Returnal: How to Skip Cutscenes

Returnal has finally arrived, bringing an epic roguelite third-person shooter to our screens from the twin-stick arcade shooter experts over at Housemarque. Making full use of the PS5’s various features, including haptic feedback, adaptive triggers and controller speaker, Returnal is a true showcase of what Sony’s latest console can do, and is incredibly satisfying to play, too! While we’d always recommend watching the game’s cutscenes for additional story context, if you want to just focus on the action you may want to skip through them. Here’s how to skip cutscenes in Returnal.

Skipping Cutscenes in Returnal

To skip a cutscene, press and hold the Square button. Doing so will eventually cause the screen to briefly turn black and return you straight into the gameplay.

It’s worth noting that not every cutscene in the game can be skipped, regardless of whether you press and hold Square. We’d recommend watching them anyway, as they provide some much-needed context for why Selene is stuck in this loop, the hostile alien planet she finds herself on, and just gives you a reason to keep blasting your way through countless enemies.

Not to mention, the game looks stunning, so we loved soaking up these cinematic cutscenes in all their 4K glory.

In terms of dialogue, there isn’t any in-game that stops the action and makes you read on-screen text like you’d see in an RPG. When Selene does provide some self-narration, you’re still free to explore the biome you’re in, gun down enemies, and get all those pickups littered throughout the world.

That’s everything you need to know on skipping cutscenes in Returnal. Head over to our wiki for more guides on the game, or see more of our coverage below.