Housemarque’s Returnal is a PS5 exclusive that blends the bullet chaos of the developer’s past titles, like Resogun, with the run-based approach of a Rogue-like. It can be plenty challenging depending on the player’s skill level but there are some tricks to help them get an edge. For example, there is a way to get some free health during the first biome in the game.
In Returnal, players will take on the role of Selene, a mysterious space explorer who crash lands on the planet Atropos. As Selene tries to uncover the secrets that surround this planet and its connection to her, she will face a number of tough enemies. It’s fairly common in the game to take damage, and with a game geared towards challenge, those hits can take a significant toll on the player’s HP bar (called Integrity).
However, if players ever find themselves running low on Integrity there is a simple trick to top off their health bar.
Step 1: Find the nearest teleporter and select a location that is near Selene’s ship. If players have not yet unlocked the teleport mechanic they can run back to the ship, but that method is a little more time-consuming and requires consulting the Returnal map a lot.
Step 2: Go into the crashed ship and head to the left.
Step 3: Pass through two doors and there should be a bed to Selene’s left. This bed will have an interact prompt (hold triangle on the default control scheme).
Step 4: Selene will sleep for a bit within the ship and usually have some form of mysterious dream. When she awakes, head out of the ship. Selene’s Integrity bar should have replenished by about half, depending on the damage that the player has taken.
Step 5: If the Integrity bar is not full, head back into the ship and sleep again.
It’s important to mention that this Returnal health trick only works in the first biome, so it won’t help players once they progress to the second area. But for those who are finding the first biome challenging – some players are finding Returnal as a whole difficult and review bombing Metacritic – then this will help them worry less about their HP.
On top of that, if players want to be extra prepared when they advance past the first biome, they can leave all Resin/Silphium items (which grant Integrity/HP) on the map and only heal by returning to the ship. Then once players have cleared out the biome and either are ready to advance or fight Returnal’s first boss, they can pick up all of the Silphium or Resin AFTER healing at the ship. This will increase their Max Integrity and give Selene a lot more HP to work with as she progresses through the game.
Returnal is available now for PS5.