A Story Analysis of Returnal

Returnal is a game steeped in mystery with  a story about one woman and how she managed to end up in her own personal version of hell.  Forced to endure a terrible fate and relive past memories that she wished stayed buried. How will she  overcome this? Well, you'll have to wait and see. Today I want to talk about the story of Returnal and not  only explain to you what happened within the story but also critique and analyze it along the way.  Looking at its themes and design, and how that connec

ts back to the story and how its elements  of storytelling impact its narrative for good or ill. Make sure to like the video if you enjoy  and subscribe if you're new for more content like this. Feel free to check out my other videos  which are other story analyses but on a variety of games and series and as always, let's get  started. The very beginning of Returnal starts strong with elements of mystery and intrigue as  we're first introduced to our protagonist Selene. She's a part of a NASA-li

ke program called Astra  but while exploring the reaches of space she sees a signal for something called the White Shadow  located on the planet Atropos. We'll learn soon but this name is particularly important to Seline  which is why she goes closer to check it out. Upon entering its atmosphere though her ship is shot  down forcing her to crash land on the planet's surface What shot her down? Unknown, but that's  at least of her worries as after walking about 40 ft she stumbles across another s

cout from Astra  however not only are they dead but the name on the helmet is Selene. Worse than that there is another  dead scout in the next room but this one has a scout log attached to it and the speaker is also  Selene. Shortly  after the player may start to encounter some enemies creatures native to the planet. These  are run-of-the-mill wildlife but after a while they start to get stronger and depending on your  skill might be too strong for your current setup. Eventually, you will die bu

t death is a part of  the experience as dying doesn't reset you back to a previous checkpoint but read the very first  level. But just as the player has the foresight and knowledge of the previous run so too does Selene.  She remembers the crash and everything she did before, she even recalls how the environment  in the first level has changed to something different. If you manage to survive long enough  though you'll start to see more of the world and possibly become even more engrossed in what

's  going on. While the levels are filled with wildlife all of whom are extremely hostile and primal  surrounding these areas are likely statues and pillars of alien-like creatures. Many of these  rooms also have these same aliens depicted in authoritative positions portraying a sense of  sentience and order. Hilariously these aliens are from here on out called the Sentients but  we'll spend more time talking about them soon. So we have a weird planet with shifting levels  and multiple alien spe

cies that made this place their home. Fortunately, depending on who ask, Selene  won't be without a home either as located within these levels is HER home the one she lived in  back on Earth. It's almost as if the entire thing just teleported to Atropos and now sits idly by  watching Selene. The house isn't the only thing watching over her as when Selene naturally goes  to investigate she is stalked by a mysterious astronaut and an old Apollo-era spacesuit who then  seems to stun her knocking an

d sending her back outside the house. Which is where our story truly  begins. For anyone confused Selene is indeed caught in a loop forced to return to the very beginning  every time she dies only to do it all over again. According to her Astra won't pick her up until the  signal is found so she's on her own for the time being. There's also a lot more to Selene than she  is letting on which is what the entire story of the game focuses on. Selene's history and her  actions are the central core of

the story of Returnal. Sadly a lot of that isn't revealed until  the end of the game which is why the gameplay takes center stage. Surprisingly, Returnal is one of the  few games where gameplay and story are uniquely tied to each other in almost every way. Returnal  is by genre a roguelike a category of games based on deaths, redos, and retries. Death and RNG are core  parts of these games and Returnal is no different but it attempts to blur that line as much as possible  by having the world sh

ift like roguelikes often do. Every run on Returnal is different from the  enemies, to the weapons, to layout themselves, no two runs will be the same. It keeps things fresh while  also forcing you to stay on your toes adapting to everything you come across. Returnal takes all of  this and blends it into the story by showcasing how Atropos seems to shift around every time Selene  comes back. It's a wonderful system and weirdly was a game I originally bought just for this gameplay. Returnal relea

sed a few years ago on the PS5 but around the time I started to take note  of the game the PC version was set to release in a few months so I decided to wait until it came  out to start my journey. Once release day came I played up to where we are now before dropping it  as I didn't realize the game was going to have such a heavy focus on the story. So I decided to wait  until I had more time as it could possibly lead to another topic for a video, and...well here we  are. Returnal does an incred

ible job of pulling the player into the game and its story. I find it hard  to not be interested in the story at least from the opening moment given what we just learned. It's  a great example of less is more, it's like a horror game in that respect. Jump scares aren't always  needed to scare the player as sometimes just a bit of sound and level design can go a long way  and I feel like Returnal manages to encapsulate that feeling but uses it in its own way. Returnal isn't a horror  game not by

a long shot but it uses these same elements to invoke enough intrigue and mystery  to keep the player going. Why is Seline trapped? Why is there another corpse of her on the planet? Why is her house here? Who is the astronaut? Many questions were asked by this point and were both  important and interesting enough to me that I was immediately hooked. From moment one I wanted to  see this adventure through to the end no matter where that took me. Unfortunately for me, finding  the answer was going

to be harder than I thought. The actual objective is to find the source of  the White Shadow signal, to get there you must cross through three biomes the Overgrown Ruins  the Crimson Wastes and the Derelict Citadel or put simply levels 1 2 and 3. This means you'll have  to cross three whole areas without dying as death takes you right back to the beginning of the first  level. The end of each biome also has a boss all of whom have three phases. As you can see it's not  easy and this coupled wit

h the inherent nature of roguelikes constantly resetting your progress and  making you start from the beginning was likely enough to filter out lots of players. Assuming you  can make it through this hellish gauntlet you'll be greeted by the final boss of the game Nemesis. While Nemesis definitely stands out among the rest I would say that all the bosses are gorgeous.  The creature design is otherworldly and the team really makes them feel alien like they're directly  out of an HP Lovecraft nov

el. I especially like the way they handle the Nemesis fight in particular  as it starts off like a typical video game level an alternate dimension with just one large platform in the middle, but in the second phase the game splits it apart forcing you to grapple  across to the other side. Only for the finale to create an almost miniature version of the  entire run as you race from one end of the map to the other, while fending off its attacks. It's  absolutely gorgeous and the gameplay is so wel

