Returnal’s Ascension update revealed in lengthy gameplay video

Returnal is a game about trying and dying in rapid succession, and it’s about to get a new update. Housemarque released the PlayStation 5 exclusive in April 2021. It has had several updates since then. The next one, the version 3.0 Ascension update, was announced during Sony’s latest State of Play livestream.

Housemarque posted 19 minutes worth of Ascension gameplay Wednesday. The game includes multiplayer online and co-op for PlayStation Plus members. There’s also a new Tower of Sisyphus, a challenging 20-floor tower that gets increasingly tough as Seline battles through its inhabitants and ascends to higher levels.

A 19-minute preview of Ascension allows players to see what it is like climbing the Tower of Sisyphus. There are multiple floors, so players must survive each level and attempt to get bonus objections. There’s also a points multiplier — the longer a player dallies, the more they risk losing that multiplier, so they’ll need to balance between covering as much ground as possible and trying to do it quickly.

“While there are secrets and optional routes to take, the Tower is intended to be Refund distilled into an arcade action experience, where the emphasis is on survival, skill, and focused progression,” said game director Harry Krueger in a PlayStation Blog post.

The demonstration also shows off a new boss called Algos and some new story cutscenes, which suggest that we’ll be discovering more about the world of ReturnalSeline as its protagonist. Updates for Ascension are free, and will be available on March 22.