Returnal patch pulled after corrupting saves
Quick, run.
Patch 1.3.3 for PlayStation 5-exclusive roguelite Returnal was pulled by developer Housemarque last night after it was found to have corrupted saves.
Housemarque later released a follow-up patch (1.3.4) that fixed the save-related issues caused by the previous update, but the developer said those affected by the previous update (you'd get the CE-100028-1 error popup) would have to re-download the game.
"Our sincerest apologies," Housemarque tweeted.
It was a rough night for Returnal players. After the troublesome 1.3.3 patch went live and started causing havoc with saves, Housemarque warned: "So to be safe, don't start the game before the upcoming patch is available and downloaded."
That tweet warning failed to prevent some players from downloading the 1.3.3 patch, either because their PS5 auto-updated the game, or because they simply didn't see the message.
After updating (and scanning my first scout) I received this error three times now. I can continue playing but my progress doesn’t get saved at all. Error code is CE-100028-1 in case you can’t see the picture clearly pic.twitter.com/17scnvRIXc
— ヒゲ大名（デニス） (@hige_daimyo) May 5, 2021
With patch 1.3.4 now out, it should be safe to play Returnal with save file intact - although players are still worried about losing their hard-earned progress.
It's worth going over what the patch fixes. There's a fix for an issue where certain trophies might not unlock. Unfortunately, missing trophies will need to be replayed to unlock, Housemarque said.
There are stability fixes addressing rare crashes and hangs, and configuration changes to increase the number of scout corpses available in all biomes. The scout corpses change relates to a feature Returnal is meant to have where you find another player's body/ghost and you can choose to avenge or scavenge it.