l refined that even if you don't find the story that  interesting you could still get a lot of mileage out of this game as a strictly action-focused  roguelike. Once Selene defeats Nemesis though she wakes up from the dream realm that Nemesis  put her in only to come across the large device at the end of the hall. This is the White Shadow  that she was meant to find, this also means Astra can pick her up and take her home. Following this  is an extremely fast look at the rest of Selene's life sh

e goes home and gets interviewed about her  findings, relaxes, has kids, grows old, and eventually passes on. I know that seemed rather quick but I  pretty much condensed an entire 12 hours into one neat timeline. Returnal can be hard and unforgiving  at times, sometimes it's skill, sometimes it's bad luck, mostly it's both. It's a stressful journey  having to reset back at the beginning because of one mistake but that's it makes the ending worth  it. You and Selene managed to stick it out again

st a planet that wanted to break you. You survived  the impossible so it's only natural that you get a satisfying ending to cap off your journey.  Selene escaped, survived, and had a happy ending. Congratulations! Surprise! We're back! Even in death, you can never escape Atropos. Just because you  die on a different planet doesn't mean you found a loophole and dying of old age versus  a bullet wound means nothing to Atropos. Death ultimately tastes the same no matter what flavor  it says on the

box. Ladies and Gentlemen. Welcome to Hell. I think it speaks for itself but it's  such an incredible twist especially after what we just talked about. Depending on your skill this  might have taken quite a while to achieve only to find out that it was all meaningless, and that you  were as close to officially escaping as you were in every other loop. Atropos isn't going to let  Selene off the hook just yet as there are many things the player must see and more things Selene  must come to terms w

ith, but it's not going to hand this to her on a silver platter. Atropos actually  plans on making her journey even harder by giving her three new levels to traverse. Now don't worry  that doesn't mean we have to complete six levels back to back as acts 1 and 2 are separate  from each other so it's just another gauntlet of three levels. But seeing as we're going to be  staying here a bit longer than we'd hoped it's probably a good idea to learn about the planet and  introduce ourselves to the lo

cals. Throughout your time in Returnal the biggest head-scratcher that  comes early on is the aliens that have seemed to inhabited the planet. Most of these aliens called  Sentients seem to have died before our arrival, with another group of aliens called the Severed being the  only ones left. Left behind are numerous archives and xenoglpyhs that the player can read but will  require a specific amount of xenoglpyh ciphers to fully decipher. Xenoglpyhs and archives are going  to help piece togeth

er what's going on with the aliens, while the scout logs and the house will  help us understand Selene. These aren't the only pieces of info that we can find though as all  the enemies and equipment in the game have an analysis counter that fills up the more we kill or  acquire that specific enemy or item. My only real gripe with the system is how random everything  is. It's not really Returnal's fault more so a flaw of it being a roguelike but it still doesn't make it any  better. Everything bu

t the house has a completely random location since the levels change every  cycle, so there's no way to tell what scout log spawns where. It's also impossible to game the  system by noticing patterns, I went through the same door multiple times and while I got the same  environment the enemies and items that spawned were different. Essentially the only way to unlock  things is to brute force it and hope you get lucky. Using notes and diaries like Returnal does is not  something new especially wh

en it's placed out of order like this, but these storytelling devices  only work when they're placed by a real human. Those games reward those who explore by giving  them extra gear or notes that further develop the story and while I'm sure these logs were  placed here on purpose it's completely up to chance when they spawn or even if you get the  room to begin with. I feel like that takes away a lot of the emotion that can be derived from this,  I wasn't happy or sad when I received these I jus

t was. That's the major fault of doing things this  way as its less about being rewarded for taking the time to explore and rather hoping and praying that  the gods of Atropos will deem you worthy enough to give you one of the many items you've been  searching for. The major benefit this system has though is that it gives the player the chance to  experience the game their own way and at their own pace. All of these items may be random yes but that also means that they're optional. All the playe

r needs to do is beat Nemesis to get act  2 and then defeat the final boss Ophion to get the game's real ending that's it. All the ciphers, logs,  and xenoglpyhs are optional. Hell, I don't even think the house sequences are required either. That means  that it completely separates those who want to play the game for the story and those who want  to play the game itself. For those that only enjoy its gameplay loop you can skip all the pointless story  beats and get right into the action. But for

those like myself who want to know more about the game and  its world then you get out what you put in. If you want to learn about Selene then you could focus on  reading the scout logs, but if the aliens peak your interest then you might start looking out for more  ciphers. Essentially the more you use it the more you learn, it creates another perfect seamless  link between its story and gameplay while also letting the player dictate their own pace. Speeding  through the game at Mach 10 or spe

nding 10 hours searching all the locations you can find are both  viable thanks to the game's design, ultimately satisfying every player. As for the lore itself,  well it's actually kind of a mess. See all the glyphs are written from the perspective of the  one writing it yet once again one of these writers seems to be Selene. For example Glyph 14 says "I  was rejected from Olympus, Our family split apart, I rose from the waters of the Okanogan Wenatchee Styx." This refers to a moment earlier in

her life when Selene got into a car crash something  we'll see later. So not only was Selene alive during the time of these glyphs but she even managed  to write some of her own meaning she at the very least knew the alien language. This also ties into  something mentioned earlier as the White Shadow was not just any old name as it was something her  son said to her before the crash. It's only almost as if Atropos is altering the world to reflect the  mind of the visitor. Thankfully Selene does

n't take up too much screen time as most of these glyphs  are written by the aliens. According to what was written they were all under one rule, they also  seem to be a part of a hivemind as that word is mentioned quite a bit throughout the glyphs. For the most part, the alien seemed pretty normal they had a large society of aliens and created large  buildings for them to live in. Something you'll notice though is that some of the levels take  place in the same location. Level one is called the

