Returnal

"*Break the cycle.*"
―Tagline.

International boxart, depicting protagonist Selene

**PC**:
February 15, 2023

***Returnal*** is a 2021 roguelike third-person shooter video game developed by Housemarque and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment for the PlayStation 5. A PC port developed by Climax Studios was released in 2023.

*Returnal* is set on an alien planet called Atropos, with its narrative following Selene Vassos (Jane Perry), an astronaut who crash-lands into the planet and finds herself stuck in a time-loop that restarts with the crash-landing every time she dies. A third-person shooter, *Returnal* incorporates roguelike mechanics and horror elements, featuring procedurally-generated environments and enemies that change with each death. Selene has access to ten weapons that she can modify to include special abilities and upgrades, while also using alien creatures called "parasites" to alter stats and weapon effects.

Housemarque began development on *Returnal* in 2017, originally as a smaller title akin to their previous games; the scope grew as Sony became impressed with Housemarque's work. The game was announced in June 2020 and released in April 2021 following a month-long delay. A free expansion titled *Returnal: Ascension* was released in March 2022 and adds a co-op mode to the game.

*Returnal* received positive reviews from gaming publications, who praised Housemarque's transition into AAA game production. Additional praise was given to the presentation, combat, audio design, narrative, Perry's performance, controls and replayability; criticism signaled repetitive level design and RNG elements, while the game's difficulty level drew polarized responses. It was a commercial success for Sony, selling over 1 million copies by February 2022. *Returnal* was nominated for and won several end-year accolades at award ceremonies, including Best Game at the 18th British Academy Games Awards and Best Action Game at The Game Awards 2021.

## Gameplay

*Returnal* is a third-person shooter with roguelike and psychological horror elements in which the player controls Selene Vassos, an astronaut stranded on an alien planet called Atropos and stuck in a time loop that occurs every time she dies. Noted for its difficulty, the game's main objective is to survive the numerous threats and death traps Selene comes to face on Atropos, and escape both the planet and the time loop. The game's structure is made of two halves and comprised of six zones called Biomes in-game, which each half hosting three Biomes.

## Synopsis

### Setting and characters

*Returnal* is set on an alien planet called Atropos, which is populated by mysterious and hostile lifeforms. The game's story follows Selene, an astronaut who found herself stranded on Atropos following a crash-landing, and must piece together both the mysteries of the planet, and her own past.

## Development

*Returnal* was developed by Finnish studio Housemarque and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment, originally for the PlayStation 5. Game programmer Harry Krueger, who joined Housemarque in 2009 and was the game director of the studio's acclaimed 2017 release *Nex Machina*, was the game director for *Returnal*. Additional development support was provided by Climax Studios, which previously worked with both Housemarque and Sony on porting other Housemarque games to additional PlayStation consoles.

On March 25, 2021, Housemarque announced that *Returnal* went gold, a month ahead of its release date.

### Background and concept

In August 2017, Housemarque chief-executive officer Ilari Kuittinen declared the studio's intention to move away from their past catalogue of top-down arcade shooter titles, after the disappointing sales from its recent games *Matterfall* and *Nex Machina* despite critical acclaim. Kuittinen teased that at the time Housemarque was exploring "something totally different" to their past offerings, but maintained that their future projects will continue the studio's design philosophy. Among ideas Housemarque explored at the time was *Stormdivers*, a third-person battle royale title focusing on PC audiences which was first conceived in 2015.

The earliest concepts for *Retural* date back to November 2014, when *Nex Machina* director Krueger suggested an idea for a game titled *Cyber Kingdom*; the game was to be an open world title mixing dark fantasy and cyberpunk. According to Krueger, he was "practically laughed out of the room" by the studio. Krueger returned to work on *Nex Machina* afterwards but continued to think about the concept of a third-person arcade action game set on a "dark planet". The idea was revisited the following year and pitched to Sony, during which the early characteristics of *Returnal* were defined.

Early prototyping for *Returnal* began in 2017 under the skeleton crew of 5 people. Full development began in August of that year as Krueger joined the production and the team expanded to include 25 people; by April 2020, the team expanded to 80 people. Early into the team, the concept of "dark planet" wasn't developed with a particular platform or perspective in mind, and Krueger noted that Housemarque could have also developed it from a top-down perspective.

