Housemarque could be teasing return DLC
Housemarque might still have some surprises for this year’s ruthless roguelike Returnal. The developer teased one line on their Twitter account, “Atropos ..?” with a picture of an unusual rock formation. I think it is related to DLC.
April 2021 seems decades ago to me. It took me a while to realize that Atropos is the planet where Returnal takes place. Housemarque’s image of a story structure doesn’t seem to represent anything familiar. However, the background is blurred, and it looks like a screen. You can guess what it could be, and so can I. But maybe we will learn more in the new DLC.
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Returnal’s senior story designer Eevi Kohonen shared the image with the comment, “We filmed some incredible today.” We hope to share more soon!” To connect the dots, it is worth noting that the Game Awards will be less than two weeks away on Dec 9, so the “something incredible” Housemarque may have filmed in preparation for that annual celebration. Returnal made gameplay trailers at the ceremony’s reveals before and is up for a few nominations this year.
After a few attempts, Returnal was hard to get past. I eventually gave up and succumbed to one of its biomes too many times. Although I liked the feeling of it and loved its space-world, I was able to watch a friend beat it several times. Housemarque has done a great job on it. They have added a Suspend Cycle option to 2.0, which I find interesting enough to give it another try. Although I will still be terrible, I feel less afraid to try again because I know I can get away with more. Maybe a DLC will get me back in.
