Housemarque thinks the game having one difficulty level shouldn’t scare the players away either.
„In general, what happens when you play more and more, it opens more pathways for you to choose to take and build your strategy. So for example, after you’ve defeated the first boss [for the first time], the portal to the next biome opens and stays open for your next sessions. Doing that, you can always go back to the boss, gear up, get a lot of health upgrades, level up your character and proficiency and weapons. All these things add up to making the run ahead of you that bit easier.
It’s sort of catering to a lot of different tastes. The rogue-like name may be intimidating, but in the end, it’s a third-person shooter with a lot of cool variety,” Mikael Haveri, Housemarque’s marketing director, told Push Square. Harry Krueger, the director, added that having a single difficulty level won’t be rigid or intimidating as it seems. They designed the game to offer replayability and variety so that it can cater to different play styles.
The PlayStation Blog also added new details during the State of Play broadcast: „Returnal‘s gameplay is a relentless and fast-paced shooter in the beginning. We’ve taken a lot of inspiration from the different genres (roguelikes and other likes) and created something really special that offers a unique challenge with a strong focus on the tight gameplay we’re known for.
As a fresher component to a Housemarque game, the State of Play also touches upon the ways we create a tangible atmosphere, where you’ll piece together the story’s mysteries. We recently shared a bit more about the world of Returnal in our “Atropos” video. The narrative is a big part of the Returnal experience, though we’re telling that story in some subtle ways: You’ll encounter voice logs and glimpses of different realities on your journey, without distracting you from the bullet hell action of the main game. This all adds up to a layered and personal story that we can’t wait to have you get stuck into – especially the playable sequences which you’ll learn more about very soon,” Housemarque wrote.
Returnal got a small delay, so it will launch on April 30 and not in March, on PlayStation 5.
Leave a Reply