Returnal Guide – All Artifacts, Consumables, Parasites, Equipment and Resources

If you’ve ever played a rogue-like, then you’ll know that Returnal is a game about items and RNG. While you don’t get too much control over the latter, knowing what each item does – and how to unlock them – can make all the difference. Let’s take a look at all of the items in the game. Unless specified otherwise, all items can be found across all biomes.

First, let’s start with the different Artifacts:

• Astronaut Figurine – First found in Overgrown Ruins and unlocked for all biomes subsequent runs after investigating the house for the first time. Grants an extra life.
• Blown Nightlight – First found in Overgrown Ruins and unlocked for all biomes in subsequent runs. Grants 10 percent extra weapon damage at full or low Integrity.
• Two-Way Radio – Unlocked from Echoing Ruins onwards and then available for all biomes. Grants Protection when carrying Ether.
• Broken Calibrator – Provides small amount of Weapon Proficiency.
• Worn Calibrator – Provides decent amount of Weapon Proficiency
• Pristine Calibrator – Provides large amount of Weapon Proficiency
• Enhanced Calibrator – Provides a very large amount of Weapon Proficiency
• Modular Calibrator – Provides a varied amount of Weapon Proficiency
• Pulsating Mass – When detaching or attaching Parasites, Integrity is increased.
• Recharging Response – Taking damage reduces the cooldown of alt-fire by five seconds.
• Recharging Overload – Successfully using Overload reduces cooldown of alt-fire by three seconds.
• Wound Seekers – Deal 30 percent additional damage to targets with low health.
• Unfed Pod – Provides 20 percent additional stagger power for every attached Parasite.
• Blade Balancer – Increases melee attack damage.
• Damaged Robot – Provides increased invulnerability window when taking damage.
• Energy Manipulator – Using a consumable increases Protection by 20 percent for a short time.
• Fractal Nail – When you have a Malfunction, receive 10 percent weapon damage.
• Music Box – When near a secret location, it starts playing music.
• Phantom Limb – Kills have a 10 percent changes to restore Integrity.
• Golden Coil – For every 200 Obolites carries, receive 5 percent additional weapon damage (up to a maximum of 20 percent).
• Murmuring Cocoon – Positive effects of all Parasites are increased.
• Resin Enhancer – Reduces the number of Resins needed for upgrading Integrity.
• Progenitor Egg – Repairs Integrity when attaching or removing Parasites.
• Visceral Knot – Foes have a 20 percent chance to explode on death.
• Obolite Stabilizer – Obolites last three seconds longer when dropped.
• Resinous Shield – Provides a Shield against the next hit after picking up Resin.
• Spaceship Model – Increases length of dash.
• Xeno-Tech Sight – When aiming with alt-fire, time slows down for a brief period.

Next are the Consumables which can be used once. Different amounts of the same Consumable can also be carried during runs.

• Alt-Fire Coolant – Resets cooldown of alt-fire.
• Silphium Vial – Repair small amount of Integrity.
• Large Silphium Vial – Repair a large amount of Integrity.
• Leeching Nanoswarm – Sends out nanobots that will attack enemies, slowing them and restoring Integrity.
• Obolite Siphon – Obolites collected are turned into Integrity. Effect lasts 30 seconds.
• Residual Sphere – Enemies have a chance to drop Resin on death. Effect lasts 30 seconds.
• Extermination Sphere – Detach all Parasites.
• Interference Sphere – Disables turrets within an area.
• Shocking Springs – Landing after a jump creates energy blasts that damage surrounding foes. Effect lasts for 30 seconds.
• Shield Vial – Generates a Shield against the next hit.
• Translocation Sphere – Teleports the player to an unknown location (usually a room with chests, Fabricators etc).
• Xeno-Tech Prism – Located in the Crimson Waste and serves as a permanent upgrade. Grants an additional Consumable slot.
• Anti-Energy Pulse – Creates a burst of energy that turns enemy projectiles into Obolites.
• Ground Surge – Generate a Xeno-spike that will impale the nearest enemy.
• Nullification Sphere – Remove all Malfunctions.
• Repair Enhancer – Repair efficiency is doubled for 60 seconds.
• Projectile Portal – A portal is created in the air that fires at enemies.
• Weapon Harvester – “Recycles” a nearby weapon. This actually changes a weapon on the ground to something else.
• Obolite Extractor – After using this item, enemies that hurt you and are subsequently killed will drop 50 percent more Obolites.
• Repairs Augment – Repair efficiency is increased by 20 percent (which means more health obtained from healing sources).

Now let’s look at all of the different Equipment. Keep in mind that each Key must be acquired during each cycle. They will not carry over between cycles.

