Finnish developer Housemarque recently revealed a new story trailer for its upcoming third-person shooter, Returnal, which has gotten PlayStation fans excited about its intriguing plot and hidden lore details. Initially announced last June and set to release this month, Returnal hopes to be the next big hit for the studio. It wouldn't be Housemarque's first success, as the developer has been producing games since 1993, with their most notable releases being Resogun and Nex Machina. Here's why you should be keeping an eye on Housemarque.
Housemarque started developing games under the names Bloodhouse and Terramarque, and released its first game, Stardust, for the Amiga and Atari ST in 1993. The company mainly focused on PC games until 2002 when it released its first console game, Transworld Snowboarding. While the game was only average, this was still an important step for the developer. These humble beginnings primed Housemarque to become one of PlayStation's best studios. Today, the company has grown from its initial handful of developers to around 80 employees as of January 2020.
The Big PlayStation Hits
Housemarque's PlayStation legacy is built on arcade-inspired shooters. These include the 2007 PlayStation 3 release Super Stardust HD and the 2012 PlayStation Vita release Super Stardust Delta. However, it wasn't until Resogun's release in 2013 that the company received its big break and found a new level of popularity with critics and PlayStation fans alike.
Resogun players battle enemies on voxel-based levels while aiming for high scores and preparing to take on unique bosses. Players can upgrade their ship and use special abilities to escape from attackers. Housemarque's inspiration for the game were classic arcade shooters such as Defender, so Resogun has a retro feel to it. Contributing to the game's success was the fact it launched alongside PlayStation 4. Originally, Housemarque was unsure how far Resogun could push the PS4's hardware, especially in terms of render-heavy visual effects, so the game underwent several stylistic changes before release.
Nex Machina is another shoot 'em up developed by Housemarque. The game released in 2017, and it was the studio's first self-published title. Nex Machina is played from a top-down perspective, and players move through levels defeating enemies while powering up their weapons. The title was released on both PC and PS4, receiving favorable reviews from critics and players and being nominated for accolades such as PlayStation Game of the Year at the Golden Joystick 2017 Awards.
The game is still a huge hit with fans today, between its steady Steam player numbers in the past year and Housemarque sparking rumors of a partnership with RawThrills to bring a version of Nex Machina to arcades. However, despite fueling this rumor in its tweets, Housemarque declared that "Arcade is Dead" in a blog post in August 2017, which announced it was ditching arcade-style experiences for AAA-style game development. The team's reasoning behind this was that, despite increasingly good reviews, its games simply were not generating significant sales. With increasing development costs, it was time to look in a different direction.
Housemarque's Upcoming Adventure
That change in direction resulted in the upcoming PlayStation 5 title, Returnal. Announced in June 2020, Returnal is a third-person shooter releasing on April 30, 2021. In it, the player controls a space pilot named Selene, and the story follows her crash on an alien planet named Atropos. Selene is continuously killed in the game, but instead of the story ending upon her tragic death, she is continually resurrected and forced to restart her journey from the beginning while the environment around her changes on each run.
All of Housemarque's focus is currently on the launch of Returnal. The game went gold at the end of March, meaning it is release-ready. This is great news for the studio, as the initial release date was March 19, but a one-month delay was announced earlier this year. The game will be a PS5 exclusive, which has left some fans hoping for a cross-generational release on both PS4 and PS5. Additionally, no plans for PC port have been announced, though other Housemarque games have launched on consoles and PC.
Still, there is reason to believe Returnal will be a huge success for both PlayStation and Housemarque. Based on the studio's previous hits with shooter-style games, the game seems to be putting the studio's skills to good use. If Returnal does well, it is likely that we will see further AAA productions from Housemarque over the next few years.