Thematically, the game belongs to the horror genre.
You are stuck in a hellish time loop and not even death can set you free.
But the game mechanics themselves are a typical Housemarque game with explosive action, says Eevi Korhonen, narrative designer at the Finnish game studio who previously made arcade games with a much smaller budget.
Bill Murray classic in space
Returnal is a bit reminiscent of the time loop from the Bill Murray classic Monday all week, stuck in space and with equal parts science fiction horror, taken from the Alien movie.
If you add the game feeling from a difficult arcade game of the old school, you get the recipe behind the genre hybrid Returnal.
The plot of the game revolves around the astronaut Selene, who crash lands on a mysterious planet and soon becomes aware that she relives the same crash landing every time she dies.
- Death and rebirth are built into the story itself.
Selene is aware that she is dying and reborn and reacts to it.
She has really decided to get out of her situation and is very determined, I think that makes the players sympathize with her and really feel that: "okay I will help you with this", says Eevi Korhonen.
Popular trend
Playing Returnal requires nerves of steel.
Every time you fail, you just have to start over.
In addition, all rooms, weapons, and enemies have changed locations each time you try again.
This type of changing game loop is called "roguelike" and has become increasingly popular in the gaming world in recent years.
- It feels like you develop not only in the game, but also in your own head when you become more familiar on the planet, says Eevi Korhonen.