## Release

Housemarque first acknowledged *Returnal*'s existence in a blog post in December 2018, revealing at the time that it was an original intellectual property and was to be the studio's most ambitious game to date. In January 2020, Housemarque acknowledged the game again, and revealed that all of its other projects including *Stormdivers* were put on hold to focus on it.

*Returnal* was officially announced in June 2020 as part of Sony's Future of Gaming event for the PlayStation 5. On January 28, 2021, Sony announced that *Returnal* has been delayed from its original release to April 30, 2021.

In March 2022, Sony announced a free update for *Returnal* subtitled *Ascension*; the update includes a survival mode called  *Tower of Sisyphus* with 20-level phases and a new boss fight called Algos. Another new feature is the addition of a co-op mode. *Returnal: Ascension* was released on March 22, 2022.

At The Game Awards 2022, on December 8, 2022, Sony announced a PC version to launch in early 2023. The next month, Sony and Housemarque announced that the game will launch on February 15.

## Reception

### Pre-release

IGN's Simon Cardy favorably compared *Returnal* to 2020's roguelike *Hades*, as well as noticing the influence of the *Alien* franchise on the game. He found the game "challenging", but not "overly punishing". Kotaku's Ari Notis touted his experience with *Returnal* as the first time in 2021 he "felt like [he] was playing a next-gen game" instead of a transitional title. His thoughts were echoed by PlayStationLifeStyle's Chandler Woods, who described his first impressions as "very positive" and called *Returnal* the "first big experience that feels like a leap forward into what next-gen can be".

While noting some repetition from the areas he played, PushSquare's Stephen Tailby praised the game for its controls, visuals and performance, as well as its usage of the DualSense controller. Eurogamer's Martin Robinson considered *Returnal* to be a proof that Sony is still willing to produce "weird and daring" games, and drew comparisons with 2019's *Death Stranding* as an "an indie that's epic in scope". Polygon's Jeff Ramos felt that the game's early hours offered too many risks for not enough in-game gains.

### Reviews

* MetaCritic: 86/100
* OpenCritic: 86/100
* Destructoid: 7.5/10
* Easy Allies: 8.5/10
* Eurogamer: Recommended
* Game Informer: 9.5/10
* GameSpot: 9/10
* GamesRadar: 4/5
* Guardian: 5/5
* IGN: 8/10
* PlayStation Lifestyle: 10/10
* PlayStation Universe: 9/10
* Push Square: 9/10
* VideoGamer: 9/10

*Returnal* received positive reviews. It holds a score of 86/100 on MetaCritic based on 89 scored reviews, classified as "generally favorable reviews".

PlayStation LifeStyle's Chandler Woods awarded the game a perfect score and deemed it "one of the first truly next-gen experiences [on the PlayStation 5]", while Game Informer's Daniel Tack called it a "powerful roguelike recipe" for its combination of combat, narrative and art direction. IGN's Mitchell Saltzman called it "incredible" and touted *Returnal* among Housemarque's best titles, while PushSquare's Stephen Tailby called it the studio's "largest, most ambitious project by a country mile", an opinion echoed by PlayStation Universe's Joe Apsey. Eurogamer's Chris Tapsell called it a game of "euphoric highs and confounding lows".

Multiple reviewers commended Housemarque's transition into blockbuster video games while maintaining their lineage of arcade titles. Easy Allies' Bradely Ellis noticed how *Returnal* retained the studio's "intense and addictive gameplay" while surpassing previous titles in its ambition and scope. PlayStation Lifestyle's Woods praised how the studio applied their design philosophy into big-budget production to create something "exceptionally unique yet wholly familiar". PlayStation Universe's Apsey felt that *Returnal* "expertly keeps the essence of [Housemarque]'s arcade roots", and IGN's Saltzman called Housemarque's efforts "spectacular". While overall favorable towards the game, Destructoid's Chris Carter felt that *Returnal* suffered from an uneven scale. VentureBeats' Jeff Grubbs summarized that *Returnal* "looks and feels like a $70 Housemarque game".

