Opening yellow barriers in Returnal is quite the head scratcher since the game does not tell players how to do it. Slashing away at them does not seem to work and there don’t appear to be keys lying around. Here’s how to get past the glowing yellow barriers in Returnal.
How to open Returnal yellow barriers
To open the yellow barriers in Returnal, players need to have the melee weapon upgrade and have the Blade Balancer artifact equipped and slash the door. It looks like three gears stacked on top of each other. This is one of the random perks in the game that players can find around the world as well as at the Fabricator. Malfunctions and parasites aside, this upgrade should cost 250 Obolites at any of the random terminals in the level. Since the perks are random, it’s not always guaranteed that this upgrade will be at a fixed place or Fabricator every time. It might be behind a challenge room or in a hidden room so be sure to explore if there are any yellow barriers around.
Once players have that upgrade, they just simply need to melee the door and it will open up and reveal the contents inside. There is usually a piece of Ether or other small upgrade in it. Getting the Adrenaline to the third level has no effect on this, despite that level upgrading the player’s melee swipe. These doors do not open any other way, which gives more value to the Blade Balancer as it acts as a powerful melee buff as well as a key for certain doors.
There are many other secrets in the game, too. There are chests locked behind bars, mysterious red beds, inviting green ones, spooky machines called Reconstructors, and more objects that simply evade reasoning. For more general tips, check out our tip guide every newer player should know.
