A day ago, YouTuber TheRandomizer discovered that Housemarque accidentally left Returnal‘s developer cheat codes in the release build. All players had to do was connect a keyboard to their PlayStation 5 and you could do things like use different weapons at your current level proficiency and respawn at your ship with your current health, items, adrenaline, and weapon proficiency.
As soon as the cheat codes started making rounds, Housemarque patched them up. However, if you own Returnal on disc, all you have to do is uninstall, disconnect your console from the internet, and reinstall the game. At the moment, we can’t confirm if cheat codes disable trophies so if you care about your Platinum run, avoid using the codes. Additionally, using the cheats may result in your game crashing so try them out at your own risk. Last but not least, do not use the ship respawn cheat after Biome 3 or during Biome 4 unless you’ve already beaten the game. Doing so will send you back to your ship location in Biome 1 with no way to return.
Those who own Returnal digitally may also still be in luck. Since Housemarque has rolled back the patch until further notice, you can simply delete and redownload the game (UPDATE: the patch has been deployed again). But there’s no guarantee that this solution will work.
Cheat codes are as follows:
- Hold Shift, Control, & Alt, then press a number from 1 to 0: Get different weapons at current weapon proficiency
- Hold Shift & Control, then press 4: Respawn at the ship with current health, money, keys, artefacts, adrenaline level, and weapon proficiency
- Hold Shift & Control, then press 8: Respawn at the start of Biome 3 with current health, money, keys, artefacts, adrenaline level, and weapon proficiency
