version of the special effects can not only be full, the Steam version can also be perfectly compatible with the Sony controller, with the adaptive trigger and touch feedback is simply integrated with the aunt.

As a third-person shooter, "Return of the Dead" can only be paired with one weapon at a time, no need to fill ammo or pick up from the ground, there will be such a design in fact, just look at the enemy's attack method can understand, to dodge the colorful missiles that overflow the screen is enough to be busy, where there is still time to change weapons, "Return of Death" is not so much a shooter, it is more like a dodge game, and the player is encouraged not to be harmed.

I have to say that the game boss battle arrangement is really very shocking, as the protagonist approaches the boss's room, the organ melody that echoes in the ears will gradually become louder, making the atmosphere for the next big battle. The barrage of light and shadow thrown at you by enemies in boss battles can't help but make people overwhelmed, and with the mysterious and magnificent BGM of the pipe organ, this boss battle that resembles a Cthulhu monster is hot.

At first glance, "Return of the Dead" is a typical roguelike game, the game is mainly divided into six levels and six maps, each level has a different ecological environment, there are forests, deserts, and snow, the structure of the map is composed of a variety of different rooms, although the layout of the rooms remains the same, but with each new game, the connection order of the rooms will change, and the respawn location of the monsters and props in the room is different each time.

In most roguelike games, the weapons and upgrade items obtained in each reincarnation cannot be inherited after death, but "Return of the Dead" has a more hardcore permamate mechanic, unlike other more intimate games that can more or less increase the protagonist's ability values, making the next challenge a little easier. Return of the Dead has a limited number of unlocked equipment abilities, mostly relying on the player's strength and familiarity with enemies to win.

Usually a fun roguelike is often directly related to its equipment system, after all, to repeat the player's brush, it needs different playing styles to add a little fun to each reincarnation. But the prop design of "Return of Death" is very ordinary, not because there are not enough types of weapons and props, but because there is a lack of meaningful matching between them, and the balance is not very good, and every time I hit the same weapon to choose similar props.

In "Return of the Dead", each map takes about 40 minutes to complete, and each reincarnation needs to complete the content of the three maps in one go, and it takes at least 2-3 hours to start a game casually, but the biggest problem of the game is that once you fail, you need to start from scratch, and the props you have worked hard to collect in two or three hours will no longer exist, which may sound a bit dissuasive, but this is also like a double-edged sword. Although every failure is extremely frustrating, because of such difficulty, you can enjoy that great sense of achievement after clearing the level.

I'm certainly not sure that every player will adapt to the progression of Return from the Dead, but it's definitely the most maverick presence in the triple-A game.