Seemingly giving in to the hordes of Returnal players frustrated by the game’s rogue-like and run-based spirit, developer Housemarque has announced a save game feature of sorts. The Returnal save game feature, dubbed Suspend Cycle, arrives with the 2.0 update today alongside a photo mode for those eager to snap the game’s stunning PS5-powered visuals.
A PlayStation blog post sharing the news explains that Suspend Cycle allows players to hit pause on a run. Players can freely close the game and switch off their PS5 and fire it back up at any time, resuming where they left off. Not a classic save game feature per se, the Returnal save game feature does come with fine print and limitations. As Housemarque explains:
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.”
Returnal Photo Mode
Furthermore, Photo Mode arrives today, too, and pretty much delivers what it says on the tin. Photo mode is accessible from the pause menu. From there, players can frame their shots, toy with angles, and spruce things up with a wealth of tweaks. These include aperture, contrast, light sources, filters, focal distance, and plenty more besides.
Housemarque‘s Returnal is out now for PlayStation 5.