PS5 owners are now able to get their hands on yet another exclusive for Sony’s latest console. Developed by Housemarque — the talented team behind Resogun, Nex Machina, and Matterfall — Returnal marks a bit of a departure from the familiar twin-stick arcade shooter genre the team has perfected in its previous releases. Returnal is a roguelite, third-person sci-fi shooter, complete with stunning particle effects and a punishing level of difficulty, with ample time clearly spent ensuring it makes noticeable, significant use of the PS5’s features.
In typical Sony fashion, Returnal boasts many of those AAA production qualities we’ve come to expect from titles published by the company. Qualities that just go to enhance Selene’s time traversing Atropos, making it all the more immersive. To get you suitably hyped ahead of getting your hands on the game, we’re going to quickly run you through every way Returnal makes use of the PS5’s features to make your time on Atropos as memorable as possible.
Great Use of Adaptive Triggers
One of the DualSense’s headline features is also one of the most noticeable in Returnal. Rather than the triggers realistically clacking around underneath your fingers with each shot fired, the left trigger uses the adaptive resistance to enable you to Aim Down Sights and switch to your weapon’s alternate firing mode depending on how much pressure you apply.
If you want to aim down your weapon’s sights to unleash a barrage of fire onto an enemy’s weak spot, then you press the left trigger down halfway. At this point, you feel a distinctive bit of resistance. Press the trigger all the way down and you’ll clunk your weapon into its alternate fire mode.
It’s one of the most intuitive uses of the PS5’s adaptive triggers feature so far, and really comes into its own when the action in Returnal gets hectic on-screen. You don’t need to lift your finger off the trigger between peppering an alien in the face with your carbine’s regular shots and unleashing a more powerful blast with the alternate fire mode.
It’s seamless and may sound a little finnicky, but once you’ve got the DualSense in your hands and enemies are coming at you thick and fast, it becomes second nature.
Housemarque have got just the right amount of resistance on the adaptive trigger for this to work as desired, and while you can turn it off if it really doesn’t jive with you, we haven’t found that to be the case.
