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There are six biomes in the main story ofReturnal, and each one of them has a unique set of enemies that have a unique set of abilities and attack patterns. Most enemies are exclusive to a certain biome, and the player has to adapt constantly if they don’t want to start the entire run all over again.
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Crimson Wastes is the second biome in the game, and you have to beat the final boss in Overgrown Ruins to get here. This desert area is filled with trap rooms and strong enemies that can corner you in the tiny pathways and easily get rid of your health. With that in mind, it’s important to know how to counter them.
How To Defeat Crimson Turret
Turrets are a common sight in every single biome of Returnal,and the species of turrets found in Crimson Wastes are known as Crimson Turrets. They might look a lot like the Atropian Turrets in Overgrown Ruins but their attack differs massively. The Crimson Turret is essentially a machine gun.
Whenever it detects you,the turret will face you and start shooting tons of red bullets in your direction. These turrets aim at your current position and don’t predict your movement, so you’ll only get hit by these bullets if you’re completely still, running slowly, or if you backtrack on your path.
Some of these turrets will not be active until you get close to them. They’ll be in aninactive position with their head close to the ground, and you can’t deal damage to them in this form. When you get close to them, they’ll activate and you can defeat them.
These turrets can also have a red shield on them, whichcan only be destroyed with a melee attack or if you have the Shieldbreaker alt-fire on your weapon. The constant fire from the shielded turrets can be lethal since you have to get right beside them if you want to defeat them.
How To Defeat Aetheract
Aetheracts are the most common type of enemies you’ll encounter in Crimson Wastes, especially until you get inside the mountain.These enemies have cube-like heads with a bunch of tentacles below them. They’re always floating in the air, and you’ll find them in a group of three or above most times.
Since they can usually be far away from you, the Aetheracts don’t have a close-range attack. Moreover,the two ranged attacks that they can perform are quite easy to dodge if you’re attentive. Here are the attacks they can perform:
Aetheracts exist in great numbers in Crimson Wastes, but their health is quite low.Moreover, they can’t launch an attack if you’re currently shooting at them. If you’re fighting multiple enemies at the same time, it’s better to get behind an object and tackle them one at a time.
How To Defeat Gorgolith
Gorgolith is a special enemy that you’ll only find once you enter the mountain in Crimson Wastes.As you’re ascending the mountain, you can come across this turtle-like creature with a hard shell. You’ll hardly deal any damage when you’re attacking its shell, and you have to attack its head whenever it’s visible.
When the turtle spawns for the first time, it will stay inside the ground with only its shell on the surface.It will constantly shoot blue bullets from its shell that will follow your character as they drop. It’s easy to dodge all the attacks performed by this enemy, but it can take a while to defeat it.
How To Defeat Waste Kerberonyx
You’ve known the Kerberonyx enemy already since you first encounter them in Overgrown Ruins.Though there are some differences between these enemies in the two biomes. Waste Kerberonyx is giant lizard-like enemies that have many tentacles on the back side of their body along with a blue-colored head.
Apart from the difference in the color of their head,Waste Kerberonyx also have a completely different set of attacks. Here’s every attack you’ll see from this enemy:
While their design and attack pattern are different, the two Kerberonyx do share one trait.Waste Kerberonyx also has a stagger bar that fills up when you shoot at it. If the bar fills up completely, the enemy will enter a vulnerable state for a long time.
You canget near the enemy and melee them or constantly shoot at them from far away during this time. If you can make the Kerberonyx enter the vulnerable state, it’s as good as dead.
Moreover, these enemies generally don’t perform an attack if they’re getting shot at.Though there’s still a chance they can shoot a quick round of blue orbs even while getting attacked, so you have to be careful and have quick reactions. You can also find a Malformed Kerberonyx in this biome, which works the same as the one in Overgrown Ruins.
How To Defeat Archonact
Archonact is one of the mini-bosses in Returnal’s Crimson Waste biome,and it’s the only boss you can encounter before you enter the mountain. This looks like an upgraded version of Aetheract with a rectangular head and giant tentacles floating below it. This boss flies high in the air if there’s space.
It also has quite a variety of attacks, and here’s what you can expect:
Upon death,Archonact breaks into pieces while spawning a circular laser at its final position. It also spawns some blue orbs that scatter randomly around the area, so be careful of this after you defeat this enemy. Archonact also exists in a Malformed state, which has higher health and more aggressive attacks.
Apart from the attacks mentioned above, Malformed Archonact also has two purple lasers that constantly move around the area.Furthermore, it has a special attack where it shoots three big bullets at your location.
How To Defeat Severed
Severed is quite a special mini-boss in Crimson Wastes, and that’s obvious since it gets its own cutscene.When you enter the mountain for the first time, you’ll be in the giant room where you’ll discover the Severed for the first time. This enemy is similar to Mycomorphs from Overgrown Ruins in a way.
Talking about Mycomorphs, they’re one of the few enemies that are shared between Overgrown Ruins and Crimson Wastes.Since you’re in a further biome, the Mycomorphs in Crimson Wastes will be in groups, and sometimes accompanied by other enemies.
Just like Mycomorphs, the Severed can teleport near you if it loses line-of-sight on Selene.This gives the enemy an advantage since it doesn’t have to run to a certain position to attack you. Apart from that, here is a wide range of attacks performed by this enemy:
Moreover, the Severed can also perform a melee attack if you’re close to it, and it has quite a lot of health.This is the most dangerous enemy in Crimson Wastes, and you’ll likely struggle a lot against it.
Apart from all the enemies mentioned above,you can also encounter Proteron and Infected Scout in any biome after you reach Crimson Wastes. Proteron is a giant tower that constantly heals the hostiles in the room, so you have to break it first.
The Infected Scout only spawnsif you scan an entry from dead Selene and you see the body enter its demise location for the first time. This will give rise to an evil Selene with many tentacles around it.
