I love Returnal, but 4 years later, I still can't get that elusive Platinum trophy, no matter how much I tried. I’ve overcome some of the game’s impressive selection of boss fights and unlocked most of Selene’s upgrades, including her sword, but that damn Platinum trophy still haunts me to this day.
And I blame it all on RNG.
The Survey Search
One of the major pitfalls I encountered with Returnal’s platinum trophy is how random the collectibles are. Don’t get me wrong, I love collectibles in video games. I even completed all of Riddler’s silly little trophies in all three Arkham titles, but it’s never as egregiously frustrating as this one.
Basically, to 100% the game, you have to find hidden ciphers and languages needed to fully translate the language of Atropos’ cryptic speech. You can find these ciphers spread across Returnal’s six biomes. I’ve already acquired the survey for the game’s first two biomes, but I can never find more from the succeeding biomes. It’s a daunting task.
The Roguelike Makes It Worse
Returnal is a roguelike game, which means the map changes with every run Selene has, and you don’t always get to find that one room with it on your first try. Some of the hidden ciphers found in Returnal’s biomes have a small percentage of appearing, and some of them are even time-locked, so you always have to move fast. If I can’t navigate to it in time, I’d lose it for the rest of the run. Even worse, when Selene dies, I have no choice but to repeat that same biome again, hoping to find the cipher and that level.
Problems With RNG
This is where most of my problems with Returnal come from. While I see no issue with the game’s overall gameplay loop, the RNG design for its trophies is frustrating. Apart from the missing ciphers that I need to find, I also need to find Selene’s audio logs scattered all around the planet. These are also randomly generated, but they have a higher chance of showing up in specific levels and biomes.
Even worse, Returnal’s in-game map is no help at all. If you’re familiar with the Star Wars Jedi game’s map design, you’d find that Returnal shares the same kind of unnecessary feature. It’s all 3D, sort of like a 3D topographical view of the current biome you’re in. You’re always wondering which is up and down because of its non-linear level design. While I find this interesting at first, the search for the Audio Logs and Ciphers makes me scream in frustration because the map’s UI doesn’t even have unique markers for them.
Which is why whenever I boot up Returnal and do a few runs, I’d feel like I’m only going to waste my time as I have to rely on pure luck to find the things that I need. I’m perfectly fine with the game’s roguelike design, where I get unique encounters per run, but tying collectibles and trophies to RNG is something I don’t particularly enjoy. But then again, maybe unlocking Platinum trophies is a toxic trait.
Now, I’ve downloaded the game again, hoping to finally catch this elusive white whale to my Platinum progress just before I get my hands on Housemarque’s upcoming game, Saros. I’m also hoping that Housemarque will ease up on its RNG with Saros, since that game has roguelike elements in it too.
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