The presentation and visuals received significant acclaim. Game Informer's Tack called the presentation "a massive treat" and praised the visuals for being "striking and powerful". IGN's Saltzman was impressed by the particle effects displayed in the game, and praised the overall aesthetics and personality that each area in *Returnal* held. Push Square's Tailby felt that *Returnal* overall evolved the usual visual direction Housemarque is known for, but noticed the presence of some low-quality textures in his playthrough. Guardian's Keza MacDonald considered the presentation to be "extraordinary".

*Returnal*'s was generally praised for its responsiveness and pacing.

The game's difficulty drew a mixed response from critics, while its lack of dedicated saving options in the middle of runs also received some criticism.

Recognized as one of 2021's best titles, the omission of *Returnal* from The Game Awards' Game of the Year category received some criticism. Push Square's Liam Croft was surprised at *Returnal* not being nominated, and promised that Push Square will "get it right on our site" on the article's comment section. GameRant's Peter Szpytek felt *Returnal* was an "obvious pick" and additionally lamented that the title wasn't nominated for Best Art Direction and Best Narrative, as well as Perry's performance as Selene. Den of the Geek's Matthew Byrd felt this was the biggest snub of the award show, and noted *Returnal* was the only Best Direction nominee not to be included in the Game of the Year category. In article criticizing The Game Awards and its snubbing of *Forza Horizon 5*, Windows Central's Jez Corden also acknowledged *Returnal* as a Game of the Year candidate that was shunned by the ceremony.

### Sales

In the UK, *Returnal* was the second best-selling game in its debut week, behind fellow newly-launched title *New Pokemon Snap*. Its debut numbers were noted to be lower than previous AAA PlayStation exclusives, which were attributed to the PlayStation 5's still-growing install base, its niche genre, its price tag and its release a week before *Resident Evil: Village*. By June 2021, *Returnal* sold over 560,000 copies. Documents and files leaked in December 2023 revealed that *Returnal* shipped over 1.01 million copies by February 2022.

### Accolades

*Returnal* won Game of the Year from Develop:Brighton, as well as Best Visual Art. It was nominated for Best PlayStation Game by Trusted Reviews, but lost to *Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart*. At The Game Awards 2021 ceremony, *Returnal* has been nominated for Best Direction, Best Audio Design and Best Action Game, winning the last category. At the 18th DICE award ceremony, *Returnal* was nominated for nine categories including Best Game, the most in that ceremony; it won four awards including Best Game, winning the most awards and becoming the forth Sony-published title to win Best Game after *The Last of Us*, *Uncharted 4: A Thief's End* and *God of War*.

## Future

In an interview with Video Game Chronicles from June 2022, narrative designer Eevi Korhonen reaffirmed that the studio was working on a new intellectual property instead of a sequel to *Returnal*, but said a potential continuation of Selene's story "remains to be seen".

## Gallery

### Trailers

Returnal - Announcement Trailer - PS5Announcement trailerReturnal - Gameplay Trailer - PS5The Game Awards 2020 gameplay trailerReturnal - Combat - PS5Combat trailer
## References

