Returnal is a game that will test and excite even the most skilled players out there. It’s the perfect experience for those who love difficult games. It can also be a great challenge for those who want to dip their toes into harder titles. The roguelike structure of Returnal, along with its excruciating bullet-hell shooter gameplay, will make players go through cycle after cycle and see death after death.
Returnal is a difficult game, yes, but there are also in-game means to make the experience a tad more bearable. The game has a plethora of awesome weapons, useful artifacts, and traits that players can use to make themselves more powerful. Players who want to conquer Returnal can use these weapons, weapon traits, and other resources to form overpowered builds.
6 Tachyomatic Carbine With Rising Pitch
The Tachyomatic Carbine is a reliable automatic weapon. Its base damage may not be as high as some other weapons in the game, but its rapid rate of fire can massively increase the damage-per-second (DPS) of the weapon. Plus, it's available as early as the Overgrown Ruins. This weapon is also fairly easy to use without compromising damage and effectiveness.
The Tachyomatic Carbine can be made even more powerful by making sure it comes with the Rising Pitch trait. With this, the weapon’s fire rate will become even faster the longer it is fired. This essentially means that the player will damage enemies more the longer they keep firing the weapon. Players can also make use of other traits such as Accelerated and Critical Hit to make the build even more effective.
5 Coilspine Shredder With Twin Discs
The Coilspine Shredder is an unconventional gun, but become familiar with it, and it becomes one of the game’s most overpowered weapons. The weapon fires a single powerful shot that can deal immense damage to enemies. Once charged, the disc fired from the weapon is faster, more powerful, and can pierce through enemies, damaging multiple if they’re positioned correctly.
Equip a Coilspine Shredder with the Twin Discs weapon trait to fire a smaller disc alongside the main one. A smaller disc may not sound like much help, but couple this with the weapon’s high damage, and it completely makes the weapon even more powerful. Players can give the discs even more power by incorporating the Shattering Discs weapon trait.
4 Dreadbound With Damage Steal
The Dreadbound is a powerful weapon if players can uncover the secrets of how to utilize it properly. It only has three projectiles, which return to the weapon after hitting its target. If close to the target, the projectiles will be able to return to the gun much faster, allowing for a high fire rate. This gives the weapon a high-risk, high-reward factor perfect for those who aren’t afraid to get close to their enemies.
Add the Damage Steal trait to this weapon, and the player will receive a damage boost each time the projectiles return to the weapon. So long as they can keep firing at the enemy at a close range, the player will always have a higher damage output. The player can also use the Fourth Shard weapon trait for this build so that their Dreadbound fires four shots instead of three.
3 Hollowseeker With Portal Beam
The Hollowseeker is another rapid-firing automatic weapon. Compared to the Tachyomatic Carbine, the other automatic weapon in Returnal, this weapon’s bullets travel a little bit slower. That doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the worse weapon of the two, however. Both of these weapons are powerful in their own right.
The Hollowseeker's greatest strength rests in its weapon traits. Its most powerful one by far is the Portal Beam. This portal automatically spawns when the player fires the weapon. It will then fire a constant laser beam on nearby enemies, continuously damaging them. It is a highly effective, powerful weapon trait that makes up for the Hollowseeker’s slow bullets.
2 Full-Auto Thermogenic Launcher
The Thermogenic Launcher is undeniably one of the most powerful weapons in Returnal. It’s the game’s version of a rocket launcher, and it definitely hits enemies like one. The player won’t even need to precisely target enemies for the weapon to land a hit, because the rockets will fly directly toward enemies. They will then explode upon impact, damaging other nearby enemies as well. This makes this weapon perfect for areas where the player will need to face an ungodly number of enemies at once, like the Tower of Sisyphus.
The Thermogenic Launcher has a Full-Auto weapon trait that makes the rocket launcher fire like an automatic weapon. This gives the weapon the impact of a powerful launcher and the speed of a rifle. Granted, its magazine has a shorter capacity, but this is highly capable of draining enemies and bosses’ health at a ridiculously rapid rate.
1 Electropylon Driver
Once a player uses the Electropylon Driver, they’re automatically using an overpowered build. The Electropylon Driver is an unbelievably powerful weapon. On top of that, it is remarkably easy to use. This weapon is so effective that it essentially makes Returnal an easier game.
From here on, the player can use any weapon trait they want. It will not matter. That’s how powerful this weapon is. For as long as they use this weapon, breaking the cycle and finishing Returnal is a guarantee. The powerful pylons from this weapon will drain the health of every enemy in the game.
Returnal came out on the PS5 on April 30, 2021. It became available to download and play on PC on February 15, 2023.