Housemarque’s Returnal is out next month and will launch exclusively on PlayStation 5. The developer is known for arcade shooters like Resogun but Returnal is a rogue-lite third person shooter with a heavy narrative focus. A new trailer highlights protagonist Selene’s arrival on Atropos and how quickly things go wrong.
Upon exploring the mysterious planet, Selene quickly discovers her corpse (along with a brief vision of how she died). Eventually, she realizes that she’s trapped with every death simply bringing her back to life on the planet. The “White Shadow” is mentioned and could be the cause of all this but it’s still too early to say.
The story unfolds somewhat like Supergiant’s Hades – players will encounter different narrative events on each run. The strange house that Selene seemingly has past with is one such example but you may also find audio logs from other versions of her. Housemarque notes that the story is “mysterious and haunting” and asks “a lot of questions” so it may take some time to fully unravel.
Returnal is out on April 30th. Stay tuned for more details in the coming weeks.