THE LONG GAME
Returnal
A progress report on the games we just can’t quit
Developer Housemarque Publisher SIE Format PS5 Release 2021
Although the game has now reached its fourth birthday, Housemarque clearly hasn’t forgotten about Returnal, which at the end of April received an update to improve its visual quality when played on a PS5 Pro. And that’s entirely appropriate, because memories of this sci-fi shooter are hard to shift from the mind of anyone who’s ever experienced it. For some, these will be grim recollections of bouncing off its unyielding surface, those diamond-hard boss attacks scything them to pieces, resulting in thrown DualSenses and a (frequently broken) commitment to never again return to the cursed thing. For others, there will be memories of the time in which it simply consumed their lives until it was conquered, standing alongside Bloodborne in its spelllike ability to inspire obsessive play. There’s a hint of FromSoftware’s Lovecraft-infused classic in its atmosphere, too, a kind of weird energy that hums and pulsates in a way that is entirely absent from what we expect in anything outside of the indie sphere.