Housemarque’s ambitious PS5-exclusive roguelike shooter Returnal is out today, and while it’s received plenty of praise (including from us) for its haunting atmosphere, clever story, and action of shooting, it also sparks discussion of its considerable difficulty. And now the game director has also weighed in.
On Next-Gen Console Watch, game director Harry Krueger and director of marketing and business development Mikael Haveri both claimed that Returnal’s challenge stems from Housemarque’s “arcade roots.” Housemarque has historically incorporated arcade systems and styles into its games since its origins in the 90s, and although it declared years ago after Nex Machina that “the arcade is dead”, Housemarque does not clearly does not abandon this spirit in its new titles.
“We started development four years ago, and I don’t think the vision has changed much. Housemarque games are known for their, let’s say…challenge…they usually have a difficulty,” Haveri said. . “Nex Machina, for example, you can go through the game on Easy, but you’ll never reach the last level, then there are other unlockables, etc. So there’s an ‘easy to learn, but difficult to master’ at work there.”
Krueger agreed. “Without a challenge, we don’t feel like you can have that strong sense of accomplishment, you know? The closer you get to the edge of frustration, the greater the feeling of triumph when you finally win. .”
He added that while Returnal has more traditional difficulty options, Housemarque wanted players to feel that each new round was completely unique. Hence the roguelike formula, which allowed “lots of unpredictable fluctuations” in how a session might go even with difficulty options in place.
“So like we said before […] if you take too many bets, you get a little too confident, you might end up digging your own grave, so to speak,” Krueger concluded. “But if you play a little bit more carefully, try to play it safe, you can kind of ‘adjust’ the difficulty of that particular session to your desired skill level. So hopefully that can put some valve pressure on the players. times you hit an impassable obstacle. The next time you try them, there will always be something a little different, something that gives you a little more head start so you can overcome it next time.”
Returnal follows the story of space explorer Selene Vassos, who crash-lands on an alien planet and begins to search for the source of a strange signal. However, when she inevitably dies on her first expedition, she returned to her ship as if nothing had happened. As she continues to explore the planet, Selene discovers that each failed expedition takes her back to the beginning as the world changes around her.
Difficulty aside, Returnal has been criticized for its lengthy runs (sometimes 2-3 hours) and the inability to save, shut down the game, and resume the game from where you left off. get stopped in the middle of a run, which makes it doubly difficult for those who can’t commit to playing for a long session. Housemarque responded to this concern by saying there was “nothing to announce now” but that the studio was listening to the community.
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