Waiting for the fateful date, the team development has decided to offer the public new interesting clues about what the nature of the proposed experience will be. In particular, in the course of the last video diary published, the authors illustrated some unpublished gameplay sequences of Returnal, an adventure that will see the space explorer Selene trapped in an unstoppable loop of death and terror on an unknown planet. Here, the woman will have to face unknown horrors, in an odyssey through which the team aims to disturb the player.
Pushing users to ask themselves questions and connect the clues encountered in the world of Returnal is one of the objectives principal of Housemarque, which has therefore decided to "embrace the mystery, and let the players discover for themselves many of the secrets of the planet". To create the right atmosphere, the software house has resorted to multiple ideas: "Cosmic horror - among the most famous representatives of which we find HP Lovecraft - has been a great source of inspiration for us, both on the world-building and regarding the philosophical issues addressed in the game. Our enemies have been largely inspired by creatures that inhabit the depths of the abyss, and intense bioluminescent phenomena will counteract the masses of tentacles belonging to another world. There are also influences from David Lynch, - director of, among others, the 1984 Dune - where we try to blend the surreal with realistic discomforts, but with a dreamy setting ".
To intensify the enveloping effect of the production, Returnal will use DualSense and 3D Audio.