Ask gamers what their most anticipated PlayStation game of the year is, and they'll likely respond with something along the lines of Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart, Horizon Forbidden West, or perhaps God of War Ragnarok. However, Housemarque is also breaking back onto the scene with Returnal, a roguelike shooter that follows a woman named Selene as she tries to unravel the mysteries of an enigmatic planet. If the early hours are any indication, Housemarque has something special on its hands.
Game Rant has now gone hands-on with Returnal, exploring the game's first two biomes while battling hordes of enemies. So far, Returnal excels at everything it sets out to do, offering frenetic combat and a world as interesting as it is dangerous. It doesn't boast quite the same scope as The Last of Us 2 or Ghost of Tsushima, the last big PlayStation games released, but fans of Housemarque's tight core gameplay should feel right at home.
The most immediately striking thing about Returnal is how it utilizes the DualSense controller's haptic feedback. For those that thought no other game would integrate the DualSense as well as Astro's Playroom has, Returnal is here to disprove that theory. The opening sequence, which sees Selene's ship crash land on the alien planet, features some of the most immersive uses of haptics ever in a video game, bar none. Players feel each bump and scrape as the ship bangs against the ground, punctuated by the soft pitter-patter of the rain once planetside.
Without diving into spoiler territory, the story we've experienced up until this point has us hungry for more. There are distinct narrative branches – each with their own question marks – to push the player forward, and they've done so compellingly. Most of the storytelling in the early hours is environmental, with players finding data logs and other narrative elements scattered around the world. There's still the occasional cutscene, but they're usually brief.
As fans have seen in Returnal's gameplay trailers, the world changes with each death, sending (or "returning") Selene back to her crash-landed ship with each failed attempt to complete an objective. Other roguelike games use this same method, with Hades being one of the more recent examples, but Housemarque is setting it up as an integral part of the overarching narrative.
For those that played Housemarque's last two games, Resogun and Nex Machina, the combat elements have essentially been translated from 2D into 3D, with Selene using an arsenal of weapons to take down armies of hostile lifeforms. While we've only seen a fraction of them so far, judging by the empty slots left in the enemy database, there's a lot left to discover. Plus, they boast interesting designs. Most of them are tentacle-y creatures that look resemble the monster from Carrion, though there are some other distinct ones as well.
Some of these monsters seem stuck in a single biome, though it's not possible to tell if that'll be the case further down the line. The first biome, a dark forest, boasts a creature that resembles a skinny Ent from Lord of the Rings. It's a challenging monster to fight that, thankfully, doesn't appear in the second biome, which is an expansive red desert area.
If one of the aliens manages to take down Selene, all the non-permanent items she's carrying will be dropped. Those non-permanent items include suit augments, parasites that carry negative and positive effects, and their weapon. Players are given a pistol to start out each life, with other guns being fairly common drops throughout the world. The other weapons we've used so far include a carbine rifle, a sort of space shotgun, and a long rifle that rapidly shoots tracking darts. The carbine is the standout, but none of the options we've encountered feel terrible, including the pistol.
While the game will start out pretty tame, there are challenge areas that pump up the difficulty, along with some other optional challenges players can partake in. Much of the time, this summons a horde for players to manage, turning the game into a bullet hell nightmare that players have to be on their top game to beat.
Players are going to die. A lot. Even in the early areas, those challenging sections can be a little overwhelming, though dying is an integral part of the experience. In fact, players will periodically the fallen bodies of others scattered throughout the world, with the option to avenge them or scavenge their bodies. Avenging players will spawn a difficult enemy to take down, while scavenging costs resources in exchange for an artifact. That artifact will grant players bonuses for a run, but there's a cost-benefit to consider there.
That give-and-take is mirrored all over Returnal, with many of Selene's augments offering both benefits and weaknesses. Parasites are the clearest example of this, offering a bonus in exchange for a clearly defined punishment. However, there's also an aspect called Malignancy, which can cause the player's suit to malfunction. Those malfunctions force players to complete mini-objectives to fix, forcing them to change up their playstyle from time to time.
If Returnal is able to make the rest of the experience as exciting as the first bit has been, PlayStation could have another hit on its hands. The game has raised many questions, and to really pay off it'll need to answer each one of them. It's certainly heading in the right direction to do so, but sticking the landing will be vital when it comes down to brass tacks.
Returnal will release on April 30 for PS5. Game Rant was provided a PS5 code for this preview.