Honestly I think Returnal doesn’t start multiplying internally because its narrative structure is post-hoc justification, rather than driving. I think the decision to undercut Selene from the beginning and make the player mistrust her competence and the reality of the world keeps it too distanced. Jacob’s Ladder and Silent Hill are both restrained in questioning their character until the very end because it needs more power to be frightening.
It’s very very close to what I think it should be doing but that last turn of tone sets them adrift.
I think I like the action more than Control, but I don’t think it’s clean even there. It’s got a good dozen decisions at war with itself, even in the basic action and roguelike structure. They don’t seem to understand the point of Active Reloads, they use aim-down-sights tradeoffs in a very harsh way for a game so biased towards spatial awareness, the bonus structure incentivizes cautious play when they demonstrate that they know fast play is better and more fun, they specifically remove momentum play from the movement abilities, they’re relentlessly punishing with their rewards in a manner that obscures the power gains.
In the end that doesn’t stop it from being a great action game, and if anyone ever liked the Cavia/Nier promise of a bullet hell character game, this finally delivers on it in a meaningful way. But it only flows and reaches its potential in specific situations, and less often than it should.
A near miss, or, a very good game despite itself.
