Is Returnal a roguelike? I don't think it is, if I'm honest! It has elements of one in the shifting level design of the malevolent, alien world it depicts and you're never quite sure what you're walking into from room to room, but really it's more of a bullet hell third person shooter with some time travel/mystery plot elements.
Housemarque, whose games I've been playing since the AMiGA 1200 days and Super Stardust AGA, later onto the modern iteration in the form of the Vita's excellent Super Stardust Delta, and Resogun which is underrated, have been making games I love since I was a kid. Yeah, really. Their games usually feature tight kinetic controls, amazing graphics for their time and a sometimes punishing level of difficulty but near-equal sense of reward and accomplishment when you rise to the challenge.
Most of the time if Selene (her with the David Bowie two-tone eyes) dies, it's because you just weren't playing well enough. In that sense it shares a lot with the Soulsborne games, for me in particular Bloodborne which was a previous gen highlight in much need of a 60fps remaster. The pacing and setting are very different, but they feel very alike in terms of the artistry and how the lore of the world only slowly reveals itself to you when you get several hours into the game.
That is, if you get that far - I think a lot of players used to being hand-held and coddled through their triple A titles might struggle here. It's certainly not a game I could easily recommend to someone just getting into the hobby. It will be frustrating. It will see your version of Selene getting killed over and over. But if you care to stick with it, there's a lot to love here.
The graphics are nigh-on stunning - according to Digital Foundry, we're seeing a 1080p game checkerboarded up to 1440p and then TAA scaled to 4K, which is odd but it seems to have been done to get the framerate a mostly solid 60fps, which you absolutely must have for a game that requires precise and frequent inputs. I must point out that the frame rate is not a locked 60 here - it's hitting that very often, but in some places (notably the challenge room which are marked with a yellow star door icon on the radar) it can tank a bit to 30-40fps when there's dozens of enemies and projectiles flying around the place, but not for long. Whether you're playing in SDR or HDR (I've tried both on two different displays, one a 4K TV and the other a 4K gaming monitor, both made by LG), those visuals really suck you in to the world and aid that all-important sense of immersion. Now and then you get some LOD-related texture pop, and the PS5 issue of micro-stutter when it's streaming things in from room to room (Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart did this too, incidentally, when portal-hopping) but it's pretty well polished for a first year title. Those voxel particle effects might just blow your mind - they light up the dark and desolate world with some much needed vibrant palettes.
The controls are just about as perfect as you'd want for a game like this. Remember how Super Meat Boy twitched with precision and physics that naturally work with you, not against you? It's like the 3D version of that, honestly. After a few hours of play, everything just feels right. Some love must be shown to the DualSense here - for my money, we have the best use of the advanced features since Astro's Playroom. Raindrops make the arms of the controller vibrate subtly just like your hands are being hit with the splash. The adaptive triggers allow main and alternate fire modes of the projectile weapons with ease. Camera movement is free flowing and easy.
There is some basic tutorial work thrown in at the beginning, but it's really up to the player to find a strategy that gels with them, balancing sprints, dodges, verticality (moving up and down ledges is very important), and use of environment (i.e leading the bigger powerful enemies around trees and pillars to absorb their fire) to really get the most out of this game. If you just run and gun, Selene is going to be killed. A lot. Health is easily chipped away, and although there are abilities given that allow you to expand the bar, refill it and occasionally get extra lives in the form of a purchasable pickup and a resurrection machine, the difficulty of the game increases as you become more proficient at it. Enemies start to become more tenacious - hunting in packs, dodging your bullets and whipping out of the way of your melee swings. They become more numerous, and the types you'll see increase. When entering a new area, you need to watch your step because they always tend to spawn in the places that you least expect. The AI here really feels adaptive, based on how you play.
There is a story, but as mentioned it's a real mystery plot, and you have to show some progression in order for a few more breadcrumb trails to appear. I still don't quite know what's going on because you're not spoonfed obvious motives. The post-death flashbacks to how Selene got here become a little more vivid each cycle, but not by much. It's hard to tell if the planet is working with or against you, and what happened to the "natives" she finds rotting in caves all over the biosphere.
To summarise, this is not a game for everyone. It has some fairly adult themes running through it, some moderate gore, is punishingly tricky at the best of times. But if you perservere, you might find a sense of flow, where you don't get hit, the adrenaline starts flowing (both for you and for Selene as there are adrenaline based perks here) and you absolutely obliterate something that was pummelling you before. I would consider it a serious game for long-time gamers, who don't expect everything to be given to them and want some depth to their combat, because no two encounters here are ever quite the same. I think for most people, they'll either adore it or immediately regret their purchase. I fall into the former category, and although I doubt I have the skill to complete it, this just adds more value because I never go into any game expecting I'll be able to master it.
Let it's brilliance suck you in, and you might just be hooked. I know I have been, and am already touting this as being one of the "killer apps" that are worth owning a PS5 for. It's why I have mine, currently, and I have not been disappointed despite high expectations. Housemarque have made it feel like they've been making third-person shooter games for years, bringing all their trademark flair and gift for poised controls in the process. I wouldn't say it's quite a timeless masterpiece like The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, but it's not far off, either. Other developers certainly have their work cut out for them trying to meet this high bar, whatever kind of game they're making.
A thoroughly-deserved high 9/10 score - some issues with the game engine and overall difficulty being just a touch too high preclude a perfect ten, but it's really really close.