Announced at Sony’s PlayStation 5 reveal stream in June 2020, Returnal was one of the first big titles released for the powerful new gaming console. Finnish Developer Housemarque worked on the game for over four years, and for many, it was their first experience with the new DualSense controller and the first time seeing the incredible power of Sony’s newest console. Last month, Returnal snagged two prizes at the DICE Awards–Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Composition and Outstanding Achievement in Audio Design. After this fanfare, what is Housemarque working on now?
In a post-award interview during the DICE Awards in Las Vegas, managing director Ilari Kuittinen offered a few tidbits of information regarding future projects. As Housemarque was acquired by Sony in June 2021, its next game has been theorized to include multiplayer or live service. Despite that, Kuittinen didn’t seem too bothered about losing any creative freedom.
“Well, the jury is still out there. We’re one of the very last dinosaurs making arcade games,” he said. “Nex Machina, a few years ago, was very much a shoot-’em-up game in the style of the coin-ops from the ‘80s. That’s sort of a clue. But it’s interesting. We’ve been thinking about that. We had our stint working on multiplayer games, because a few years back it seemed like you needed to have some kind of multiplayer experience. We tried that, and we really didn’t do it as well. But it’s early days with us starting a new game, a new IP, concepting it out. We’ll see what comes with that.”
Kuittinen mentioned that whatever is coming next is in the early stages of development, and that it is a completely new IP. Housemarque is still in the middle of doing concept work for the mystery release, and the managing director wasn’t keen to give away more details. If a sequel to Returnal is also in the pipeline, fans won’t be seeing it for a long time.
Returnal was released on April 30, 2021, and is available exclusively on PlayStation 5. The game recieved an update in October 2021, adding a photo mode and much-needed suspend points.
