{"id":543164,"date":"2026-03-09T06:33:33","date_gmt":"2026-03-09T06:33:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/article.php?article_id=2195563"},"modified":"2026-03-09T06:33:33","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T06:33:33","slug":"returnals-free-ascension-update-finally-gives-us-a-reason-to-go-back","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/returnals-free-ascension-update-finally-gives-us-a-reason-to-go-back\/","title":{"rendered":"Returnal&#8217;s free Ascension update finally gives us a reason to go back"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/returnals-free-ascension-update-finally-gives-us-a-reason-to-go-back.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p>One of the biggest criticisms surrounding Returnal&#8217;s initial release was its lofty launch price of \u00a370. Obviously you can pick the game up for much cheaper now but back in April of 2021 there was plenty of discourse surrounding the amount of content available for that price. This was especially true when you factored in the brutal difficulty of some of the later levels, something that was a definite turn-off for a large portion of players. <\/p>\n<p>Although I totally understood the arguments against the price at the time, I fell into the &#8220;it&#8217;s worth every penny&#8221; camp, as I was instantly taken in by Returnal&#8217;s dark sci-fi vibes, super slick gameplay and presentation.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/articles\/2022-03-24-returnals-free-ascension-update-makes-a-great-game-even-better\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/articles\/2022-03-24-returnals-free-ascension-update-makes-a-great-game-even-better\">Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>One of the biggest criticisms surrounding Returnal&#8217;s initial release was its lofty launch price of \u00a370. Obviously you can pick the game up for much cheaper now but back in April of 2021 there was plenty of discourse surrounding the amount of content available for that price. This was especially true when you factored in the brutal difficulty of some of the later levels, something that was a definite turn-off for a large portion of players. Although I totally understood the arguments against the price at the time, I fell into the &#8220;it&#8217;s worth every penny&#8221; camp, as I was instantly taken in by Returnal&#8217;s dark sci-fi vibes, super slick gameplay and presentation. Read more Source<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":543165,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[230],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-543164","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-eurogamer"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Returnal&#039;s free Ascension update finally gives us a reason to go back | Arcader News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"One of the biggest criticisms surrounding Returnal&#039;s initial release was its lofty launch price of \u00a370. Obviously you can pick the game up for much\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/returnals-free-ascension-update-finally-gives-us-a-reason-to-go-back\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Returnal&#039;s free Ascension update finally gives us a reason to go back | Arcader News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"One of the biggest criticisms surrounding Returnal&#039;s initial release was its lofty launch price of \u00a370. Obviously you can pick the game up for much\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/returnals-free-ascension-update-finally-gives-us-a-reason-to-go-back\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Arcade News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-03-09T06:33:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/returnals-free-ascension-update-finally-gives-us-a-reason-to-go-back.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"480\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"269\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Arcade News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Arcade News\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/returnals-free-ascension-update-finally-gives-us-a-reason-to-go-back\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/returnals-free-ascension-update-finally-gives-us-a-reason-to-go-back\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Arcade News\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8460f5e5076b52fb2369f2f7ce6f2839\"},\"headline\":\"Returnal&#8217;s free Ascension update finally gives us a reason to go back\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-03-09T06:33:33+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/returnals-free-ascension-update-finally-gives-us-a-reason-to-go-back\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":130,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/returnals-free-ascension-update-finally-gives-us-a-reason-to-go-back\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/03\\\/returnals-free-ascension-update-finally-gives-us-a-reason-to-go-back.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Eurogamer\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/returnals-free-ascension-update-finally-gives-us-a-reason-to-go-back\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/returnals-free-ascension-update-finally-gives-us-a-reason-to-go-back\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/returnals-free-ascension-update-finally-gives-us-a-reason-to-go-back\\\/\",\"name\":\"Returnal's free Ascension update finally gives us a reason to go back | Arcader News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/returnals-free-ascension-update-finally-gives-us-a-reason-to-go-back\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/returnals-free-ascension-update-finally-gives-us-a-reason-to-go-back\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/03\\\/returnals-free-ascension-update-finally-gives-us-a-reason-to-go-back.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-03-09T06:33:33+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8460f5e5076b52fb2369f2f7ce6f2839\"},\"description\":\"One of the biggest criticisms surrounding Returnal's initial release was its lofty launch price of \u00a370. Obviously you can pick the game up for much\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/returnals-free-ascension-update-finally-gives-us-a-reason-to-go-back\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/returnals-free-ascension-update-finally-gives-us-a-reason-to-go-back\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/returnals-free-ascension-update-finally-gives-us-a-reason-to-go-back\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/03\\\/returnals-free-ascension-update-finally-gives-us-a-reason-to-go-back.