Bonkers Returnal Fan Theory Suggests The End Is Actually The Beginning

Returnal, the PS5-exclusive action game about not having fall damage but then picking up an item that gives you fall damage, has been out for about three weeks, which means more and more players are talking about the ending.

[masterfox]

yes it can, the lore Housemarque created can expand to a big sci-fi Alien universe imo, I hope they don't let this one go is too damn good.

[ArchangelMike]

Too right. I'm so much more intrugued about the backstory. Not just Selene's back story, but the back story about how they actually got to the panet. What's the deal with the mothership and the other scouts. Then you have the back story of Atropos itself and the war of the Fallen etc. So much fertile group to develop a whole universe full of lore. I hope HouseMarque get's the green light for whatever way they want to continue to story.

[Elda]

I can't believe I finally tackled the first boss Phrike. Though I died a lot the game is addicting.

[Krangs_Uncle]

Nice one. Man, wait until Biome 5 and 6.. They are a wild ride!

[Chevalier]

Totally understand. I just beat the 2nd boss and honestly took me way longer to beat the 1st boss.

[RedDevils]

It only gonna get harder :)

[GamingSinceForever]

*****Spolier warning!

What I am trying to to understand is if it was all jus in her head in the end? Was the entire outer space thing just a dream?

[warriorcase]

I doubt it's all in her head but it is a tad unclear how much of what she see's is real or how much is a vision fed to her by the Octopus/Planet. We honestly need either DLC or a sequel to add more context to a few threads.

[antikbaka]

yes. Everything is about being a woman, mother, women's issues, biological things.

[GamingSinceForever]

You clearly are a virgin. What real man gets upset with women over their issues?

On subject not sure why I had so many disagrees. I finished the game and was left confused by the ending. She never was on another planet. She never really became an actual astronaut. Maybe Selene is the daughter while we play as the mother. These are my interpretations.

You geeks are too uptight most of the time. Jeez!

[Father__Merrin]

Gameplay for this still looks incredible. No other game like it, Returnal is another game that was played down due to it being on the wrong system

[Gamer75]

Do you ever stop and think that there are people who just aren't into every single game that is on PS or do you just like playing the blame game

[porkChop]

It's not about Returnal being on PS5. Do you really think Sony's games are entirely above criticism? They're just so perfect that no one is allowed to dislike anything about them?

Many people have valid complaints. You may not agree with those complaints, which is your right. You may think the game is a masterpiece as-is. That's fine. You might think that any and all requested changes would affect the structure and integrity of the game. Maybe you're right, or maybe you're wrong.

But understand that your opinion isn't truth. It isn't fact. It's your own personal feeling. People don't have to agree with you. Don't lump all criticism under some console war banner just because you like the game.

I personally haven't played the game, I don't have a PS5 yet. But I've been watching a lot of gameplay and streams. I've read a lot of the complaints. I can at least understand where people are coming from. I don't know if I agree because I haven't played the game, but I get it.

[warriorcase]

Was it played down? Seems fine to me

[randomvoice]

The game is 86 on metacritics and has been universally well received. There is a nice little hardcore community growing for it similar to the early Bloodbourne days. The only dig people have about the game is a 'save once' system which deletes after it is loaded back by some mechanism which the developers have already said they're looking into.

So not sure where you got the game is being 'played down for being on the wrong system'. I'm pretty sure this game is gonna age really well and will be looked back as one of the first few great exclusive of the PS5 era.

[InUrFoxHole]

Not a big game but a good game for sony to add. MS wanted little games like this last gen but it just didn't work out for them.

[Deathdeliverer]

Spoiler warning—— read this one first.

So after I beat it here is my theory. Might I add I only had 13 deaths and screenshotted it after I beat the final boss and checked the computer 💪🏿

This whole ordeal is Selene dealing with depression/grief. Selene had a rough childhood and her mom was tough on her. Selene turned out to want to be a astronaut but due to all her trauma she couldn’t pass psyche evaluations (you hear audio tapes and the denial letter from Astra- the Space program company. She was obsessed with it and being a failure. She’s driving with Helios- her son- in the back who is carrying Octo- His favorite toy. Kid says the name of octo and you see octo drawn in places. Keep that in mind.
So she hears the “signal” calling to her, Don’t fear the reaper, playing on the radio. Again, audio tapes, Selenes talking, during the fight speech, and the translation on a wall let’s you know Hyperion is her father. After the funeral she never heard from him again but he played the organ and this song reminded her of him for one reason of another. (Maybe he played it at the funeral). So when it came on She was distracted. Hyperion being her dad basically confirms this is all in her head, but let’s continue.

