Returnal director Harry Krueger discussed the difficulty of the PS5 exclusive in a recent podcast interview. Speaking on Greg Miller’s PS I Love You XOXO, Krueger talked about how the difficulty of Returnal is integral to the story.
Although loved by many, Returnal has received criticism from some gamers over its difficulty, Krueger believes that the game needs to be that way.
Celine, she is talking about dying over and over and how these are insurmountable odds, and she can’t keep going on, and there’s this descent into madness that is happening purely because of the challenges she’s facing, and her challenges are the player’s challenges as well in many ways.
Harry Krueger
Krueger added that the game would not make sense if players were able to just “power through a boss without challenge” when the whole game is about the immense challenge that Celine is facing. He said that he believes there would be a “dissonance” for players between what was happening in the story and what was happening in the gameplay. “The game is telling you this is really challenging, and that you’re overcoming these obstacles but you wouldn’t have had to experience that friction.”
However, Krueger did concede that finding the right balance or “sweet spot” is something that the developers at Housemarque “keep in mind.” He also said that they are always looking to do more in terms of making their games accessible. “I think we can always do more and could always add more support for different ways to play the game and different control methods. I think when it comes to the difficulty I think it is a question of what kind of experience you are having with Returnal.”
Returnal is widely considered one of the best games of 2021, it picked up four awards including “Best Game” at the Baftas earlier this month. However, the steep learning curve has put off some gamers from checking out the award-winning title.
