Returnal platinum player (~152 hours gametime here): here is some criticism after 7 hours into the game (currently Biome 5)
my biggest critique will be that its less skill dependent. most of the time you wont progress in this game, because you learnt how to overcome an obstacle, your character just gets stronger. Returnal was the complete opposite. i get why they did that, but that feels a little bit meh to me.
i didnt feel it was necessary to replay biomes after you killed biome's boss. Returnal makes you conquer the the start again and again, so you'll get stronger/get more silphium and suit updates in the shop/for artefacts. In Saros you only need money, which youll get in any biome. I saw no reason to go back to the first level, after i succeeded there.
The atmosphere: Returnal was mysterious, hollowing, and creepy. Alien-tech was pretty cool implemented. Saros didnt really catch me from the world building. Especially biomes 1+3 felt kinda generic and weird from their design. To say something positive: i kinda liked the boss fights.
the dialogues are pretty dull tbh + facial expressions look pretty bad.
you can cheese your way through biome 2 just by rushing into the next room and the door behind you will close and wont open again, so enemys cannot harm you anymore. i'd love to see this patched.
silphium or aether turning into small amounts of gold when you're full health. i want more rewarding stuff for not getting hurt and beating the game full hp
shitty Artifacts once you activated the eclipse. you'll always be better off saving a key for a locked room instead of a loot-box.
8: less weapon-variety: Shotgun pretty useless, so you only have pistol and rifle. boring. i want my dreadbounds, hollowseekers and rocket launchers