She looks at the radio with that wtf look on her face and she looks up to see her astronaut at the last second. This was a result of all the psychosis Selene has been on pills for and had doctor visits for which is explained in audio tapes and you see the pills in the house. You also know she has hallucinated before. She hallucinates about the Astronaut because she was completely devoted to leaving the planet in my opinion. To get away. She was clearly trying so hard to be one and failed. More than once I think.
She crashes & sinks to the bottom. She can’t save Helios but she managed to save herself. She “abandoned Helios”. Every time a cycle starts what does she say when you leave the “crashed” ships area? “Abandoning Helios”. She keeps going “back to the crash” (the car crash) and doesn’t know why. It’s because that’s where her ultimate grief started. That’s where the beginning of the end began. Her child’s last words “do you see the white shadow” signifies the moon. Selene sees the reflection of the moon from underwater. The white shadow.

Before you fight Ophion Selene realizes why she deserves to be there and says she remembers this place. (This dispels the theories that Selene is the Astronaut) The place she remembers is underwater. You hear the audio of a psyche evaluation and that nobody can find out about it. The last boss, when she confronts her issues head on, is Octo. Her child’s favorite toy. It’s like losing a loved one and seeing their favorite item. When they were underwater in the car good ol octo was just floating there. The in the house scenes show octo all over the place. Drawn, hanging out, the kid packs him around, all that. Ophion also changes his “head” from the red eyed octopus, to death, to the astronaut. The death of Helios, the hallucination that started this.
She fought nemesis before the end of part one, the god of retribution- of going through what you needed to go through and getting what you deserved. She felt like she had all her answers and it was over. She had convinced herself it was all good.

[Deathdeliverer]

Spoiler Warning—- read the other one first. It was too long and sent out of order.

Her escaping at the end of part 1 is her getting over the depression. Her thinking she was past the grief. She was free. Be it through medication or therapy she felt past it.
Now this is where things get straight theory town. I think her being past the guilt allowed her to live out a life in her head. I think Selene is a wheelchair bound and possibly drugged into a coma. Maybe she’s simply in a coma. Regardless time passes in her mind which is totally unreleased to real-time and her mind eventually gets back on the crash. Back on the guilt. She’s right back to the crash. It’s like a dream. There’s no proof this was actually X amount of years that passed. In dreams days pass but in reality it’s been a hour. I think she’s in a Coma, drugged up, or a vegetable.

After she comes back in part 2 she says “Helios you’re still here too... we’re both trapped at the bottom...” I think this might be obvious but just in case, they were trapped in the bottom of the lake or whatever on the car.

The person in the wheelchair is Selene. After the accident she is confined to a wheelchair and goes over what happened in her head. Only thing I’m not sure of is if she is a vegetable, in a coma, or just drugged to hell.
The end. Oh, boss two is her mom. I gotta get back to work though.

[warriorcase]

Perhaps, expect the wheelchair. This is one of the theories people are running with along with the other of the visions being misdirection also. It could honestly go wither way and we'll need either DLC or a sequel to fill in some gaps. The other running theories are either that Selene was in a car crash or that it's actually her mother that we see, who looks very much like Selene but without the heterochromia that Selene has (different coloured eyes).

The theory roughly is that the crash was Selene's mother which broke her back, thus the wheelchair. The denial letter and medication is actually Selene's mothers and Selene grew up in the house of an abusive resentful mother which ties with Selene talking to the globe saying she always wanted to leave.

I could go on and on but it ties back to the visions of the house being burnt down which appears to have been Selene and also ties to artifacts like the charred piano key and the melted globe.

Also the game is based around very strong Greek mythology. Selene is Greek American.
Theia is the woman in the wheelchair at the end if you have subtitles on. Theia is Selene's mother.

In Greek mythology Theia was a goddess who gave birth to 3 children.
Selene - Moon
Helios - Sun
Eos - Sky
Making Helios and Selene brother and sister.

The planet you crash on is Atropos is also a Greek goddess that represents Fate or Destiny. Atropos also decided how humans would die.

There's many story threads and theories left open that still need more context before anything concrete can be decided on it seems.

[Einhander1971]

If that's the case, make it like Metroid next time. Not roguelike.

[antikbaka]

It's just shitty story about a woman who got issues with her mother. It's not even real sci fi.