It doesn’t really feel like a PlayStation launch without a Housemarque title, whether that’s Super Stardust’s fine appearances at the dawn of PS3, Vita and PSVR or Resogun’s star turn upon the release of PlayStation 4. For PlayStation 5, we’ve had to wait a little while, but it’s understandable why – with Returnal, Housemarque makes perhaps its biggest departure yet with a shift to blockbuster third-person action.
We’ve just been afforded a fresh look at Returnal as part of tonight’s State of Play, showcasing the procedural levels, the intense atmosphere and gunplay as well as a surprise shift to a PT-inspired first-person interlude. It’s a lot to take in, so we spoke through it all with Housemarque’s own Mikael Haveri and Returnal director Harry Krueger.
It’s great to have Housemarque back. I didn’t quite realise it’s been four years since your last release, which is quite some time for you guys. And a lot has happened in between. Early last year, I’m sure I wasn’t alone in being a little bit concerned for Housemarque – there was the whole arcade is dead thing after Nex Machina underperformed, and then Stormdivers was put on the shelf. And then you come back with what looks like your biggest, most ambitious and grandest game yet. So how did you go from Nex Machina not doing so well to all of a sudden making something on this scale?
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