Against my every instinct, I paid Sony's ridiculous marked up price for Returnal. There's a lot that I really like about it - the weapon design, the enemy encounters, and the sound design are all first class. But, this is not a game worth $125AUD/$70USD. Sony was out of their fucking minds slapping that sticker price on it, and frankly, it's turned me right off trusting them again.
The game is well designed, but too difficult. I know, I know. 'Git gud'. I don't want to, I want to enjoy the games that I'm playing, and even for a roguelike, Returnal is too punishing. Hades was also a difficult roguelike, but even when I was dying over and over again, I don't feel bogged down and trapped in it the way I do in Returnal - I always felt like my deaths were a fault of my own actions, rather than the game just throwing wave after wave of enemies at me.
Which would all be fine - if Returnal was a reasonably priced indie exclusive, none of this would concern me. But, when I'm paying a really silly amount of money for a game, I want to be able to enjoy it. So, while I admire Returnal, I can't say that I find it 'enjoyable'. I imagine that word of mouth doesn't help, on top of the price, the bugs, the exclusivity, the kind of unlikeable protagonist, and the fact that it's a new IP. But, who knows, maybe it's a hugely successful phenomenon on digital, but I can't see it.