We have recognized for a while that Housemarque’s engaged on its subsequent recreation, and we have now discovered it options minimize “concepts and narrative programs” from Returnal.
Following its launch final 12 months, Returnal marked one among Sony’s earliest PS5 exclusives, with the roguelike following protagonist Selene making an attempt to flee a hostile alien planet. We have seen substantial updates since then, together with an infinite mode, Tower of Sisyphus, and we lately discovered Housemarque is engaged on its subsequent challenge, which it is confirmed is a brand new IP and will not be Returnal 2.
We do not have many particulars on that at the moment however due to a latest interview, Housemarque’s senior narrative designer Eevi Korhonen has given us some fascinating particulars. Talking with VGC (opens in new tab), she suggested:
“Returnal was so bold. We dreamt tremendous large, however we nonetheless needed to depart a lot on the reducing room ground. All of those concepts and narrative programs. I am tremendous excited to select up these items and see how these match our new IP story.”
Korhonen does not cease there, nonetheless. Detailing Returnal’s improvement challenges, she confirms Housemarque is now in a stronger place for this new recreation:
“We didn’t fairly have the deal with on how large [Returnal] was going to be, constructing for a brand new platform on a brand new engine with a brand new group, all of these issues require some studying. Now we’ve got that group that has gone by the hearth and discovered the best way to construct a recreation like Returnal. So now we get to begin off stronger”.
Slicing room flooring could be a treasure trove
It is a well-known undeniable fact that not each deliberate function makes it right into a online game throughout improvement. These additional options and ideas are sometimes eliminated to reign in scope since function creep could cause important delays throughout improvement. Nevertheless, that does not imply they’re gone perpetually as soon as they have been minimize – many sequels or follow-ups usually incorporate these concepts.
Again in March, Housemarque Managing Director Ilari Kuittinen confirmed this new IP remains to be within the conceptual stage. On the time, it sounded just like the title would see the studio return to its extra traditional arcade roots, which Returnal was a significant shift from. As such, we’re curious to see how these concepts in the end mesh collectively.