The winner of the Game Awards' Best Action Game of 2021, Returnal has been met with widespread critical acclaim since its release almost one year ago. Still, keeping the game exclusive to PlayStation 5 has been both a blessing and a curse, simultaneously showcasing the power of the new hardware while also proving that not everyone has a PS5 just yet, leading to many not being able to give the excellent game a go. Now, as PS5s start to become slightly more available in some regions, the hype surrounding Returnal has all but died out.
That's why Housemarque's latest announcement, that the game will be receiving a massive free update this month, is a pretty smart move. Announced during Sony's latest State of Play, Returnal is getting some new modes in its Ascension update, slated for release March 22. Along with introducing campaign co-op to the game, Ascension is also adding a brand-new challenge mode called Tower of Sisyphus, which seems to bring the brutal intensity of the campaign, and dial it up even further.
Returnal's Tower of Sisyphus Mode Explained
When it first released in April of last year, Returnal was immediately renowned for its high difficulty. Using a roguelike structure in which the player's progress is reset upon death, every inch of Returnal becomes an intense battle for survival where even the weakest foe could spell certain death if the player isn't careful.
Returnal's new Tower of Sisyphus mode seems to be taking this one step further, giving the player an ascending challenge Tower to conquer, with each new level bringing even more challenging foes to the fray. Each level of the Tower will consist of 20 floors that need to be cleared of all foes in a linear fashion.
To unlock Tower of Sisyphus, the player just needs to have unlocked the Icarian Grapnel upgrade in the main story mode. It's currently unclear if the player's progress in the Tower affects their campaign at all, but it seems likely that the Tower of Sisyphus mode will remain completely standalone.
As the player works their way up the Tower, they'll begin to unlock more powerful weapons and upgrades, just as they did during the main campaign but in a more condensed timeframe. Though the player will unlock a harder-hitting arsenal as they progress, the enemies they face will also get tougher. If the brief glimpse of the mode in the trailer is anything to go by, then players will need to always be aware of their surroundings, as enemy projectiles can, and will, come from anywhere and everywhere. Once a player suffers one too many hits, they'll be sent back to the very start of the Tower, likely losing their weapons and upgrades in the process, making the mode even more challenging than the campaign.
While some familiar alien faces could be seen in the trailer, a new Returnal boss seemed to be teased as well. It's unclear if this boss will appear at the end of Tower of Sisyphus, or exactly what their role is in the mode, but the Lovecraftian visual design of the enemy fits perfectly with the game's dark, tense, and otherworldly atmosphere.
For fans of Returnal's narrative and its unique take on the extremely popular 'looping' genre, then this free update might also have a few extra treats in store. From the trailer, it seems as though the Tower of Sisyphus mode could be bringing a few more cinematic cutscenes to the game.
Tower of Sisyphus looks like a great new mode for Returnal, and it could potentially breathe new life into Returnal a year after its release, though it does seem a little odd that the new co-op functionality won't extend to the challenge mode. Due to its seeming high level of difficulty, and the nature of a standalone challenge mode, Tower of Sisyphus seems like the perfect place for some co-op, but Housemarque has confirmed that co-op will only be available for the main campaign. Hopefully there's potential to add co-op to Tower of Sisyphus later down the line.
Returnal is available now for PlayStation 5, and the Ascension update is set to release on March 22.
