In-house published games are the sorts of products that I most expect from the sorts of events that Playstation and Xbox ran this month. The sorts of games that the big companies put their logo, and thus their reputation, behind resemble this sort of hail-mary approach to product funding ("If we just put our money and faith in the hands of some folk with big dreams it'll either be a bestseller or a bargain bin filler"). These are the sorts of arrangements that gave us The Last of Us, Crackdown, Spiderman PS4 and Halo, so there's certainly a sort of pedigree of quality that one expects in these instances. It's like an arranged marriage; even if you're unfamiliar with the work of the other party the very fact that the process itself is occurring creates expectations and responsibilities that people anticipate. (Is that a good analogy? It didn't sound like a good analogy.)
Today one such game is the latest title from Finnish developer Housemarque, known as Returnal. Now whilst I might be unfamiliar with just about every-single game on this company's resume (Aside from the 'Angry Birds Trilogy' console port) I do know that they're being published by Sony for this particular game and the heads of this event thought the title itself was strong enough to stand in the lineup of their advertising efforts for this event; so there must be something worth talking about, right? That was the thought probably going into showcasing this spacey looking title, and I must admit that it does seem to neatly fit into that little stable of first-party games that Sony is trying to build. Afterall, they've got 2 post apocalyptic titles (wait, make that 3. I forgot Horizon), innumerable action adventures, Sci-fi's out the wazoo, but no straight space title. (Xbox teased one so Sony should have one too, right?)
The trailer starts in a manner that pretty much throws all of it's cards on the table for everyone to see. We see a space pilot falling out of the sky onto an alien world complaining about reliving the same moments over and over again. (If you've already figured out this game's genre, good on you!) "Even death is no escape" our heroine bemoans whilst the trailer flashes through very Gothic looking monsters and sights. To this I have to admit I'm not really feeling the sci-fi vibes that this game apparently is putting down, much the opposite, in fact this game reminds me quite a bit of Dark Souls from the way it's framed. Yeah I know the meme, "everything is compared to Dark Souls", but think about it from this perspective; you've got a lady with no past waking up in a world she doesn't recognise and forced to fight and die over and over. ("Your wings shall burn in anguish time and time again" Dark Souls 2 anyone?) That atop the inhabitants of this world that don't really look all that alien but more twisted reflections of our world, similar to Dark Souls, and I'm left wondering if this title isn't meant to be Sony's first-party answer to the 'From Software' masterpiece.
In the manner of all these 'stranded on an alien planet' stories, our less-than-wise protagonist then starts talking about how this alien place "is becoming part of me." (Well then maybe you shouldn't go around offering your DNA to every gross tentacle monster you happen across, miss astronaut lady!) I'm not sure whether this 'infection' idea will be used as an actual gameplay idea or just a narrative tool but it once again reminds me of Dark Souls. Remember how every single undead who you came across in that title would warn you to give up on your pursuits as every death brings you closer to becoming 'Hollow'? In a meta-sense, that idea was used to symbolise the player literally losing hope and giving up, (or maybe even losing their minds. Do you think From Software were going that deep?) and from the dialogue in this trailer I feel this game might be similar. But one thing that I'm pretty positive of is that this idea will be used to fuel the inevitable RPG mechanics that this game will run. (For gaining powers that transcend the player's deaths, and things like that.)
The final part of the trailer is more just a montage of the sort of action that you can expect to experience in this game and therefore I have to admit, my Dark Souls comparisons do sort of fall short here. This game looks to be a third-person shooter with a considerably faster pace than Dark Souls; in fact, the multicoloured beams and particles that we see getting fired off from enemies implies a distinct 'bullet-hell' vibe to the game, which could mean this title owes it's soul more to 'Nier: Automata.' (Two Nier references in one week? Must be my birthday.) I wonder, then, for the variety of interesting enemies and attack patterns that we'll see from this game's almost Lovecraftian looking enemies. (I said 'Almost', purists; get off my back.) Personally, I loved Neir's 3D take on the bullet-hell genre and to see another game that appears to borrowing that concept (at least a little bit, there are some other types of damaging attacks in this trailer that don't appear to leave glowing trails) makes me a little giddy and a lot happy.
Now, as this trailer and myself has teased quite heavily throughout; this title is actually a roguelike third person shooter. (Thus the repetition) Space pilot mentions how each time she dies she awakens to a world that looks drastically different, and I'll bet that's with no weapons or tools each time as well. I've always appreciated this sort of gameplay that props itself up on the premise of replayability and gambling against the great RNG gods, it's what made classics like 'The Binding of Issac' so unforgettable. Although I've never quite seen a game seriously take into account the narrative connotations of dying and repeating the same-yet different actions time and time again, how that cycle could test you and wear on your sanity. I'm not sure quite how strong these elements are intended to be for the final game, (the trailer seems to imply that they're central) but if this will be a game to address that angle, then this could be quite a genre redefiner indeed!
The search for answers that drives Returnal is something that I hope is present just as much throughout the game as it is in this trailer, mind bending plotlines are my nectar. Some of the brief glances in this game seem to mix our Space Pilot's old life on earth with the crazy going-ons in this hellscape, and we even see brief glimpses of proud moments in her life, as though there's a bit of actual mind games involved in this game. (Which might explain why this world isn't quite as exotic as one might expect from an alien world) Whatever the final take-away, this is another trailer that has managed to spark my critical mind and ask questions, so there's some undeniable points for the Housemarque gang. (You guys have an interesting title on your hands!)
Of course, as I do with every blog, I have to ask whether or not this was a title worthy of being showcased alongside the PS5; and once again I have to err to the negative. As impressive as this game looked from a conceptual angle, visually it did not look like anything that current gen consoles couldn't achieve. (In fact; in gameplay it looked a lot like 'Nier: Automata' which was a current gen game.) And yet with that being said, as far as I can tell this game is deadset on being a PS5 exclusive release, which could hurt this title's initial traction. Interesting though the game seems, it doesn't have the flashy factor to rope in purchasers nor does it seem to bend the limits of what the PS5 is capable of, so I fear that without heavy advertisement this could be a next-gen title that gets swept to the wayside. (I suppose time will tell in that regard.)
Once it's all said and done, however, this is the kind of game that makes we go 'ohh' and that's all that really matters, no? Even if this game may be shooting itself in the foot by going exclusive, I think it's inevitable that they'll pick up at least a niche following, and I can tell you for a fact that they've picked up one fan already. (This guy.) I'm certainly encouraged so far by this slate of next-gen titles that all appear to be actual games, rather than just experience pieces, and at this point it's really hard to choose which of the upcoming gens have the stronger line-up. (Of non-AAA games that is. Playstation clearly has the stronger AAA lineup.) So I wish good luck to the Housemarque team and their game and leave with one piece of critical feedback; 'that name sucks, seriously.'
No comments:
Post a Comment