Returnal Guide | How to Use Reconstructors

Here's a guide to using Reconstructors in Returnal.

Game Guide by Ragib Rawnak on Nov 29, 2025

When you begin Returnal, you interact with various forms of Xeno-Tech without knowing their functions. As you progress, you learn how each device fits into Atropos's structure. One device you may notice early is a circular door-like structure shaped with an alien outline. You may hesitate to activate it, but it serves an important purpose.

Returnal, Guide, How to Use Recostructors

Reconstructors Use

This structure is a Reconstructor, a one-use Xeno-Tech device. Activating it triggers a short sequence, and it may seem like nothing changes. The effect becomes clear only after you die. A Reconstructor creates a single revival point.

When you die after using one, you reappear at the Reconstructor instead of your ship in the Overgrown Ruins. You return in the same run, with the same room layout, and any rooms you cleared remain cleared in Returnal.

Timing of Reconstructor

In each run, a Reconstructor performs its job only once. Because of this, you might want to wait to use it until you've made a way through part of the biome. The device normally appears farther into a biome, letting you pick up where you left off instead of having to go back to earlier rooms.

Returnal, Guide, How to Use Recostructors

Finding a Reconstructor

Watch your minimap for a symbol showing an alien figure inside a circle. This icon represents a Reconstructor. Move to that location to find the device in Returnal.

Interact with the machine to enable it. After the short sequence plays, the Reconstructor becomes your revival point for the remainder of the run. When you die, you reappear here instead of your ship at the entry of the Overgrown Ruins. A Reconstructor supports only one use per run.

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