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Hello everyone! Over the last few months, we have been having a great time seeing you play Returnal and learning about your experiences, and hearing all the great stories of how players are overcoming the myriad challenges of Atropos. It’s had a fantastic reception, and we are truly pleased and grateful to see people having so much fun with the game. Here at Housemarque we’ve been listening to all your feedback too, and so it is with great satisfaction that I’m here to announce our update 2.0, launching today.
Suspend Cycle
One of the main features of this update is the Suspend Cycle functionality, which will allow you to pause your cycle to be continued later, letting you exit the game and turn off your console without losing your progress in that session. The structure of the game remains unchanged, so this functionality is not a traditional mid-game “Save Game” option: by suspending the cycle, Returnal will simply create a single use suspend point, and once you resume playing the suspend point is deleted and cannot be used again. Your game will continue directly from the moment you left it, and if you want to suspend the cycle again, your progress will be captured from that new point onwards. There are some limitations in place – for example, players won’t be able to create a suspend point during Boss battles, cinematics, first-person sequences or during intense combat scenarios – as we felt there are certain moments in Returnal that are best experienced unfragmented to preserve the intended challenge and flow.
With this approach, we can keep the roguelike spirit and “high stakes” commitment to your run intact, while still providing some quality-of-life convenience for players who like to experience Returnal in shorter bursts. So next time you’re deep into a lengthy session on Atropos and life comes knocking at your door, you’ll be able to simply Suspend Cycle and jump back in at a more convenient time.
Photo Mode
Along with the Suspend functionality, we have also been working on another feature that’s been highly requested by the community and will also be included in this update: Photo Mode. Selene’s journey through Atropos is filled with many memorable moments that are worth cherishing; whether it’s dancing on the knife’s edge amidst intense bullet hell combat, or taking a fleeting moment of serenity to appreciate the eerie atmosphere and dark beauty of Atropos, our Photo Mode will allow you to immortalize these moments in all their glory.
At any point during the game (except some limited circumstances like our first-person sequences), you can simply pause the game and enter Photo Mode, which will put you in control of the camera. You can then use the analog sticks and the adaptive triggers to move the camera around and pick the perfect angle for your photo.
Once you’ve perfected your composition, you can then explore some optional settings like focal distance, aperture, saturation or contrast. You can also set different sources of light to highlight the scene, and choose from a variety of many different filters, effects, frames, coloring options, and much more to help bring that unique flair to your captures.When you’re happy with the result, just hit the Create button on your DualSense wireless controller to take the photo. Using the social features built directly into the PS5 console, you can also share and celebrate your most cherished Returnal moments with social media as well. We hope you have fun with the Photo Mode, and we are looking forward to seeing your creations!