I didn’t know saving your progress on Returnal was that precarious … anyway, the problem is kind of fixed with Returnal’s 2.0 patch.
Taken from Engadget … One of the main complaints players had about Returnal, aside from the high level of difficulty, is that, until now, there was no real way to save your game in the middle of a run. Sure, you could leave your PS5 on or put it in rest mode, but if there was a power outage or an overnight automatic system software update, you’d lose all of your progress. Given that runs can last several hours, not having any kind of save state option wasn’t great.
Housemarque, now a PlayStation-owned studio, has finally attempted to remedy that problem in Returnal’s 2.0 patch. With the Suspend Cycle option, you can pause your run, create a suspend point and close the game without worrying too much about losing progress.
There are some caveats, though. You’ll only be able to resume your run from any suspend point one time. So, don’t expect to return to that point if (or more likely when) Selene dies. It’s a smart way to introduce a save system and let players take a break without disrupting the game’s start-over-when-you-die roguelite structure.
You won’t be able to create a suspend point in certain scenarios either. If you’re in the midst of a boss battle, intense combat sequence, cinematic or first-person section, you’ll need to see it through, one way or another. “We felt there are certain moments in Returnal that are best experienced unfragmented to preserve the intended challenge and flow,” game director Harry Krueger wrote in a PlayStation blog post.
Read the rest at Engadget