1. ↑ https://blog.playstation.com/2020/09/01/devs-speak-how-ps5-consoles-ultra-high-speed-ssd-and-tempest-3d-audiotech-engine-will-enhance-the-future-of-gaming/
2. ↑ https://blog.playstation.com/2020/09/01/devs-speak-how-ps5-consoles-ultra-high-speed-ssd-and-tempest-3d-audiotech-engine-will-enhance-the-future-of-gaming/
3. ↑ https://www.washingtonpost.com/video-games/reviews/returnal-difficulty/
4. ↑ https://www.pushsquare.com/guides/returnal-how-to-not-die
5. ↑ https://twitter.com/Housemarque/status/1375115275272654854
6. ↑ https://housemarque.com/news/arcade-is-dead
7. ↑ https://variety.com/2018/gaming/news/housemarque-stormdivers-battle-royale-1202912588/
8. ↑ https://housemarque.com/news/jumping-on-the-bandwagon-from-arcade-is-dead-to-aaa-5rn7t
9. ↑ "*Returnal was the culmination of several different ideas and suggestions over the years. The creative seed, as Krueger outlines, was first planted in November 2014 during an internal pitching session. He suggested a dark fantasy-meets-cyberpunk open-world game called Cyber Kingdom, to which, he says, he was "practically laughed out of the room." He returned to work on Nex Machina but kept the idea in mind, hoping to someday make a third-person arcade adventure game. The following year, as they decided what project to work on and pitch to Sony next, the "dark planet" concept for the game and Returnal's primary characteristics as a dark sci-fi cosmic horror roguelike were defined.*"
The making of *Returnal*, Game Developer.
10. ↑ "*In 2017 prototyping started with a skeleton crew of 5, followed by the full development kick-off in August 2017 with a team of 25 people, at which point Krueger joined. "It's important to note that with dark planet, the concept, it started out platform-agnostic and camera-agnostic as well. So at the time, we would have been happy to make it as a top-down game, you know, but after a bit of discussion back and forth, we thought this is our opportunity, we have a really strong concept, let's shoot for the stars and maybe land on a hostile alien planet." By the game's April 2020 release, the team had expanded from 25 to 80.*"
The making of *Returnal*, Game Developer.
11. ↑ https://wccftech.com/housemarque-aaa-triple-a-game/
12. ↑ https://housemarque.com/news/2020/1/22/letter-to-fans-celebrating-25th-anniversary-in-2020
13. ↑ https://www.engadget.com/returnal-pc-release-date-ps-5-playstation-sony-housemarque-170504605.html
14. ↑ *Returnal*: The Final Preview, IGN.
15. ↑ *Returnal* Feels Like An Actual PS5 Game, Kotaku.
16. ↑ *Returnal* Early Impressions – The First Truly Next-Gen Game, PlayStation LifeStyle.
17. ↑ Hands On: Why You Should Be Hyped for *Returnal*, the Next Great PS5 Exclusive, PushSquare.
18. ↑ https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2021-04-22-returnal-shows-that-sony-can-still-be-weird-and-daring
19. ↑ https://www.polygon.com/22399750/returnal-impressions-ps5-first-hours
20. ↑ https://www.destructoid.com/stories/review-returnal-626623.phtml
21. ↑ https://easyallies.com/#!/review/returnal
22. ↑ https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2021-04-29-returnal-review-magnificent-and-monstrous
23. ↑ https://www.gameinformer.com/review/returnal/returnal-review-haunting-harmony
24. ↑ https://www.gamespot.com/reviews/returnal-review-live-die-repeat/1900-6417669/
25. ↑ https://www.gamesradar.com/returnal-review/
26. ↑ https://www.theguardian.com/games/2021/may/12/returnal-review-epic-dance-of-death-with-beautiful-brutal-aliens
27. ↑ https://www.ign.com/articles/returnal-review
28. ↑ https://www.playstationlifestyle.net/2021/04/29/returnal-review-ps5/
29. ↑ https://www.psu.com/reviews/returnal-review-ps5/
30. ↑ https://www.pushsquare.com/reviews/ps5/returnal
31. ↑ https://www.videogamer.com/reviews/returnal-review
32. ↑ https://www.pushsquare.com/news/2021/11/the-game-awards-2021-nominations-revealed-deathloop-gets-eight-nominations-but-returnal-snubbed
33. ↑ https://gamerant.com/returnal-the-game-awards-snub-performance-art-goty/
34. ↑ https://www.denofgeek.com/games/the-game-awards-2021-nominations-list-snubs-surprises/
35. ↑ https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2021-05-02-new-pok-mon-snap-launch-is-four-times-bigger-than-original-uk-boxed-charts
36. ↑ https://gamingbolt.com/ratchet-and-clank-rift-apart-has-sold-over-1-1-million-copies-returnal-crosses-560000-units
37. ↑ https://gamingbolt.com/demons-souls-remake-has-shipped-over-2-million-units-returnal-at-1-million
38. ↑ https://twitter.com/developconf/status/1453472024811216900
39. ↑ https://www.videogameschronicle.com/features/interviews/housemarque-interview/