Overgrown Ruins and level four is the Echoing  Ruins. Traversing each biome also sees you coming across the same type of rooms as before. Selene also  mentions how the coordinates of levels 2 and 5 are the exact same. That begs the question though  which one came first? Well I believe act 2 to be set in the past the Overgrown Ruins implies that  something was left to grow and that nature has come to reclaim it. Act 2 also introduces similar  enemies to the previous act except they're called Prot

os, like Proto-Titanops which specifically  says that it's an ancestor of the Titanops one of the enemies of act 1. Furthermore if you  look up at the sky you'll notice that the moon is present in act 2 but shattered in act 1. In  this clip I'm also using the photo mode slider to move the moon so you can see that these shatter  pieces move with the moon. Ignoring the fact that our solar systems moon is here Illuminating the  planet which should not be possible, it shows that act 2 levels were a

previous era of the planet. The only counterargument to this though is the fact that Helios, her ship, is noticeably more  rusted in act 2. Helios is a bit of an oddball in terms of everything though since it's the  only thing besides Selene that remembers the past cycles as it keeps track of her data across  the runs. Either way, what seemed to be the start of their downfall was when they met with Xaos.  A reoccurring character alongside Selene is this large tentacle creature with four eyes cal

led  Xaos. One day it seems like the aliens either stumbled upon this creature or were more likely  summoned to meet Xaos but in return they came out severed. So we have the "Sentients" the aliens  who were a part of the hivemind and the "Severed" ones who are not a part of the hivemind. This  separation seems to be one of the many catalysts to kick off the war between the two groups as  even though they were their brothers the Sentients saw them as anything but. As said in Glyph 5 "Our  connect

ion to our brethren was destroyed when we descended into the abyss and although we  felt whole upon our return our brethren feared us." This then started an all-out war between the two  but one of the glyphs mentions how the bloodshed was unnecessary further saying that they only  wanted to communicate with their brothers again. Glyph 1 says "Our connection to our brethren is  severed, Our agony is maddening, We cannot stop the endless cycle of violence to come." So not  only did they not want t

o fight it seemed like they didn't have a choice in the matter, this fits  quite neatly within the game as the two groups are the personification of Order and Chaos. The hivemind  is one homogeneous group all united under one goal while the Severed are individualistic  and individualism often creates chaos as there is no central thesis holding it together. Xaos  basically created chaos itself. But that was essentially the kickoff to this whole charade as  the real finale might have been the Whit

e Shadow. Selene mentions how assuming she understands  these archives correctly the alien civilization that died here wasn't due to genocide or suicide  but rather some signal, one of the archives even displays an alien peering into the device that we  touch at the end of the Nemesis fight. So there seems to be a connection between this device and  the downfall of the civilization. Also while not largely important this war also ended up affecting  our bosses Phrike and Ixion were aliens that be

came Severed and Nemesis was a Sentient alien one that  was a part of the hivemind but all that was left of them seems to be their burning blue face. While  this is all fairly concrete where things start to get a bit confusing is the introduction of the  Creator/Destroyer. The glyphs specifically refer to these beings as the same person never using  the words Creator or Destroyer independently. it's pretty easy to surmise from the data that  this Creator/Destroyer is Xaos but glyph 9 which talks

about Nemesis says "We recognized that we  had a role in this unsought genocide, the one with the burning face is all that is left of our brother's  mind. Only the Creator/Destroyer can now reach them if it's able to overcome the judgment that keeps  it trapped in the cycle. The mention of a cycle is clearly referring to Selene but that wouldn't  make too much sense since all this happened before we got here. Well...not quite. See Atropos is a weird planet when it comes to time. When we first a

rrived we already saw two dead Selenes even though we  just got here so it's clear that Selene has been here before just not our Selene if that makes  sense. Furthermore one of the last house visits sees Selene firing a cannon which shoots down  Helios but that can't be possible since Helios was destroyed when we entered the planet. Selene  is basically in some kind of time Loop Paradox where she crash lands on atropos, scours the planet  only to find the house, goes through the sequences, and s

hoots the cannon that destroys the other  Seline ship, only for that Seline to do the same thing repeating the cycle. We're just one of the  many Selenes in the loop so it's unclear when this officially started. This might also explain  how Selene can use the glyphs as she's been here long enough to meet the sentients and possibly  enter the hivemind. OUR Selene did not do that though she arrived very late to the party. What's  strange about this is that Selene also references this Creator/Destr

oyer too, most of the glyphs that  Selene writes seems to be written with "I's" and "Me's" in them as the Sentients usually use words like  "Brothers" or 'Brethren", so it's likely that this Selene the one making the glyph is not the Creator/Destroyer but the first Selene might have been. On top of this one of the archives has a picture of  a headless Astra scout with the caption "The source of destruction and the end of all things." Referring  to her role as the Destroyer. One of the scout log

s also talks about how some of the wildlife reminds  her of the creatures from her books mainly Gorgons and Hydras, reinforcing a popular theory amongst  the community that Selene's mind manifested the entirety of Atropos. It should also be mentioned  for the sake of thoroughness that the astronaut is mentioned in these glyphs and archives too  but only by the name "Astronaut" so not only is this an actual entity on the planet but it can't  be the Creator/Destroyer. All of this is great but what

's Xaos's role in all this. Well, outside of  creating general chaos it seems to also feast on pain or at the very least the mind of the creature  it consumes. To skip ahead beating the final boss grants Selene access to the center of the planet  which she believes to be the core of the cycle here on Atropos. Touching this always plays the  same cut scene of the crash which will dissect later but Xaos appears right at the end and seems  to reach out to her. Following this, the player is then sen

t back to the beginning as if nothing  happened. Glyph 6 says "We saw countless arms reaching for the Creator/Destroyer a creature we  did not understand but they were never satisfied even after countless feasts on its mind. By moving  on it could escape without suffering for eternity." My thinking is that this Selene that the Sentients  observed was meeting with Xaos in multiple loops and Xaos was feeding on her mind which is how  it's able to manifest these creatures on Atropos. Glyph 7 also m

entions how the Severed shouldn't  have followed the Creator/Destroyer so it's possible that Selene's insistence on meeting with Xaos  caused the aliens to get curious only for them to become Severed. All of that is just my opinion  and complete speculation on my part but something to keep in mind is that Returnal is never going to  provide a complete picture. Returnal is like a 1,000 piece puzzle but if a manufacturing error  occurred resulting in us only getting a fourth of the pieces, with th

