Team Asobi launched a new Astro’s Playroom update, with the second of four new Bots available now. Players who unlock these new bots can bring them into the upcoming Astro Bot, which releases on September 6.

What’s in the new Astro’s Playroom update?

Team Asobi’s studio head, Nicolas Doucet, reiterated in Monday’s PlayStation Blog post that the upcoming Astro Bot game sees players rescuing 300 bots scattered across multiple galaxies. Half of them are cameo Bots referencing other PlayStation games. These include Bloodborne and Returnal, from which Astro’s Playroom got the first two new Special Bots. Players have been able to unlock Lady Maria since last month, with the Bot version of Returnal protagonist Selene arriving in the second update.

As with the previous Astro’s Playroom update, the studio tasked the player with finding Selene somewhere in the game and then completing a puzzle to rescue her. According to Team Asobi’s Studio Head, Nicolas Doucet, players found and freed Lady Maria in under three hours. The next new Bot arrives in August, with the fourth coming in September. Based on the trophy names and teasers, they will be based on Gran Turismo and Ape Escape.

How to unlock Lady Maria and Selene

To unlock Lady Maria, Astro’s Playroom players need to head to the Render Forest area in the CPU jungle. Maria’s capsule will appear when players climb to the top of a large plant behind the Bloodborne Hunter Bot. They then need to search the trees above for a clock symbol matching the one on the pod. Standing near the clock and pressing the Options button brings up a screen where players must enter the date 24/11/2015, the release date for Bloodborne’s The Old Hunters DLC. Doing so unlocks Lady Maria and the Hunted Down trophy.

Meanwhile, the Selene Bot is in the Deep Dataspace of Astro’s Playroom’s SSD Speedway. To the left of the buried Ball Shooter chest is a swirling vortex. Players must jump toward the vortex to land on the hidden platform to reveal Selene’s pod. Then, they must proceed through the shooting section, stopping in the room with the low-hanging lights. They will find a small astronaut doll on the walkways above. This being a Returnal reference, players then need to die and respawn to free Selene.

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Returnal developer Housemarque recently shared a pair of cryptic teasers pointing to a big reveal on Tuesday. It’s hard to say what the Finnish studio has in store just from the teasers, but it may be fans first look at its mysterious new IP.

Returnal Developer Housemarque cryptically teases new game

Housemarque shared the first teaser on Twitter early Monday. The tweet consists of an image showing two eyes looking at you through shattered glass and the word “Tomorrow.” Almost two and a half hours later, the studio followed up with an animated teaser starting with “Tomorrow.” It then cracks and shatters, briefly revealing the same image as before.

Returnal was Housemarque’s biggest game to date. The unique third-person-shooter horror roguelike follows space pilot Selene Vassos after she crashes and lands on the quarantined planet Atropos. Trapped in a time loop, she must confront both dangerous creatures and supernatural visions. The game won Best Action Game at the 2021 Game Awards and walked away with multiple 2022 DICE and BAFTA awards. Housemarque later expanded the game with the free Ascension DLC in 2022.

However, Rather than Returnal 2, the reveal is likely the new IP that Housemarque had been working on for some time. Housemarque’s managing director, Ilari Kuittinen, briefly mentioned the new project during a 2022 interview with VentureBeat. He didn’t reveal much about it other than that it probably won’t be multiplayer. However, that was very early in the new game’s development.

Based on Housemarque’s success with Returnal, it’s tempting to assume that the new game might be similar in some way. If nothing else, the teasers certainly give off horror vibes. Fans will find out tomorrow what the studio has in store.

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Nex Machina and Returnal Game Director Harry Krueger is leaving Housemarque after 14 years at the developer.

Onto the Nex One

In the post on Housemarque’s site, Harry expresses great pride in contributing to the studio’s legacy, especially with the latest and largest title, Returnal: a project that evolved the company from an indie studio scale to a full-priced title, rewarded with multiple awards. He reminisced about the evolution and breakthroughs during the early days of Outland, Resogun, and ending the indie dream with Nex Machina. 

“During my 14 years at Housemarque, I’ve been incredibly fortunate to work on one dream project after another and had the privilege of working alongside some truly talented and wonderful people along the way. It’s been an honor to accompany Housemarque on this journey, witnessing our growth from our smaller arcade-inspired titles to the magnificent heights we reached with Returnal,” said Krueger in his announcement. ”We really shook the pillars of heaven together, and I will forever be proud of all the amazing things we’ve accomplished as a studio.”

Krueger goes on to say it was a hard decision to leave, but he has confidence Housemarque will continue to thrive.

“Departing from Housemarque was a very difficult decision for me, but I’m leaving the company with nothing but deep gratitude for the past, and a glowing optimism for the future—with an exciting new project in the works, a fantastic team that’s stronger than ever, and the continuous support of Sony and PlayStation Studios, I know that Housemarque’s brightest chapter has yet to be written.”

