Returnal’s Director Explains Why It’s So Hard

A recent interview, director of Returnal – Harry Krueger – explained why the game is so hard. Returnal released in April as a PlayStation 5 exclusive, and received favorable reviews from critics. However, the game is notorious for its high level of difficulty, causing Returnal to fall off people’s radars in recent months.

Although its gameplay is challenging, Returnal’s concept is fairly straight forward. The game starts with ASTRA Corporation explorer Selene Vassos investigating a strange signal coming from an unexplored planet named Atropos. Selene dubs this signal “White Shadow.” Unfortunately for Selene, she is forced to crash land on the planet after a projectile strikes her ship. Selene’s ship is heavily damaged in the crash, meaning her only option is to continue on foot to find the source of White Shadow. As she ventures on through this hostile planet, however, she comes across a corpse which she identifies as herself. It is then ultimately revealed that Selene is stuck in some sort of time loop, and with every death she is sent back to the crash site, having to use her memories of the previous loops to progress further through Returnal’s many biomes.

While many games use this time-loop mechanic (and to great applaud from both critics and fans), Returnal’s difficulty level caused many to give up on their journey. However, despite the looping mechanic serving as a key source of frustration for players, this was a deliberate move by Returnal’s developers. Speaking to game-centric magazine EDGE, Returnal’s director Harry Krueger, Housemarque’s (the studio behind Returnal) marketing director Mikale Haveri and Returnal’s narrative director Greg Louden revealed that the challenge “… [brings] the player into the same emotional space as Selene.” Louden told EDGE, “We are very aware the game is hard. If Returnal was easier and (Selene) was always talking about how she dies all the time, it wouldn’t really connect with the story that we’re telling.” Haveri also feels that players are connecting with Selene, even if they don’t actually realize it, and explained, “When you get onto forums and Reddits, there’s a lot of players that have also expressed their frustrations. They’re sort of reliving Selene’s story, without knowing it, in public.“

Thankfully, Returnal does actually get a bit easier once players have passed the halfway point. After defeating Nemesis, players are then subjected to an unexpected plot twist, that (spoiler alert) sees Selene finally making it back to planet Earth where she grows old and dies. However, despite seemingly living her life to the full and being free of the loop, Selene wakes up once more on Atropos next to her wrecked ship. From here on in, Louden says Returnal becomes less about skill and more “mysterious and psychological.”

These are some bold tactics by the Returnal team. While there is no doubt that Selene herself would be feeling overwhelmed and resentful of her ongoing battles on Atropos, it is quite another for gamers to feel this same level of anxiety and frustration. However, this boldness can also be deemed refreshing. The team at Housemarque clearly had a vision of what they wanted their game to be. However, Housemarque appears to have conceded in one area. In October, an update for Returnal was released that finally allowed players to “suspend cycle.” This may seem like a simple change, but it increases Returnal’s accessiblity for players constantly thwarted by the game’s deliberately brutal difficulty level.

Returnal is available now for the PlayStation 5

Source: EDGE Magazine

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