• Anathema Key – Found in Overgrown Ruins. Unlocks Anathema Vault.
• Atropian Weapon Charger – Found in Overgrown Ruins. Unlocks alt-fire as a permanent upgrade for all weapons.
• Crimson Key – Found in Overgrown Ruins after defeating Phrike. Unlocks the Crimson Gateaway.
• House Key – Found in Overgrown Ruins. Unlocks the 20^th century house.
• Echoing Key – Found in the Echoing Vault. Two of these unlocks the Echoing Vault.
• Fractured Key – Found in Echoing Ruins after defeating Hyperion. Unlocked the Fractured Gateway.
• Hadal Key – Found in the Fractured Wastes. Three of these unlocks the Hadal Vault.
• Abyssal Key – Found in Abyssal Scar. Unlocks the Abyssal Vault.

Malignant items have a chance of causing Malfunctions when picked up. The probability can range from low to very high (which the item states beforehand). After gaining two Malfunctions, the third will often be “critical” which means a random Artifact, Parasite etc can be destroyed.

• Malignant Key – Opens gates and containers.
• Malignant Obolite Chunk – Grants large amount of Obolites.
• Malignant Silphium – Repairs some damage to Integrity.
• Spoiled Resin – Can fill one slot towards increased Integrity or inflict damage (does not carry Malignancy).
• Large Malignant Resin – Fills two slots for increased Integrity.

While many items can provide benefits, Parasites add some drawbacks as well. Here are some of the Parasites that can be discovered throughout Atropos.

• Destabilizing Wiretail – Malfunction probability reduced but Obolites disappear one second faster.
• Distracting Oddkeeper – 25 percent to retain a Consumable after use but 15 percent reduction to Proficiency Rate.
• Atrophying Rotstench – Melee damage is reduced by 50 percent but you find Salvage from enemies more frequently.
• Caustic Goldstalker – Obolite collection radius is doubled but slain foes now leave acid pools.
• Jolting Silverskin – Discounts the next item purchased by 30 percent. Upon use, detaches and triggers two Malfunctions.
• Oily Rotnose – Chance of finding better Salvage from enemies is increased by 50 percent. However, the requirements for fixing future Malfunctions become more difficult.
• Brittle Needletooth – Repair Efficiency is increased by 20 percent but long falls now cause damage.
• Festering Lockfeeder – Reuse one key. Upon use, detaches and causes damage.

Next are Resources. Of these, only Ether and Xenoglyph Ciphers carry over between cycles. Everything else – from Obolites to Datacubes – must be acquired during each new run.

• Atropian Key – Opens containers and gates. Opens secured gates and containers. All biomes
• Datacube – Unlocks new items. Feed into the relevant terminal to obtain a consumable and unlock the item for future runs.
• Ether – Cleanses Malignancy and used to power Reconstructors.
• Leeching Nanoswarm Datacube – Unlocks Leeching Nanoswarm for future runs.
• Obolite Chunk – Provides a large amount of Obolites upon breaking.
• Shield Disruptor Datacube – Unlocks Shield Disruptor for future runs.
• Unfed Pod Datacube – Unlocks Unfed Pod for future runs.
• Projectile Portal Datacube – Unlocks Projectile Portal for future runs.
• Emergency Proficiency Datacube – Unlocks Emergency Proficiency for future runs.
• Weapon Harvester Datacube – Unlocks Weapon Harvester for future runs.
• Xenoglyph Cipher – Helps to translate Xenoglyphs. Finding more will unlock higher tiers of translation.

Finally, there are Suit Artifacts which provide passive bonuses and augment your skills in numerous ways.

• Execution Coolant – Alt-fire cooldown is reduced by five seconds with melee kills.
• Repair Circuit – Repairs Integrity upon gaining or fixing Malfunctions.
• Adrenaline Stimulants – Provides 5 percent additional weapon damage per level of Adrenaline.
• Emergency Stimulants – Provides 15 percent additional weapon damage at low Integrity.
• Execution Bolts – Kills with melee create two energy bolts that will strike the nearest hostiles.
• Overload Bolts – Overloads create energy bolts that will strike the two nearest enemies.
• Execution Blast – Melee kills create energy blasts that can damage nearby enemies.
• Recharging Overload – Overloads reduce alt-fire cooldown by three seconds.
• Explosive Response – Taking damage creates an explosion around the player.
• Ability Circuit – Gain a random combat ability when gaining or fixing Malfunctions.
• Adrenaline Leech – Integrity is repaired by 5 percent of damage dealt per level of Adrenaline.
• Melee Response – Upon taking damage, melee damage is increased by 100 percent.
• Adrenaline Coolant – Alt-fire cooldown is reduced by one second for each level of Adrenaline.
• Dash Blast – At the end point of a dash, an energy blast is created.
• Emergency Proficiency – Gain 25 percent additional Proficiency Rate at low Integrity.

For more details on which items are permanent between cycles in Returnal, head here. You can also check out our review for the game here.