After being shown off at Sony’s most recent State of Play, Returnal‘s massive 3.0 update is now available for players to download. Titled “Ascension,” today’s update adds both co-op and a new Sisyphean endless mode to the roguelike third-person shooter.
Players can start a co-op game in Returnal by interacting with new Chronosis portals and either choosing to join a game, host a game, or host a private session. Anyone looking to play only with their friends will have to choose that last option, otherwise, they’re likely to be matched up with a random player.
It’s also worth noting that anyone who joins into a multiplayer game instead of hosting one won’t be keeping any of the story progress they make. While they will retain any logs or xenoglyphs they encountered, they’ll still have to make it to the next biome by themselves or by hosting their own session. Limited to just two players, Returnal’s co-op won’t make it much easier to progress to begin with. According to the update’s patch notes, co-op makes the game rebalance, leaving it as “the treacherous experience you know and love.”
Players won’t have to worry about rebalancing in Returnal’s newest game mode, Tower of Sisyphus. A solo-only mode, Tower of Sisyphus pits players against endless waves of increasingly difficult enemies as they shoot for a high score. However, the Tower is full of secrets for players to find, including new biomes, weapons, and more of Selene’s own story.
Along with co-op and the Tower of Sisyphus mode, Returnal’s Ascension update also fixes some unnamed bugs and adds some unspecified quality-of-life improvements.
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