e company not reimbursing us  for the rest. So we have to put the pieces we have together and then figure out what the picture  was supposed to be on our own. All the info in the game will never get us close to the full picture.  It's a puzzle that can never be finished, like a loop that can never be broken. But you know never  say never so we'll try our damnest anyway. To reach our next objective we have to make it to the  Abyssal scar in Oceanic Abyss. It's a nice thematic twist as act 1 has u

s ascend a tower to  find the signal while act 2 has us descend an abyss to the center of the world. It was this act  though that made me really appreciate the detail of Atropos, not only are the levels intuitive  enough to understand on subsequent runs so you aren't confused when you inevitably have to  come back but they also manage to tell a story all on their own. Level three for instance the Derelict  Citadel pretty much spells out the entire plot right there. It's a massive citadel that li

kely  housed thousands of aliens at once. Just outside though is level one which as opposed to level two  is the only one that can be walked to. There are numerous statues in all the levels but them being  placed here is rather interesting, the way they're presented almost makes it seem religious. Some of  them are even striking specific poses like these statues which have their hands and their stomachs.  There are a few archives in the game that place importance on very specific aliens which ma

kes  me believe they have some kind of hierarchy. This idea of placing some people within the group on a  pedestal could explain the entrance to level three, there are quite a few corpses on the roads leading  to the giant gate that sealed off the Citadel from the rest of the planet. This to me either means  that some of the aliens were left outside and trying to get back in or we're traveling here  on a pilgrimage. I am more inclined to agree with the latter given that they are a part of a hive

mind and to me would have no reason to cast out their brothers. Well...besides the one time that they  actually did do that. Speaking of which they too also have some interesting history implanted on  the planet as level two has similar architecture to level one but these statues are seen with  red wrappings on them along with ciphers that are plastered all over the walls. A few logs  and glyphs talk about the Severed wanting to ascend and how these wrappings were part of their  final ritual. E

qually these large centipede-like fossils that protrude out of the ground are also  supposed to be a part of this religion acting as almost proof of their beliefs. So even though  we just barely combed over the landscape we've already come to many conclusions about the aliens  and their way of life, while also opening up more questions for later, such as the entire existence  of level six. The Abyssal Scar is the oddest area of the bunch, it's down way below the planet's surface  and also has no

connection to level three unlike the previous groups. Usually, if you don't figure it  out by look, you could find the similarities in its design such as how level two and five  share similar rooms but look nothing alike. Three and six however have no connection as far as  I'm aware anyway, there are statues accompanied by large structures that expand far past the render  distance but I just don't see the connection. Since we also have to consider how this place became the  Citadel if our discu

ssion about the acts is correct. Oddly enough if it was the other way around and  that act 1 and 2 progressed in a normal way then that would make more narrative sense here but also end up clogging up the previous levels. It's like an allegory for the whole game really,  there's never going to be a moment where it all comes together and clicks, there's always going to  be something missing. But there is still so much story that can be hypothesized by just looking at  its grooves and edges and I

think that stands as a testament to the art and level design of this  game, it's truly magnificent in so many ways and is easily the best thing Returnal has to offer.  Once you're done admiring that art though you'll end up stumbling upon the final boss of the game  named Ophion. By now though some of the names I've mentioned throughout this video will have perked  your ears a bit and for a good reason. Many of the the names used in this game are based on similar  names seen in Greek mythology S

elene is based on the Greek goddess of the same name who is seen as  the personification of the Moon which could also explain why the moon is here on Atropos. Selene's  parents were the titans, Theia and Hyperion. In the old house we see a photo of Selene's mom with the  name Theia and while we don't hear much about her father, Hyperion is a boss in the game and there's  a scout log referencing her dad playing an organ at one point which is what Hyperion does. The  planet itself Atropos is also

named after one of the three Fates who specifically cuts the threads  of fate. Meaning that Atropos would determine the states of all mortals and would have them cut  ties with life by cutting their thread. Atropos the planet hasn't cut Selene's thread just yet, it  wants her to experience and understand something and only then will she be granted the sweet  release of death. Defeating Ophion finally grants us access to the center of the planet, down here  is a black sedan something that while s

trange will be relevant in just a moment. When Selene makes  it to the center she sees Xaos who grants her a vision of the day she and her son got into a  car crash. One late night the two were driving somewhere before crossing a bridge but on  that bridge was the astronaut. This caused Selene to swerve out of the way and into the water. She  sees Xaos down there which prompts her to escape but she's unable to save Helios in time and has  to abandon him. As I said earlier Returnal won't be givin

g us any answers, fortunately, there is  more content to explore plus this ending does recontextualize a few things seen throughout the  game. At the beginning of every run the game says "Helios Abandoned" which is a bit of an odd thing to  display, but it refers to how Selene abandoned her son during the car crash. Back at the house all the  clocks say 8:36 p.m, Selene also leaves a voicemail for Helios during a visit to the house that talks  about heating the food in the fridge for 8 minutes a

nd 36 seconds and a scout log mentioned that when  Selene left and died of old age she was alive for 63 years and 8 days. 836 refers first to the time the  crash happened. Also, this one jump scare ends with one of the lights flickering on and off and it  kind of reminds me of the warning lights on a car. Furthermore, the song playing during their drive  was Don't Fear the Reaper by the Blue Oyster Cult in level four which is at the start of act two  Selene mentions a song that she can hear and

it gets louder and louder the closer you get to the source.  This is supposed to lead you to Hyperion but the song he's playing is a piano version of Don't  Fear the Reaper. On top of this, this scene is where Helios mentions the White Shadow the same name  as the signal and the black sedan in the ocean is the same car that she was driving the day of  the crash. This is what gives credence to the theory that either Atropos isn't real and is simply all  in Selene's head or that Atropos is manifes

ting creations based on her mind. This is almost bluntly  stated in Glyph 16 saying "This time I act without thought and reach for the lost child, my  negligence is why I am here." Selene's hesitation that arose when it came to rescuing Helios cost  him his life and is one of the many reasons she's trapped here on Atropos. What could sway the  pendulum towards the planet being real is that Selene is seen with heterochromia a condition where  the eyes are two different colors yet in the cutscene

