I really like Returnal, it's technically really tight, looks and sounds amazing but it's just too difficult and with no real carry over progression, stays difficult.
There's only so long before "just one more run" gives way to "meh, what's the point?"
When you take a step back from it, it's basically finish the game in a single run or your efforts count for pretty much nothing.
After 8 hours of play much hit the "meh".
It lacks the reward of persistence a Roguelite gives you to help you over difficultly bumps and stopping them from becoming a hard stop barriers.
I've now seen every tile set and enemy from my current stage over and over again. Even when procedurally generated it becomes a bit of a chore to slog through it all repeatedly to get to the boss (that seems considerably more difficult than the level it's guarding).
The elements of carryover from games like Hades have just enough to keep the game challenging but reward persistence in a way that this game just doesn't quite do.
It's the element of "I'm a tiny bit stronger now, Let's have another craic" that seems to separate the winning formula of a game like Hades from the great formula of a game like Returnal.
But this is the opinion of a distinctly average skill level gamer. If you are of a similar level I would imagine you have a pretty similar experience.
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