The mysterious planet Atropos is home to a variety of areas for Selene to navigate once she wakes up next to her ruined ship. These areas are called Biomes and there are a total of six to explore in Returnal.
Upon waking up near the crashed Helios, Selene will find herself trapped inside the first Biome - The Overgrown Ruins. This area acts as an extremely harsh tutorial on how to survive the alien planet, introducing the player to various enemy types, weapons, and artifacts. This list will go over some of the key elements to give the player a better chance at surviving.
10 Don't Get Hit
This might be obvious but enemies landing an attack on the player has more effects than just death. Killing these creatures without being attacked will boost the player's adrenaline level. Maintaining a maxed-out adrenaline level comes with five perks. At level one, the overload zone is bigger which makes it easier to reload. At two, scanning lets the player see various objects further.
At level three, the melee cooldown is decreased. The fourth level boosts the speed of weapon proficiency while being maxed out at level five will gain the stranded pilot even more Obolites. Getting hit will cancel out these bonuses and reset the player's adrenaline level back to zero.
9 Boost Integrity Bar
Another reason not to get hit is Resin. While at full integrity, picking up these small green pods sitting on the dark floor known as Resin will fill one of the player's three slots required to upgrade their Integrity. If the player has been damaged and isn't at full health, most of these pods will go towards healing the player rather than filling one of those slots.
Try to only pick these up when at full health in order to boost Selene's Integrity rather than using them to heal. One strategy involves saving as many as possible as the player makes their way through the first Biome and then navigating back to collect them all before moving to the next area. Maxing out Integrity is one of the core traits to utilize when taking on hoards of aliens and powerful bosses.
8 Break Purple Flowers
Throughout the first Biome, purple plants can be found growing out of the ground in various areas, specifically one hidden area homing 25-30 plants. Destroying these flowers by either meleeing them, shooting them, or simply by just walking through them will occasionally gift Selena a parasite, Resin, or a handful of Obolites to spend at a nearby fabricator.
7 Unlock Gates
While navigating through the swampy areas of the Overgrown Ruins, Selene may come across a chest defended by a giant stone gate. While it may be confusing at first when trying to figure out how to unlock it, surveying the area should uncover a switch on a nearby wall. Shooting these switches will unlock the gate and gift the player with a new toy during their current run.
6 Use Integrity Augment Fabricator
In each Biome, there are several Fabricators scattered throughout the area each offering a different consumable or ability. One of these machines will allow the player, for a small fee of 350 Obolites, to increase Selene's Integrity level by 25%.
5 Purchase Astronaut Figurine
With a simple description being 'It won't let you go', the Astronaut Figurine is one of the best suit artifacts in the game. With death being a common occurrence and it taking away virtually everything the player has spent hours working for, this artifact will revive the player giving them one more chance at dying a few minutes later.
4 Change The Scale Size
Navigate to the options menu to locate the video section. Go to the Customize Hud option and change the Scale from its default size to large. This will allow the Overload bar and crosshair to become much more visible, especially during battles with multiple enemies and projectiles attacking the player.
3 Reconstructors
The player may come across these mysterious statues while making their way through the area. Without much information aside from it costing six Ether, it can be difficult determining what exactly the purpose of these objects are for.
Once paid for, the player will exit the machine without any sort of idea as to what I did. However, when the player eventually falls to another Atropian Turret, instead of spawning all the way back at the ship, they will return to the Reconstructor.
2 Kill Golden Enemies
Occasionally upon entering a room, several golden tentacled creatures will begin dancing around the area before quickly disappearing. Destroying them before they get a chance to hide will gift the player with a ton of extra Obolites.
1 Break Walls
There are also a handful of hidden, breakable walls floating throughout the randomly generated map. Approach the fragile walls and smash through them using Selene's melee attack which will usually lead to some more collectible items.