Announced during the latest State of Play, Returnal is getting a free update called Ascension later this month which will bring co-op and a brand-new Tower of Sisyphus mode to the game. Returnal was not an easy game when it was launched, and it is still not an easy game, and the new Tower of Sisyphus mode seems to take the challenge up a notch as well however now you will get to experience the challenge alongside a friend in the game.
Developer Housemarque details that despite Returnal being developed as a solo experience, the developer has decided to add a co-op mode to the game because the enemies can sometimes feel overwhelming in the game.
Interacting with the Chronosis portal near the crash landing, players will have the option to host or join a public cycle or a private cycle with a friend. Once the connection is established, a Selene from another universe will join your game and the game will play out normally after that.
Apart from the starting location, the Chronosis portal will also be present in several later parts of each mission in the game so that players can join in a cycle later down the road as well. Players will be invisibly tethered together so if one venture too far, both of them will be pushed back together.
When one player is downed, the other one can revive them to keep the adventure going in co-op mode. The progress will be tied to the host of the game and players who join in the game will get to keep some of the progress as well with them. This includes collecting logs and xenoglyphs and the more games players play with each other, the higher their Scout Rank becomes.
The second major addition to the game with the upcoming update is the Endless Mode known as the Tower of Sisyphus. Players brave enough to start it will strive to ascend the Tower as high as possible but there is no end to the Tower and the mode gets progressively harder and harder eventually leading to players getting killed.
The towers will also offer a score that players will be able to chase. You will be able to track your progress and the highest score on a leaderboard and compete with your friends as well. As you play, you will also accumulate a score multiplier but if you get hit by an enemy attack, you will lose your counter and will need to start again from zero. The counter also resets if you do not engage any enemy for some time.
In Tower of Sisyphus, the focus is on survival, skill, and progression so you will have to bring your A game. Returnal: Ascension is slated for release on March 22, 2022, with the free update 3.0. Daily Challenges, The Tower of Sisyphus, and the House sequences will not be a part of the co-op experience.
Are you looking forward to jumping back in Returnal to try out the new Ascension update when it drops later this month? Let us know in the comments section below.