Finnish studio Housemarque became one of PlayStation’s big players with PS5 exclusive roguelike shooter Returnal, which built upon the developer’s rich history of arcade-style action in games such as Super Stardust HD, Dead Nation, Resogun, Nex Machina, and Alienation.

The studio has recently been bulking up for its next project.

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Returnal was the biggest game that developer Housemarque had ever made. And the team is staffing up even more for its next title.

According to a list of speakers for the Reboot conference in Croatia, Studio Head Ilari Kuittinen noted in his bio that the studio has grown to 110 people. This is up from the 80 employees it had near the launch of its roguelite shooter in 2021.

What is Housemarque’s next game after Returnal?

Kuittinen didn’t hint at what those 110 people are developing, and Housemarque hasn’t been that much more open, either, but other members of the team have let it slip that it is making a new IP. Sony’s support has also allowed the team to “go even wilder” and that a sequel to Returnal is only a possibility after the studio’s next title.

And while Returnal 2 won’t be Housemarque’s next game, the studio is planning to use canned concepts from Returnal in that mystery title.

“We dreamt super big [for Returnal], but we still had to leave so much on the cutting room floor,” said Senior Narrative Designer Eevi Korhonen. “All of these ideas and narrative systems. I’m super excited to pick up those pieces and see how those fit our new IP story. We didn’t quite have the handle on how big [Returnal] was going to be, building for a new platform on a new engine with a new team, all of those things require some learning. Now we have that team that has gone through the fire and learned how to build a game like Returnal. So now we get to start off stronger.”

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Returnal‘s PC release is off to a pretty slow start, if data shared by SteamDB is any indication. According to the website, which pulls Steam data but isn’t affiliated with Valve, Returnal peaked at 6,691 players at launch, making it Sony’s second worst PC launch thus far.

Returnal only managed to beat Sackboy: A Big Adventure on Steam

Despite being lauded by critics, Returnal apparently didn’t resonate with PC players. As spotted by PushSquare, SteamDB reveals that it only managed to beat Sackboy: A Big Adventure in terms of concurrent players at launch.

It’s not all doom and gloom, though. Returnal’s PC sales may have some legs.

Sony’s best PC release thus far in terms of concurrent players is God of War, followed by Marvel’s Spider-Man: Remastered and Horizon Zero Dawn. Days Gone and Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales round up the top five. Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection, Returnal, and Sackboy: A Big Adventure are the least popular PlayStation first-party games on PC, respectively.

Returnal, a BAFTA award-winning game, launched with quite a few PC-specific features and boasts an impressive average critic score of 87 percent on Metacritic. On Steam, it has a “very positive” rating based on 1,254 user votes (81 percent voted positive).

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We knew it was coming in 2023, but Returnal for PC is launching earlier than anticipated on February 15. Not only are PC players finally going to get to play it, but they’ll also experience the definitive version of the game, complete with a bunch of PC-exclusive features.

Watch the Returnal PC features trailer

Returnal PC features include:

• Upscaling through DLSS, NIS, and AMD FSR.
  • By leveraging machine learning, lower-end systems can use upscaling techniques to output at a higher resolution and level of quality.
• Ultrawide Support.
  • Support for both Ultrawide (21:9) and Super Ultrawide (32:9) monitors.
• Ray-traced shadows and reflections.
  • Higher quality shadows and reflections thanks to ray-tracing.
• Dolby Atmos.
  • Enhanced audio using Dolby Atmos.
• DualSense controller support.
  • Support for the PS5 controller including various customizations.

Returnal is renowned as being one of the best-looking PS5 exclusives and so the fact that it’s about to look even better on high-end PCs is pretty wild.

After over 21 months of waiting, PC players will soon be able to get their hands on Returnal. Hopefully the PC-exclusive features make it worth the wait!

Hopefully the surge of new players can help with the hunting down of the Tower of Sisyphus secret, which still remains a mystery.

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One of the worst-kept secrets of 2022 was confirmed at The Game Awards 2022 when the Returnal PC version was given a release date window. The game will be the latest of the PlayStation Studios titles to hit PC next year on Steam and Epic Games Store, even though the trailer only tells players the game is “coming soon”.

When is the Returnal release date window?

The Returnal release date window on PC is 2023, although the official product page only has “coming soon”. The PC version will come with all of the game’s updates and the free Ascension DLC, including Suspend Cycle, Photo and Co-op Modes, and the Tower of Sisyphus survival mode update. While Returnal is primarily a single-player game, the co-op mode allows two players to team up together, but cross-platform play will not be supported. As such, PS5 players can’t play co-op mode with PC players.

