Returnal’s Developers Explained the Story Component, Including Asynchronous Multiplayer

Following the new story trailer’s presentation for the roguelike shooter Returnal, the developers from the Finnish studio Housemarque on the official PlayStation blog have shared additional details about the game’s plot.

We will remind. Returns will tell about the woman astronaut Selena, who falls into a time loop on the exotic planet Atropos. As a result of each death, the environment around the heroine changes.

According to Greg Louden, head of storytelling at Housemarque, the studio has set itself the task of telling a “mysterious, multifaceted and exciting” story that “unfolds in a new way” in each cycle.

“Game dynamics should not sag due to plot inserts. The plot should logically substantiate what is happening, put meaning in it, and organically weave into the gameplay, ”Lowden explained the approach to narrative in Returnal.

In one of the scenes in the trailer, Selena finds herself dead. As it turned out, such bodies represent the projections (created at the time of death) of the deaths of other players and one of the Returnal asynchronous multiplayer elements.

It will be possible to pick up audio recordings from the fallen Selenium, each of which “reveals individual particles of the plot. ” The story will also be told through alien archives and first-person scenes scattered around the world.

Return is expected to be released on April 30 this year exclusively on PlayStation 5. One of the previous trailers for the sci-fi roguelike shooter was dedicated to the combat system.