she has the same eye color showing that this  may have happened as a result of the crash as this condition is known to sometimes manifest during  traumatic moments. To me anyway, it seems like Xaos wants her to remember what happened as Selene has  no recollection of these memories, in fact when we first meet with Xaos Selene even asks if this  is something it wants her to see. In the DLC which we'll talk about shortly there's a poem called the  Lamentations of Sisyphus but the further down you

go the more it starts to shift the text the original  stanza talks about Zeus punishing Sisyphus for his sin but eventually morphs into Xaos punishing  "her" or Selene for her sins. The second line of she who cheated death could also refer to Selene  abandoning Helios and surviving something that should have killed her. It still doesn't exactly  help define its goals but at the very least it does seem to want Selene to remember something.  Which is what leads us to the secret ending of the base

game. Given how replayable Returnal is and  how much content you likely have left to complete there's a good chance you'll still continue to  play the game long after the credits roll. If you do and finish all the house sequences then you'll  start to notice a new item called the Sunface fragments. Selene decides that she wants to set  fire to the house here on Atropos and to do that she's going to need more of these fragments. There  are six in total with one for each level but just like all th

e items before it's completely random.  The fragments do seem to have a set room that they spawn in like here on level one, I found that many  others including myself all found the fragment in this specific room with the invisible platforms.  But of course, that is based on the assumption that you know what room to look for and even if you do  it still doesn't matter as you have to hope the game spawns the room for you anyway. We've already  discussed this earlier but it's another reason why thi

s randomized RNG system just does not work well  when it comes to telling a cohesive story. Having to get lucky takes the fun out of exploration  completely, it's no different than opening a loot box for a required story item. Assuming you find  all the fragments though you're given one final house sequence, on the first floor there was a door  that was always locked but now we can enter it and at the bottom is a single wheelchair. Selene talks  about someone in this wheelchair and how they regr

et what happened to them but unfortunately,  that's all the info we seem to get. That's because this cut scene is just one part of the story as  the reward for finishing this sequence is a set of car keys and I only know of one car here  on Atropos. That means we have to defeat Ophion again as the car is locked behind the boss room.  Having the keys allows you to interact with the car rewarding you with the second half of the cut  scene which shows a grotesque creature sitting in the wheelchair

instead. It seems to briefly attack  her before Selene fights back wounding it in the process. Before it dies it calls out to her and  the subtitles show the name Theia at the bottom. The final scene is then shown from the perspective  of the astronaut but Returnal takes a quick book out of Metroid Prime as we briefly see the face of  the being inside only to discover, that it's Selene. So she was both in the car and the astronaut  during the crash? It's a little bit confusing but thankfully we

have one last piece of content  to discuss I can imagine players being a bit annoyed at the end though seeing as it answers  none of the questions posed by the game but rather adds more complications. Still like the last ending  there are a few more pieces that we can add to our puzzle, this creature is without question Selene's  Mom but her design is rather peculiar. If we go with the theory that Atropos is manifesting  creations based on the mind of the visitor then this to me is how Selene vi

ews her mom, this  disgusting-looking creature. It's not the only time the game will do this which is why I believe in  the theory but even the in-game items paint a pretty convincing picture. When visiting the house  again Selene might see a news report of a crash. This crash is not referring to hers but rather  the one with her mom. Seline and Theia got into a crash on the same bridge as the one Selene and  Helios went on but in this case, Seline came out unharmed and Theia was injured forcing

her to use a  wheelchair for life. This tracks with the creature using the wheelchair but her stomach is noticeably  large implying that Theia was pregnant. In the myth Helios and Selene were siblings with Theia being  their mother so it's safe to assume that the child would have been Helios. Selene's child Helios  is different. There's another audio log that has Selene talking with her doctor, the two eventually  got on the topic of names but Selene claimed that she already had one picked out

saying that it  was from her family, implying that she named her son Helios after her late brother that never  made it. This hostility we see from the creature is also representative of Selene's relationship  with her mom. Theia had the dream of becoming an astronaut but thanks to the crash she was unable  to live out that dream as her spine and legs were severely broken. She grew rather angry over this  and wouldn't have a chance to let this boil over since Selene got her passion for astronomy

and space  from her mom. Plus according to the police report the injuries Theia received were exacerbated  due to her trying to save her passengers so had she not saved Selene she would have been fine. So  now Theia has to watch her dreams slip away from her while her daughter gets to live the life  that she wanted, that is why she hated her. Selene was abused as a child verbally and possibly  physically due to this. It was always a bad day when Theia was around and she was definitely  going to

make sure Selene got an earful of it always reminding her that she was the cause of her  mother's pain. Whenever her mother would call her it was never to ask about her or how she's doing  it was always to complain. But this event caused a massive rift between the two one that would get  worse as we continue to discover more about her. The only part about this that isn't exactly clear  is Helios, Selene's brother, not her kid. Going back to the police report the text specifically uses  the words

passengers and them implying that Theia was rescuing multiple people and not just Selene.  Within the DLC again is also a newspaper with the crash being the headline however there's  a paragraph at the bottom that says that the police have not found a trace of her missing child  in either the lake or the surrounding forest, but that a second child was recovered and unharmed  from the water. Weirdly that last line is cut off from the in-game reader which to my knowledge is  the only document tha

t does this. It's almost as if the devs had intentionally hid this detail  here on purpose. The mention of a forest though got me thinking about something else here in the  hospital and that's these childlike drawings near the reception desk. Each photo tells a tale about  a girl and her family. Her mom, and someone who goes unnamed. One day they seem to have gotten split  up and the girl was left wandering in the forest. While walking around she heard a voice call out  to her but couldn't find

the source. Eventually she did make it home but by the time she did she  ended up becoming a full-grown woman. The final line says "It's time to take flight to where the  sun shines bright." My initial reaction was that the sun was a metaphor for heaven and that this was  Helios whose soul was trying to find Selene and Theia but the pictures seem very adamant that this  character is a girl, which adds the confusion. Plus there's also the question of who the blurred out  name is. I'm not entirely

