Hopefully these tips will steer you into good runs during your first hours of playing Returnal. It’s not worth taking a chance at opening a malignant chest with two malfunctions active, so keep an eye out on how many you have active as triggering a critical malfunction must be avoided if you want to have a smooth run. It can destroy keys, artifacts, take out a Resin count, and more. This is mentioned during the tutorial and can be seen again for clarification in the tutorials section in the menu, but I can’t stress this enough as it’s not worth triggering a critical malfunction, a severe debuff if you trigger another malfunction while holding already two.Ī critical malfunction is random but always seems to be a big blow to your overall build. It’s even better to use Ether on the device available at the beginning of the game, which gives you a new random item or artifact you’ve never seen before. The best way to use your Ether is either to convert some of them for Obilities if you’re short in buying a key item (like an astronaut figurine) or use them in a Replicator, a device that if activated with six Ether will revive you in that room, saving your run to reset. I find that a waste and must only be done during dire situations like you need a heal right away. You can take the chance or cleanse the item with Ether. You’ll often come across malignant items that will give you a medium to heavy chance at getting a malfunction debuff. It's a valuable item that can be used in various ways and based on the many runs I’ve done in Returnal, cleansing chests or items you find isn’t the best way to use them. Unlocking only requires you to kill things, so keep at it until you permanently have it available, giving future versions of that particular weapon a chance to have strong trait combinations, which will greatly contribute to succeeding in a run.ĭon’t use Ether to cleanse containers, Resins, or Obolites early onĮther is the only currency that retains once you die and starts at the beginning. When you get a new weapon and notice a new trait - or a stronger version of a trait you’ve already unlocked - pick it up and work on getting it. One of them is unlocking weapon traits for each weapon. You’re starting out, so there’s a lot to unlock to make things a little easier in your future runs. Better to go fully healed than barely standing up. This is also a sound option to do before you fight a boss in the area, or clear a yellow door (mostly a tough encounter for great rewards). There’s no limit to it too! If you find yourself down to your last sliver of life, teleport back at the start of the area where your ship is and just rest up a couple of times. This option is only available in the first biome and a future one as you can return to your ship to get a quick rest and heal a good portion of your total life. You can take a rest in your crashed ship to heal

Returnal tips and tricks