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/03\\\/returnals-free-ascension-update-finally-gives-us-a-reason-to-go-back.jpg\",\"width\":480,\"height\":269,\"caption\":\"Returnal\u2019s free Ascension update finally gives us a reason to go back\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/returnals-free-ascension-update-finally-gives-us-a-reason-to-go-back\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Returnal&#8217;s free Ascension update finally gives us a reason to go back\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/\",\"name\":\"Arcade News\",\"description\":\"Free Arcade News from the Best Online Sources\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8460f5e5076b52fb2369f2f7ce6f2839\",\"name\":\"Arcade News\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/3fea48a614d86edd987bc7bb25f4707c69546d4b1f78ad4aa20b26316bad1f9d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/3fea48a614d86edd987bc7bb25f4707c69546d4b1f78ad4aa20b26316bad1f9d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/3fea48a614d86edd987bc7bb25f4707c69546d4b1f78ad4aa20b26316bad1f9d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Arcade News\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/cricketgames.tv\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/author\\\/arcade-news\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Returnal's free Ascension update finally gives us a reason to go back | Arcader News","description":"One of the biggest criticisms surrounding Returnal's initial release was its lofty launch price of \u00a370. Obviously you can pick the game up for much","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/returnals-free-ascension-update-finally-gives-us-a-reason-to-go-back\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Returnal's free Ascension update finally gives us a reason to go back | Arcader News","og_description":"One of the biggest criticisms surrounding Returnal's initial release was its lofty launch price of \u00a370. Obviously you can pick the game up for much","og_url":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/returnals-free-ascension-update-finally-gives-us-a-reason-to-go-back\/","og_site_name":"Arcade News","article_published_time":"2026-03-09T06:33:33+00:00","og_image":[{"width":480,"height":269,"url":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/returnals-free-ascension-update-finally-gives-us-a-reason-to-go-back.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Arcade News","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Arcade News","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/returnals-free-ascension-update-finally-gives-us-a-reason-to-go-back\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/returnals-free-ascension-update-finally-gives-us-a-reason-to-go-back\/"},"author":{"name":"Arcade News","@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8460f5e5076b52fb2369f2f7ce6f2839"},"headline":"Returnal&#8217;s free Ascension update finally gives us a reason to go back","datePublished":"2026-03-09T06:33:33+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/returnals-free-ascension-update-finally-gives-us-a-reason-to-go-back\/"},"wordCount":130,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/returnals-free-ascension-update-finally-gives-us-a-reason-to-go-back\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/returnals-free-ascension-update-finally-gives-us-a-reason-to-go-back.jpg","articleSection":["Eurogamer"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/returnals-free-ascension-update-finally-gives-us-a-reason-to-go-back\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/returnals-free-ascension-update-finally-gives-us-a-reason-to-go-back\/","url":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/returnals-free-ascension-update-finally-gives-us-a-reason-to-go-back\/","name":"Returnal's free Ascension update finally gives us a reason to go back | Arcader News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/returnals-free-ascension-update-finally-gives-us-a-reason-to-go-back\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/returnals-free-ascension-update-finally-gives-us-a-reason-to-go-back\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/returnals-free-ascension-update-finally-gives-us-a-reason-to-go-back.jpg","datePublished":"2026-03-09T06:33:33+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8460f5e5076b52fb2369f2f7ce6f2839"},"description":"One of the biggest criticisms surrounding Returnal's initial release was its lofty launch price of \u00a370. Obviously you can pick the game up for much","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/returnals-free-ascension-update-finally-gives-us-a-reason-to-go-back\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/returnals-free-ascension-update-finally-gives-us-a-reason-to-go-back\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/returnals-free-ascension-update-finally-gives-us-a-reason-to-go-back\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/returnals-free-ascension-update-finally-gives-us-a-reason-to-go-back.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/returnals-free-ascension-update-finally-gives-us-a-reason-to-go-back.jpg","width":480,"height":269,"caption":"Returnal\u2019s free Ascension update finally gives us a reason to go back"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/returnals-free-ascension-update-finally-gives-us-a-reason-to-go-back\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Returnal&#8217;s free Ascension update finally gives us a reason to go back"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/","name":"Arcade News","description":"Free Arcade News from the Best Online Sources","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8460f5e5076b52fb2369f2f7ce6f2839","name":"Arcade News","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3fea48a614d86edd987bc7bb25f4707c69546d4b1f78ad4aa20b26316bad1f9d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3fea48a614d86edd987bc7bb25f4707c69546d4b1f78ad4aa20b26316bad1f9d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3fea48a614d86edd987bc7bb25f4707c69546d4b1f78ad4aa20b26316bad1f9d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Arcade News"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/cricketgames.tv"],"url":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/author\/arcade-news\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543164","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=543164"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543164\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1268565,"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543164\/revisions\/1268565"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/543165"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=543164"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=543164"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=543164"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}