sure what to make of this myself but at the very least the newspaper  does at least confirm that two kids were in the car at the time of the crash, Selene and  who I assume was her brother Helios. Everything regarding Theia's pregnancy is completely up in  the air, thankfully we do have a few more pieces of info to find but before we move on to that  I know this video has been rather disjointed, almost mimicking the chaotic nature of the game's  own story but I do hope that through all this you

can see how wonderful the story of Returnal  has started to become. You will feel extremely confused by the end but the game does make sure  things are at least semi-cohesive when it comes to the important stuff. Mystery is an easy way for  me to get interested in the story, I wanted to know what happened to Selene and why she was being  subjected to this. The game continuously strung me along with this pitch and the longer I held on  the more enveloped I became. Like I said before from very ea

rly on I knew I wanted to see this  through to the end because something about this was truly special, it was like something I hadn't  experienced before so like Selene I wanted to get the answers to the questions I had. But just as the  loop continues so too does the story a year after release Returnal would get a free post-launch  update called Ascension which not only added a co-op mode letting you brave through the dangers  of Atropos with a friend, but also added a new endless game mode cal

led the Tower of Sisyphus. In the  myth, Sisyphus refers to the man of the same name who is most well known for being the guy who rolls  the boulder up a mountain. That's because he was a prominent trickster and cheated death quite a few  times so the gods cursed him to roll the boulder up, only to let it go back down once he reached the  top. Instead of rolling a boulder up a hill though we're going to be rolling Selene up a tower. As  the name implies this is a gauntlet of death that can't be

finished, the whole point is to go through  as many floors as possible until you die and then do it again to get a better score. It is without  question a perfect DLC for a game like this. Outside of the occasional cipher and scout log the  tower is a strictly gameplay-focused experience so for those that want the gameplay then you can  kill to your heart's content plus you no longer need to reset once the final boss of the act  is complete as there is no ending, you can go as long as you want.

It's genuinely an amazing piece  of content and the only thing this game really needed honestly, but the tower is not without its  own story, the DLC adds more scout logs, glyphs, and archives some of which which are related to the  tower while others help add more context to the previous conversations we've had throughout the  video. It also acts as a continuation of Selene's story as well reveling in the death and carnage you  will once again eventually slip up, and die. This causes a hospital

bed to spawn in the main room,  these hospital visits replace our house sequences from earlier, and are to me the most important  piece of content in the game. Seeing the hospital reminds Selene of her mother and decides to get  her bouquet of white poppies. Selene likely did this before in real life after the crash had happened  so she's trying to do it again in hopes of getting an answer. This requires us to get six poppies just  like the six sun fragments and they acquired the exact same way

yet it's somehow more annoying than  before. The six fragments were random whereas the six poppies are guaranteed to always show up on  the same floor, except you can only carry one at a time as each one comes with its own hospital  visit. So continuing on to the next floor after finding one is pointless. Each time you acquire  these you have to get the flower, die or reset, do the hospital visit, go back to the tower, then go a  little bit further than last time only to repeat that five more t

imes. It is agonizingly slow  and maybe one of the most tedious things I've ever done I have no idea how they managed to make the  gathering process worse than the sun fragments but they did. What broke up a lot of the tedium though was  the scout logs that appeared here and while all of them were informative some of which I want to  highlight were about Selene's mental state. Going off what's heard it's almost as if the tower  has broken her in some way or at least another version of her since

of course, our Selene is not the  one making these logs. She's left feeling helpless after every failure since she has to go all the  way back down just to climb up again. One of the scout logs mentions how she's doing this to give  herself meaning and purpose, she's exhausted all the options but the tower so if this fails that's  it she needs to believe that there is something at the top so she has to convince herself to not  give up as if this fails and there truly is no way out then, what's t

he point. A bit unrelated to this  but there are a few more logs that present her as almost manic, mentioning how her suit claims that  she's contaminated by all the blood and parasites attached to her but she doesn't seem to mind that  she actually feels beautiful in her new skin. It's almost meta in that sense as while our Selene  didn't say these words the player could be feeling this emotion. All of the Selenes in-game are really  just all our different versions playing at once your Selene a

nd mine are out there doing their  own thing separately so naturally each one will reflect the mind of the player wielding her. Are  you confident enough that you can make it to the top or have you given up. Wallowing in the blood  of your enemies as you try to make sense of what's going on, questioning whether this is even worth  your time similarly those that have succumbed to the cycle and uninstalled the game is another  way of saying that Selene gave up. It's a rather fascinating way to por

tray a character especially  if you look at this from Selene's perspective. All these Selenes may be different but they are her  so if the tower broke them who's to say it won't break her too. It becomes even more concerning  once you start to familiarize yourself with Selene. Being part researcher and part explorer  much of her dialogue is analytical explaining things based on how they are rather than delving  into nonsensical opinionated talks. When Selene first grabs the assault rifle she doe

sn't cheer  and joy over finding a better weapon, she rather notes how the weapon is similar to the carbine  technology that they have back on Earth, or instead of freaking out over the parasite grabbing her  arm she studies it lets it attach to her and then reports how she feels. To use a weird analogy it's  like hearing your quiet friend get angry for the first time you're almost taken aback by it. Equally  whenever Selene talks about herself and has an actual opinion it's time to shut up and

listen  as who knows how long it's going to be before she says something else again. Which is made all  the worse when the opinions you do hear of her are about her abusive mother or how she went off the  deep end thanks to the dangers of Atropos. Assuming you do push past the rooms and gather a poppy or two  you'll gain access to the hospital. The hospital visits are largely the same with small parts  of the area being changed each visit, sometimes a new note will appear or another iteration of

  something will develop. After enough flowers have been found Selene can then open the door, inside is  her mother Theia but instead of berating her like before the two hug for probably the first time  since the crash. It's all a ruse though as the body will disappear with Xaos taking her place.  When she wakes up she recalls that this is how things actually were, no atonement or embrace just  guilt and anger. Like the base game, there is one last ending to acquire but the hospital and tower  g

ive us a ton of new information that either adds or recontextualizes most of what we know already  so now that everything has been given to us we can finally talk about what's really going on here.  As mentioned before Selene and Theia got into an accident one day which permanently left Theia bound  to a wheelchair. As we know though Selene would also get into a car accident on the same bridge  except she managed to survive with Helios taking the fall. Returnal is quite a weird story with  many

