If you're playing Returnal for the first time, expect death and many unsuccessful attempts at progression. It's an adventure game developed by Housemarque that designs death as a replayable game cycle, motivating the player to go further into cosmic horror with each run.

But what happens when you die during gameplay?

Remember that there are no traditional saves in Returnal, but there are several ways to work around this system limitation.

What Happens After Death in Returnal

When you die in Returnal, you respawn at the same location where you initially started your journey. In other words, the time loop resets back to the beginning of the game.

What You Lose Upon Death in Returnal

With each respawn, you lose all weapons, artifacts, and materials collected during the previous run. Be prepared for the fact that all passive upgrades and healing items will be erased from your inventory.

Each biome resets with randomly generated rooms, but most of the locations should be familiar due to recurring enemies and collectible items, regardless of their altered placements. In short, you simply start the game "naked" from the beginning.

What Remains After Death in Returnal

Some devices, such as the Astronaut Figurine and the Atropian Blade, remain with you permanently. These items allow for faster traversal through biomes and are unlocked at specific points in the game, after which you can never lose them.

Additionally, you are not required to defeat a boss more than once, and you can skip encounters after the first completion. However, remember that without doing so, you won't be able to upgrade/change your weapons, obtain special items, etc.

In any case, always remember the checkpoint, which you can earn and respawn at halfway through your progress, rather than starting from scratch.