Housemarque have released a new story trailer that teases the deeper mysteries that are waiting at the dark heart of their sci-fi shooter game Returnal, coming this April exclusively for PlayStation 5.
Housemarque, the developer behind the upcoming sci-fi shooter Returnal, have shed some light on the upcoming PS5 exclusive game's mysterious story. We got the new story trailer, as well as a whole chunk of new info about what's going on with the Returnal's main protagonist.
Seeing this game in an explosive action we could not help but wonder is Housemarque wrong for making this a singleplayer only game? This game just screams online co-op mode. Perhaps we'll get multiplayer mode just like we did with Ghost of Tsushima's Legends mode.
The devs are describing Returnal as "not just a sci-fi action thriller and roguelike game, but a game with a bold, dark cinematic story to tell. It is a mystery to decipher and replay, like our gameplay mechanics come every cycle."
An unauthorised recon mission gone wrong
The story follows Selene (voiced by Jane Perry/visual appearance and facial capture performed by Anne Beyer), a Greek-American ASTRA deep-space scout who is a complex and layered character that is driven, intelligent, and resourceful. For the first time in her career, she goes against orders to travel to the alien planet Atropos to follow the “White Shadow” broadcast signal. Upon arrival, she crashes into an alien forest where she discovers the ruins of an alien civilisation filled with statues, gates, xeno-tech, and alien corpses. But she’s not alone. The planet’s surface is teeming with hostile creatures that attack Selene on sight, as well as other threats left by the world’s former inhabitants.
How the world changes to challenge you
During her first scout, Selene scans xeno-tech, defends herself and finds useful resources, but eventually, she succumbs to the elements and dies only to reawaken again in her ship’s cockpit moments before the crash. On leaving the crash site, she discovers the world has changed its layouts, making her journey to the “White Shadow” signal different on every cycle and rebirth. It’s an endless cycle where even death is no escape.
Relive other cycles that aren’t your own
As shown in the trailer, Selene also discovers her own scout corpses across Atropos. These corpses can feature projections of other players’ deaths (via games' online systems), or Scout Audio Logs that are left behind by other versions of Selene, that she cannot remember recording. The projections show other players deaths in Returnal, at the conclusion of which you can decide to scavenge the remains for items or revenge their death, triggering events that are best discovered when you play.
Story content from audio logs is handcrafted storytelling, whereas the projections are all created via other players’ deaths and found across all of the environments in Returnal.
Uncover a deeper mystery in first-person
Returnal is primarily a third-person action title, but players can also choose to go inside this spooky house on Atropos in atmospheric first-person story sequences where she confronts strange and familiar events inside that you need to piece together.
Returnal release date is April 30. It's a true PS5 exclusive game, which means that it won't be coming to PS4.
Returnal, a PS5 exclusive game
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