coincidences but it becomes a lot easier to understand when you look at it metaphorically, both  women Selene and Theia were mothers who had dreams of being astronauts and crashed on the same bridge.  It's meant to show how similar the two are and how Selene has become like her mother it's also meant  to show the effects of generational trauma. Theia's disappointment in Selene affected her mentally  which in turn was passed down to Helios through her, because the other connection they share is 

that they both detest their children. Theia didn't like Selene that much is clear but quite a bit of  evidence seems to imply the same between Selene and Helios. One of the house sequences actually  has us playing as Helios this is confirmed as much when you read the name on the door, in that  same level there's a voicemail on the answering machine from Selene where she tells him that she's  going to be home late. Selene worked long nights to pursue her dream but ended up neglecting Helios  beca

use of this. There was also possible evidence that she physically abused him. At one point his  favorite plushy Octo goes missing only for it to be found underneath the kitchen table, when  he goes downstairs he says that Octo knows not to go down here referring to the fact that  Selene might get angry at him so he tries to stay upstairs in his room. It's very common for  kids of abused parents to see places in their homes as limits, rooms you don't want to enter  unless you want to piss off Mom

and Dad that's what this feels like to me. Similarly Helios  ends up running into the living room at one point as he's trying to hide from what he calls  the monster which is eventually revealed to be the astronaut. He is specifically hiding inside the TV  until the astronaut reaches in and grabs him. But this same scene happens earlier but from another  perspective, as at one point Seline goes up to the TV and reaches her hands in as well. She also has a  dialogue line that says "What are you

doing. Wake up" These two scenes are likely the same thing from  different points of view, analyzing the dialogue likely means that this is how Selene woke Helios  up one day possibly because he wouldn't get out of bed or simply because she was already angry  and decided to take it out on him. Selene doing the same actions as the astronaut lines up with  the other ending where Seline is seen inside the suit of the astronaut but I wouldn't take  this literally. Just as this creature might be how

Selene sees Theia the astronaut is how Helios  might see Selene. I see it as a representation of Selene's drive to become an astronaut. Back to  that other house sequence alongside news of the crash is another report about the lunar landing.  This shows the two most significant parts of Selene's life, her relationship with her mother, and  her dream of becoming an astronaut. Relating this back to the prior scene her dream of exploring  the world is overtaking her responsibilities as a mother cor

relating with the voicemail of her  coming home late. Selene wanted to pursue her dreams but like Theia their child forced them to  stay grounded on Earth. As much as she hates her though there is also a log of Selene that mentions  how Theia was right when it came to raising a child Selene figured that she could be a better mother  and possibly stop the trauma than Theia imposed on her but she ended up becoming just like her mother  doing the same things as she does and reacting the same to sim

ilar situations. Like the abyss though  we've only just breached the surface as I think we can go even deeper with this. This next bit  isn't confirmed but does at least warrant some discussion. Crazy theory. But I believe that Selene  may have killed Theia and Helios so that she could become an astronaut. At the hospital is a police  report that shows that a police officer got a call about a disturbance at the Vassos residence which  is Selene's last name. When he arrived she was too distraught

to to talk but the officer noticed that  the house was on fire. When you put down the report though Selene says the line "The price of freedom."  This was one of those wide-eyed jaw-dropping moments to me as this was one of the most obvious  confessions I've ever heard. We know that Atropos has parallels to things from Selene's past so  it's to my understanding that Seline burning the house on Atropos was connected to Selene burning  her own house with Theia inside. This could also explain why

we have to go to the basement to find  the wheelchair as it could be showing us where she was in her last moments. As for Helios well we  already know about the crash but I also believe this to be intentional I think it's fair to say  that the astronaut is not real, at least on Earth. We know it's a real entity on Atropos since the  glyphs mention it by name but it's also Atropos a lot of weird [ __ ] goes on here. To me I see  the astronaut in this moment as Selene refusing to acknowledge her d

ecision by instead blaming it  on something else. While also reinforcing that her ambitions as an astronaut far outwayed everything  else in her life. As it's the astronaut that caused the crash or more specifically it's her dreams  of becoming an astronaut that caused the crash. Still, this doesn't explain why she threw the car  off the bridge and I admit it's a pretty big hole in my theory, it's also quite difficult to get  a timeline of these events too. What convinces me that most and not al

l of this was intentional  are two scout logs one where she says "That's why I signed up there are no attachments pulling me  back", and another where she mentions how she has given up everything for this role. The wording here  is quite interesting as it's almost like she sees her family as a burden to her people who are stopping  her from achieving her dreams which is why she had to get rid of them. Another log also laments how  Theia was never happy but that she always saved her smiles for He

lios. Once again though after it's  found Selene will then say that "Now they can be together again." Further confirming that yes both  are dead but her tone here is bizarre, there is no guilt or sadness or anything just once again  stating the facts as she always does and it's a pretty cold thing to say for someone who just  lost her mom and son. Everything about Selene being a murderer though is just my interpretation  and I don't want it to come off as canon just a tinfoil hat theory. The tin

foil is starting to  meld into my skull though is there is still the biggest question that lies at the heart of all  this. Is Atropos real or not? Selene acknowledges that Atropos and the astronaut are real but in  the same breath says that she can't trust her own mind, there are also numerous references to Selene not  being fitt for the job. At her house is a rejection letter from Astra that is next to her computer and  numerous scout logs talk about her mental state one of which is about her d

elusions. It seems like  Selene never became an Astra scout which leads some to believe that this is all in her head and  that exploring space was something she wanted to do but never could. It also might explain the car  crash as she was possibly lost in thought or angry over the rejection causing her to take her own  life, however, Scout log 62 shows that after Seline gets out of the car she makes it home and greets  her mom so it wouldn't connect to the theory that she died along with Helios

and is living out her  life in her head. Assuming that this is true though that would then make Returnal a proprietor of the "It  was all a dream" trope. While I don't personally subscribe to the theory myself even if it is canon  it's not as simplistic or as boring as the trope often is. Usually the ends up giving the scene no  meaning but I found it to be the opposite. Selene and the parallels to her mom are integral to the  story and the game has a clear inspiration from Greek mythology by us

