Developer Housemarque has released the patch notes for Returnal‘s Patch 1.4.0. The new patch fixes a number of issues, though players who are struggling to tackle the game’s tough challenges may be happier to see how the patch rebalances Returnal’s difficulty. Patch 1.4.0 goes live June 14.
In terms of gameplay balance, the major changes seem geared towards Returnal’s combat. Patch 1.4.0 makes adjustments to the challenge of enemies and bosses and the effectiveness of weapons in order to ease the difficulty for all biomes.
In the full patch notes, Housemarque writes that this change should make for “a more balanced gameplay experience.” So if you’ve been struggling with Returnal, maybe take another stab at it come June 14.
On top of that, Patch 1.4.0 also removes parasites from the pool of rewards that players can earn for avenging the corpses of other players. Additionally, the patch changes when certain malfunctions can occur in the early parts of the game, which may ease the likelihood of getting run-ending malfunctions early into a new cycle.
The full list of adjustments made in Patch 1.4.0 are detailed below.
Returnal Patch 1.4.0
Highlights:
- Platinum: Added support for replaying certain Act 1 & Act 2 Trophies
- Platinum: Added support to retroactively award Trophies which cannot be replayed
- Platinum: Added additional locations for Scout Logs 9, 34, 35 & 46 to appear more often
- Platinum: Fixed an issue where 1 Cipher was sometimes unobtainable for Biome Survey Trophies
- Platinum: Fixed an issue where some Activity Cards displayed an incorrect count
- UI: HUD labels for items are now hidden when Selene is firing a weapon
- UI: Fixed an issue where 2 actions could be mapped to a single button after switching controller presets
- Cinematics: Fixed a rare audio sync issue in the secret ending
- Audio: General mix improvements across the experience
- Audio: Improved surround sound setup support across the experience
- Audio: Added more DualSense haptics across cinematic moments for deeper immersion
- Audio: Added DualSense haptics when using the Icarian Grapnel
- Audio: Improved the dynamic range recommendations system
- Audio: Allow users to override the dynamic range recommendations
- Audio: Allow users to change audio output from the game menu
Game Balance:
- Balance: Various bug fixes to certain artifacts, parasites, consumables, and when certain malfunctions can occur in the early parts of the game
- Balance: Players no longer receive parasites as rewards when players avenge their corpses
- Balance: Enemies, Weapons, and Bosses – difficulty adjustments in all Biomes for a more balanced gameplay experience
Misc Bug-fixes:
- Fixed an issue where Hyperion may drop the Key out of reach
- Fixed an issue where Ophion may become invisible if the player uses a Reconstructor during the fight
- Fixed weapons not being found in Biomes after scanning but not collecting them
- Fixed an issue where Selene could jump impossibly long distances
- Fixed multiple issues where Selene may become trapped in a room
- Fixed a rare freezing issue when teleporting in Crimson Wastes
- Fixed occasional frame rate drops when using the Electropylon Driver
- Performance improvements, crash fixes, and multiple minor bug fixes
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