Housemarque has revealed that players who step into the shoes of Selene on a shapeshifting world in Returnal will have ten base weapons at their disposal, ten alt-fires, and over 90 weapon traits.
Each weapon trait further has three levels so there will be a plethora of combinations available to players. Over on the PlayStation Blog, Housemarque said that Returnal has been designed to blend various play styles. Interestingly, each weapon will be randomly assigned an alt-fire mode, “ranging from the electrical impulses of the Shockstream to the tentacles of the Tendrilpod, and everything in between.” The twist? Selene can only hold one weapon at a time so your choice will matter.
“Different challenges and enemies will also require different strategies to overcome, so you’ll need to be constantly adapting, experimenting with different weapons, and developing your skills to survive on the hostile planet of Atropos,” added Housemarque.
As previously explained, if Selene dies, she starts over from the initial crash. But that’s not all. Selene will also lose “most” abilities and items from the previous round. However, “some” of them will carry over to the next cycle, ensuring that players continue to make progress despite death.
“One of these persisting elements is the mysterious Cthonos, an alien device that generates a random item at the beginning of each cycle,” wrote Housemaque. “This otherworldly device is tracking your performance, and when enough progress is accumulated you will be rewarded with a brand new item for immediate use, which will also be permanently added to the pool of available loot from that point on as well.”
Returnal will release on March 19th. Check out a combat trailer below.
