Returnal will be making full use of the new DualSense features to breath life into its psychological horror elements on PlayStation 5.
While speaking with PushSquare in a recent interview, game director Harry Krueger stated that the haptic feedback of DualSense “has a new layer of fidelity and expression possibilities.” He confirmed that the haptic feedback “creates this extra dimension of tactility” for narrative sequences and interactions in Returnal as well as for when picking up items and during combat sequences.
Krueger furthermore confirmed that the adaptive triggers of DualSense will allow players to access dual gameplay functionalities on a single button. “If you press L2 half-way, you get traditional focus aim, and after that it actually clicks into place and activates the alt fire mode,” he explained before highlighting that that PS5 controller tension adds “intuitive” aspects to the core gameplay.
Besides the new DualSense wireless controller, Returnal will be making use of PlayStation 5 features as well. Thanks to the lightning-fast solid-state drive, loading times have been significantly reduced. That is important for a game that is all about dying and respawning since the PS5 SSD “minimizes downtime and ensures players spend as much time as possible engaged in the action.”
In addition, the powerful PlayStation 5 hardware will enable Returnal to display a number of enemies and visual effects in a richly set environment all at once without any performance dips.
Returnal was announced by developer Housemarque and publisher Sony Interactive Entertainment last year as a PlayStation 5 exclusive. This will be one of the few recently announced games to not be seeing a cross-generation release.
The game is all about replayability with a hybrid approach to procedurally generated content. Every area has been hand-crafted to perfection but the content residing within will be random on every visit. That covers the loot, types of enemies and their numbers, and objects found.
Originally slated for a release next month, Returnal will now be releasing on April 30, 2021.