ing its characters and events  to create another parallel to the story. Selene is in a manifestation of her own hell either because  the planet is manipulating her or because she's guilty of multiple heinous acts and is now being  tortured for them in her metaphorical purgatory. Even if the main plot of Atropos didn't happen the  relationship with her mom and son did happen and were at the very least the cause of these possible  delusions. Like I said though I don't personally believe in the the

ory myself as I find the story  much more entertaining and rewarding if Selene had actually landed on a planet that is forcing her to  question herself and come to terms with what she did. Regardless, Seline is still not done yet, talking  with her mom didn't reward her with anything so now she must seek the answers once more. Her only  lead though is the tower this never ending spiral that continues to push her further and further  into madness. She believes that if she climbs high enough she'l

l be worthy in the eyes of  Algos. Algos is the boss that you fight at the end of every phase who is unique in the fact that  he only starts with one phase of health, the trade-off is that he grows in power upon each  visit having up to a maximum of three phases by your third fight. Three is the magic number after  all, three levels in act one another three in act two and three more to cap off the third act. This  means that Selene has gone through a total of nine different levels across the gam

e almost as  if she's going through the Nine Circles of her own hell. As you can tell he's a specific boss to  the Tower and the only one you'll fight in said Tower. Well at least as far as phase three I didn't  make it very far into phase four. Like the rest of the cast the name is based on a Greek deity who is  seen as the personification of pain, fitting given how painful this thing is to climb. This could also  be a happy accident but Algos is often a shortened version of the word algorithm

and ALGO is also  the name of a programming language which could link how the tower in the previous act can be seen  as an algorithmic sequence of different levels in maps. All that's required of the player is for them  to reach phase 4 room one as doing so will mean you have completed the first three phases and  fought Algos three separate times. Once defeated Selene will question if she is finally worthy and thinks  that she should visit the hospital again. Xaos has taken her to a pocket dimen

sion  of sorts filled with nothing but emptiness inside are numerous other Selenes who made it to where  she is now. Despite feeling displeased about not being shown anything as her reward she notices  that it's rather calm and is likely the first time she's given herself a break since landing on  Atropos. So like the Selenes around her, she kneels down and rests, and judging by the others she  likely stayed here until her time was up. Even though the player can continue playing after  viewing t

he cutscene Selene doesn't comment on the vision so this cutscene seems to be the  final moment of the story, she doesn't go back to Atropos her journey is complete, and the cycle is  broken. It's not exactly a happy ending but it's something, Selene finally understands what she did  and came to terms with her own life, her actions, decisions, thoughts, and excuses all came back. She  finally understands and accepts who she is. While being able to go home and live her life would be  great this i

s as good of an ending as you could ask for plus assuming that Selene is actually  guilty of murder is ultimately a fate she imposed upon herself so it's fitting that she doesn't  get everything she wants after taking it away from those that she knew. But this finally leads us  to the actual ending of Returnal. If the commentary throughout this video didn't give it away I love  this game the gameplay is utterly addicting and I cannot wait to hop in and grind the tower again. The amount of items,

weapons, and buffs you can find add to the diversity of each run forcing you  to not just go back to the Ol-Reliable. Sometimes the cards aren't in your favor and you have to  roll with the punches whether it means being permanently debuffed or having to kill the final  boss with the starter pistol, sometimes you just have to go with the flow. It's a perfectly concise  gameplay loop that I never got tired of. The story on the other hand, is anything but concise but  there is beauty within all t

hat chaos, piecing together lore from all kinds of different sources  is exhausting but very rewarding as I feel like I'm uncovering my own secrets just as Seline  was uncovering the story of Atropos. This video is my attempt at making sense of this chaotic  amalgamation so I could share it with those who may be confused but as you can see Returnal is  a community-driven game and only by interacting and sharing can we truly uncover its narrative so  if you played the game yourself or came to som

e conclusions while watching the video feel free to  leave them down in the comments below. I've done my best to share what I think happened but there are  still many things I've left unchecked all of which have still stumped me to this day. Such as the true  nature of the aliens were they real or were they just manifestations made by Selene? If the car,  house, and some of the wildlife can be related to her past experiences who's to say the aliens  aren't also a fragment of her mind too and tha

t the hive mind and subsequent detachment isn't just  a metaphor for something that happened to Selene. I personally want to believe that they are real but  I'm also Pro-Atropos being real anyone who isn't could easily make the argument that the aliens  too aren't real either. Then there's also the nature of Xaos and what it truly wants and most  bizarre of all is the existence of someone named Alex. I'm not sure how relevant to the story this  actually is but nearby those childlike drawings is

another one this time of a family with the names  mom, dad, and someone named Alex written on it. There is not only no other reference to Alex anywhere  in the game but there isn't even an Alex in Greek mythology. Hilariously the only other thing  named Alex is a book directly below it called Alex and the Giant Nectarine which is surely  a reference to James and the Giant Peach. Still much of Returnal's story is mentioned and explained  even if we're missing a lot of the pieces. It's not as cohe

rent as a normal story might be but  I think it goes without saying that Returnal is anything but normal, it's got a gripping and  fantastic story from start to finish one that really makes me wish I played this earlier. As of  now though there is no news regarding a Returnal 2 or even the company's next game but honestly  I don't think there needs to be one, Returnal is a game that can stand out on its own and doesn't  need a sequel to keep going. Still it's going to suck not seeing another gam

e like Returnal it's a  one-of-a-kind in many ways which makes it harder to replicate. All I know for sure though is that  once this video is done I'd want nothing more than to Return to Returnal. Thanks For Watching. Thank you for watching today and I hope you enjoyed. Got to admit it feels nice to make a video that isn't  an hour long sometimes as for what's next on the docket honestly I have no idea. I have a few games  I'd like to cover soon but I'm not sure which one I'll do first. Not that

you need to worry though  since I'll always be updating you in the community tab like I always do so if you want to keep up  to date on the progress of future videos make sure to turn notifications on. As always like the  video If you enjoyed and subscribe if you're new. Thank you to my returning viewers for coming back  to another video and take care everyone. Goodbye!