PlayStation's acquisition of Housemarque into the Sony family was a substantial if not inevitable endeavor, and it will be exciting to see what future efforts come from the Returnal developer under Sony's tutelage. But despite how celebrated Returnal is for its take on the roguelike and rougelite genres, fans have wished for more content from the planet of Atropos.
Returnal's Suspend Cycle function addition has pleased players who were alarmed at the game's previous lack of a legitimate save feature, and Returnal seems to be in a condition that players are satisfied with as a result. However, an apparent tease suggests the next news and information fans hear about it may refer to subsequent content unrelated to the base game.
Returnal developer Housemarque recently shared a post and its one-worded, cryptic nature seems to suggest that it is intended to be taken as some sort of a tease. Housemarque's Returnal hashtag confirms that the developer is consciously connecting whatever the image is to the game itself, though the stone-like structure presented does not appear to represent anything from the base game. Instead, fans have clamored around in hopes that Housemarque's post is a tease for Returnal's downloadable-content or an associable expansion.
The question mark added to "Atropos..?" suggests that the location showcased in the post's image is unfamiliar, and may in fact not take place on the hostile alien planet that protagonist Selene suffers throughout Returnal. If so, DLC for Returnal could either explore an entirely new planet, or simply feature new biomes environments on Atropos that are unfamiliar. Returnal's biomes are crafted to spell out different moments of environmental storytelling with lore, so it would be interesting to see how new biomes are tackled post-narrative.
It is unlikely that Housemarque's tease could suggest a wholesale sequel, particularly because of the hashtag that seems to state it is only relevant to Returnal itself. It is also possible that the image may only be referenced as something that looks like it could be featured on Returnal's planet of Atropos with no relation to future content at all, though Housemarque seemingly intends for players to make implications from it.
A Game of the Year nomination may have eluded Returnal for The Game Awards this December, but there is potential that Housemarque may still show up to the event with whatever this supposed tease may be, if it does in fact prove to be fruitful. Nothing is confirmed as of yet, however, so fans should temper any anticipations for The Game Awards or an announcement in general for the time being.
Returnal is available now for PS5.