Housemarque has released an extended trailer of the upcoming Tower of Sisyphus mode that will come packaged in the free Ascension update for Returnal. Arriving March 22, this endless survival mode is described by the developer as “an ascending gauntlet of increasingly dangerous phases” in the blurb of the trailer.
What to expect in Returnal’s Tower of Sisyphus
Featuring game director Harry Krueger and narrative director Gregory Louden as commentators, the extended trailer begins with an outside look of the eponymous tower. As Selene continues to climb the tower, clearing floor after floor of enemies, many mysteries will be revealed and the tower itself will transform. In particular, the base floor called the Atrium will gradually reveal its secrets as Selene progresses farther, cycle by cycle, into the heights of the tower.
Players are pushed toward clearing all the monsters on each floor quickly, not only to preserve their score multiplier, but to earn more obolites used to purchase items. As every floor is procedurally generated and the enemies are randomly selected from among all of the monsters Selene faces in the main campaign, every ascent will be different.
Along the way, you will gain access to superweapons like the Discorder which has a limited number of ammo. You’ll also need to make pivotal choices in many treasure floors as to which one of two upgrades to pick up that best suits your build for Selene.
The Tower of Sisyphus is separated into multiple sections called Phases, with the tenth floor of Phase 1 guarded by a new boss called Algos. Named after the personification of pain in Greek mythology, it will spew multiple rings of bullet-hell particles. Even after beating the boss, though, Algos will make its presence known in later Phases.
Last but not least, the bed in the Atrium will unlock first-person sequences where Selene can explore and re-explore an unknown hospital. There, you will unearth lore that has been hidden away until now.
In other news, Elden Ring has sold 12 million units so far according to Bandai Namco, and the save data for multiple Resident Evil games will carry over to the PS5.
