The latest State of Play broadcast featured a closer look at Returnal‘s gameplay, but most notably teased what appears to be an homage to the house in Silent Hills/P.T. A third-person action title with roguelike elements, Returnal comes from Housemarque – the studio behind beloved PlayStation arcade experiences such as Dead Nation and Resogun.
Returnal represents quite the departure for the Finnish development studio. Gone are the days of twin-stick shooter controls, shoot ’em up chaos, and side-scrolling action. That doesn’t mean Housemarque has completely abandoned its heritage, though. As evidenced by the bits of gameplay shown off since its announcement at Sony’s first PS5 event, Returnal very much retains Housemarque’s long-held focus on fun and action-packed gameplay.
Today’s PlayStation State of Play offered yet another glimpse at Returnal’s haunting atmosphere and frenetic combat. As noted in a PlayStation Blog post from Housemarque developer Mikael Haveri, the new footage also hints at the ways in which players will piece together the narrative. The protagonist, Selene, is an astro-scout who crash lands on the surface of an alien planet. Throughout the adventure, she’ll relive distant memories, some of which take her back to a house – a house that looks to be an homage to Hideo Kojima’s cancelled P.T. project. This seeming call back appears in the trailer’s final moments; once Selene walks into the house, the camera strangely switches from its usual third-person POV to a first-person perspective. What greets her is a foyer area that looks near identical to the now iconic space in the P.T. demo. (Though the layout seems backwards.)
Sure, the striking resemblance to P.T.’s setting could be a coincidence, and it’s certainly nothing to get worked up over. However, the change in perspective suggests it might indeed act as an homage of sorts. Should that be the case, now even more questions are bound to crop up about what exactly Returnal’s mysterious overarching narrative has in store.
Fortunately, the wait to learn more about Housemarque’s latest endeavor is nearly at an end. Following a recent delay, the PS5 exclusive is now on track to launch in late April. It’ll soon thereafter be followed by a slew of other eagerly-anticipated adventures, since May 2021 is packed with releases from Resident Evil Village and Deathloop to Mass Effect: Legendary Edition and Biomutant.
Returnal comes to PlayStation 5 this spring on April 30.
