Upon commencing Returnal, players will find themselves immediately thrust into the alien world Atropos apropos of little explanation. There is a signal to find (somewhere), dangerous aliens abound, and dead bodies are strewn around. It isn’t long before the player discovers those dead bodies are their own—corpses left behind from previous roguelite runs—but little else is immediately revealed. It doesn’t help that there is a good chance most people will die frequently without making much progress toward unraveling the sprawling alien locations and all their mysteries. This game is hard! That said, there’s no reason to make it harder. The internet is here to provide some answers to parts of the game that are never explained outright.
For example: Biome Surveys. The game never really tells the player what these are or how to complete them although anyone looking to earn all the trophies in the game will need to do so. To find out how to do so (and what these things are in the first place) read on!
Biome Surveys are essentially a checklist of things that need to be found in each area (Biome) of Returnal. Each Biome has a survey that can be completed, and completing each one will unlock the corresponding trophy. To complete any given Biome Survey, the player must find every Scout Log, Xenoglyph Cipher, and Xeno-Archive in that Biome. Herein lies the difficulty: since every run in Returnal reconfigures and randomizes elements of the map, there is no saying where Scout Logs, Xenoglyph Ciphers, and Xeno-Archives will necessarily be. Nevertheless, it is useful to know specifically what to look for when hunting down these collectibles, which do—thankfully—carry over even after one's inevitable demise. Here is a breakdown of what to look for:
Scout Logs
These are Returnal’s version of Audio-Logs. They will play a small audio clip upon being picked up and can be reviewed in the pause menu as well. On the mini-map, they are denoted by a broadcast symbol.
Xenoglyph Ciphers
These are the glowing red glyphs the player will come across on some walls throughout the game. Collecting these will allow the player to translate more alien text. On the mini-map, these items appear as blue triangles, although it’s worth noting several different kinds of items appear as this on the mini-map. Regardless, they are generally hard to miss as they glow and emit a pulsing sound. Unless, of course, everything is pulsing with the sounds of screaming aliens or shooting rockets or the whole room is tinged with red as it is throughout the appropriately named “Crimson Wastes” Biome…
Xeno-Archives
Xeno-Archives are the large art-installation-like hologram things that the player will come across throughout their Atropos travels. They’re big and cool and it's hard to miss when their particle effects conglomerate to depict tableaus of alien life. Oftentimes when one is found more will be nearby. But since this Returnal, that’s not exactly a given, and players might need to find multiple rooms in their exploration to get all the Xeno-Archives in a given Biome.
The easiest way to check on progress toward completing a Biome Survey is to check the PS5 Activity Card for the Biome that the player is currently in. This will provide a progress bar for how far along the player is in collecting Scout Logs, Xenoglyph Ciphers, and Xeno-Archives. It is a rather clunky and complicated way of going about business, but this is Returnal after all.
Returnal is available now on PlayStation 5.
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