The game follows several PlayStation Studios titles onto PC, including the recently released Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection and Sackboy: A Big Adventure, neither of which have done particularly well with their new audience. Sony will be hoping Returnal will be as successful as its earlier PC games like God of War and Marvel’s Spider-Man.

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A Steam page under a codename, Oregon, is causing a lot of excitement. That page has been updated to state the game will be getting Steam Deck support, but while many are convinced the page is referring to the PC version of Returnal, neither Sony nor Housemarque has actually confirmed the game will be coming to PC.

Will Returnal be released on PC?

Rumors of Returnal’s leap onto Steam have been circling since the page for Oregon was discovered in May. Localization strings on that page refer to Tower of Sisyphus and Atropos, while the game has “bullet hell” and “rogue-like” tags. According to ResetEra member Mocha Joe, the Oregon, aka Returnal, PC page had been updated multiple times across a period of four days, and an update to include Steam Deck compatibility was then spotted by ResetEra member JoanneAlley. Players are assuming and hoping the frequency of the updates means Oregon will be nearing release on Steam.

Horizon Zero Dawn, God of War, and Days Gone are all Playstation Studios titles that have already been released on Steam while Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered and Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales are both due to hit PC before the end of the year. Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection has also been confirmed but has seemingly been delayed. While some players are adamant Returnal would never make the leap to Steam, Digital Foundry’s Alexander Battaglia is adamant he has already seen the game running on PC. It’s definitely not an impossibility, although a PC version of Returnal is yet to be announced by Housemarque or Sony.

In other news, the Star Wars KOTOR – Remake is reportedly in serious trouble and has been delayed indefinitely after Aspyr Media fired two of the project’s directors. Elsewhere, Sony is reported to be “really interested” in Square Enix Japan but not in any of the western studios.

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Returnal is one of those games that has a central narrative that is told to players as they work their way through the game, but there is also plenty of secret lore to find if players care to look for it. In a new interview, Senior Narrative Designer Eevi Korhonen revealed there is still a secret discovery to make about the Tower of Sisyphus endless mode in Returnal.

The Tower of Sisyphus still has a reference to find

Korhonen revealed getting the story right in Returnal was quite a challenge. Narrative Director Greg Louden wanted to make sure players understood at least some of the game’s story without wandering too far off the beaten track, but Korhonen told VGC she wanted to “make it more mysterious” so a player would “puzzle it out with the community.” The result is a story told through brief cutscenes but with audio logs and written notes to be found throughout the environment. However, it seems like there is one mystery still to be found:

I’ve been stalking our subreddit, and there have been wonderful little discoveries… there is something I’m still hoping that they will discover about the Tower Sisyphus. It’s not as much of a secret, more like a nice philosophical reference to the name. But nobody has put that on Reddit yet, so I haven’t seen anyone make that connection. But hopefully, someone will maybe after this.

The Tower of Sisyphus was added through Ascension Update 3.0. The Endless mode features numerous floors full of enemies of increasing difficulty that each end with an encounter with a new boss. Korhonen didn’t give any clues as to where the reference can be found, but be sure to let us know in the comments if you find it!

In other news, Ghost of Tsushima 2 may have multiplayer included on day one. Elsewhere, scalpers attempted to sell The Last of Us Part 1 Firefly Edition on eBay for extortionate prices but it didn’t go too well.

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After Returnal was released, Housemarque said they were hoping to be able to create “bigger types of experiences” so they would no longer be known as the Resogun studio, and it seems like Sony is helping them to do that. In a new interview, the developer has revealed that Sony’s acquisition of Housemarque has given them “a runway to go even wilder” on their next game.

How Sony is helping Housemarque to “go even wilder”

Housemarque has already said their next game will be a new IP as they’re moving away from the Returnal franchise for now. Senior Narrative Designer Eevi Korhonen explained to VGC how Returnal created an idea of what a Housemarque narrative would be like, but now they’re looking to explore beyond that. Thanks to “all that financial backing and stability” from Sony, the developer now has “a runway to go even wilder” with that narrative. Sony was also extremely accommodating during the creation of Returnal. Korhonen explained how Housemarque never “faced too much pressure” from Sony during the game’s development despite it being the studio’s first attempt at a AAA game.

While the next game is based upon an entirely new IP, this doesn’t mean the team is leaving Returnal behind completely. Korhonen had already explained how some of Returnal’s “ideas and narrative systems” got left on the cutting room floor as the team struggled to fit all of their ideas into the game. Now she is “super excited to pick up those pieces and see how those fit our new IP story”. And once this game is finished, Returnal 2 may be an option for the future.

In other news, Cuphead developer StudioMDHR has said it made sure to prioritize the mental health of its staff over the release date of their The Delicious Last Course DLC. Elsewhere, fan reaction has been divided after Striking Distance Studios revealed they were using real-life violence and gore as inspiration for The Callisto Protocol.

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