Fandom Promo Post

[fic_in_a_box_mod]

Use this post to promote your fandoms to others or to ask for recommendations! Feel free to link to legal sources for your fandoms :)

A non-complete list of things you may want to include:

• Fandom name
• What medium is it and where to find it
• A summary (try to avoid major spoilers)
• Content warnings
• Why you like it

Comments

[angelette]

Title: Returnal

Media: video game

Approx length: 20-30 hours for the game, 2 hours if you watch the lore bits on YT.

Where to find it: it's a PS5 exclusive, so on the PS store or wherever you like to get your PS games. Because of the PS5 shortage and because it's a game where the gameplay and the story are not very connected if you're interested in writing for a horror, sci-fi video game fandom without playing it: you can find all the cutscenes and lore/story important voice logs on Youtube. And there is one more added video for the true ending. Unfortunately, the game's Wikia is a work in progress, so there are no full transcripts apart from these videos.

What is it, in summary? It's a third-person shooter roguelike, 3D bullet hell game about Selene, an astronaut, who crashlands on Atropos, an alien planet, and gets stuck in a time-loop where she has to face her traumatic memories about losing her child.

Fair warning: The game is said to be hard and frustrating due to the fact that there is no save feature and after each death, you have to start over again without (mostly) any of your equipment or abilities, and there is a lot of RNG in the abilities you can get. Almost every item you pick up has also some negative effect too, could feel very punishing. Personally, I enjoyed it, didn't feel too grind-focused, but it can be frustrating for some, and there are no different difficulties. If you liked Doom Eternal's fighting style it might be your game.

What do you love about it?
- Dark, horror atmosphere. It has so much potential for body horror and psychological torture! Selene can meet her other self via the time-loop (or cloning, however you prefer to interpret it) and some of her versions started to lose their grip on reality.
- The whole thing has an added Greek myth element, characters and bosses being named after Greek gods and titans, even the alien fauna is inspired by Greek monsters.
- Gameplay-wise, I enjoyed the whole fighting system, the procedurally generated, always changing maps, and the boss fights are superbly designed.
- It has a fantastic soundtrack!

What sort of things are you likely to request for it? The story can be interpreted in many ways (is any of it real or is it just Selene's guilt?), but I'll be requesting mostly world-building sci-fi about aliens and a sentient planet, time-loops, survival horror, body horror, psychological horror, trauma recovery, and Selene meeting her other, more unstable versions.

Content warnings: your typical video game violence, flashing, bright lights maybe - it has very Doom-like visuals with bright projectiles, so for some, it can be triggering or just plain not enjoyable. You can check out screenshots here.