So you’re wondering if Returnal 5 is realistic? Well, first I gotta point out something pretty important – there’s actually only been one Returnal game so far! The confusion might come from thinking of Returnal as part of a series, but Housemarque’s roguelike masterpiece is actually their first (and currently only) entry in this particular franchise
But that doesn’t mean we can’t talk about the possibilities of a sequel! Let’s dive into what we know and whether a “Returnal 2” might be on the horizon.
What Made the Original Returnal Special
Before we talk about sequels we should understand what made the first game so memorable. Returnal launched as a PS5 exclusive in April 2021 and quickly established itself as one of the platform’s standout titles.
Returnal combined:
- Bullet-hell combat reminiscent of Housemarque’s arcade roots (Resogun, Nex Machina)
- Third-person shooter mechanics with incredible weapon variety
- Roguelike progression with procedurally generated levels
- A deep, mysterious narrative about time loops and trauma
- Stunning alien environments with incredible atmosphere
The game scored an impressive 8/10 from IGN, with reviewer Mitchell Saltzman noting: “The moment-to-moment gameplay of Returnal is sublime, with a great selection of weapons that each have a wide variety of interesting possible traits, meaningful strategic decisions that can either keep a run afloat or doom it to sink, and punishingly challenging yet rewarding gunplay that is consistently exhilarating.”
Why Returnal Deserves a Sequel
Despite being a challenging roguelike with runs that “last way too long” (according to the IGN review), Returnal built a dedicated fanbase drawn to its:
- Unique Combat: The blend of bullet-hell patterns and third-person shooting created something truly special
- Intriguing Story: Selene’s mysterious journey left many questions unanswered
- Innovative DualSense Implementation: Returnal utilized the PS5 controller better than most games
- Atmospheric World: The alien planet Atropos was haunting and memorable
- Housemarque’s Evolution: It represented a successful transition from arcade games to AAA development
Current Status of Returnal 2
As of November 2025, there’s been no official announcement of Returnal 2 (or “Returnal 5” as mentioned in your question). However, there are reasons to be optimistic about the possibility:
Reasons a Sequel Might Happen:
- Critical Success: Returnal received strong reviews (8/10 from IGN)
- Sony Acquisition: Sony purchased Housemarque in 2021, showing faith in the studio
- Unique Position: It offers a roguelike experience unavailable elsewhere in Sony’s first-party lineup
- Narrative Potential: The story has plenty of room for continuation
- Technical Showcase: It demonstrates PS5 capabilities well
Reasons to Be Skeptical:
- Sales Uncertainty: While exact figures aren’t public, Returnal’s challenging nature may have limited its commercial success
- Housemarque’s History: The studio might want to create something entirely new
- Development Time: AAA games take years to develop
- Resource Allocation: Sony might direct Housemarque toward other projects
What Could Returnal 2 Look Like?
If Housemarque does create a sequel here’s what we might expect
Story Possibilities
- Continue Selene’s journey after the events of the first game
- Focus on a new protagonist encountering similar time loop phenomena
- Explore different aspects of the alien civilization briefly glimpsed in the original
Gameplay Improvements
- Addressing the original’s biggest criticism: the inability to save mid-run
- Expanding the weapon trait system that made the combat so compelling
- Adding more biomes beyond the original six
- Further utilizing PS5 features like 3D audio and haptic feedback
- Potentially adding co-op or multiplayer elements
Technical Advancements
- Even better visuals and particle effects (a Housemarque specialty)
- Faster loading and generation of procedural environments
- More complex enemy behaviors and patterns
Is “Returnal 5” a Misunderstanding?
The mention of “Returnal 5” is interesting because it doesn’t currently exist. This could be:
- A confusion with another game series that has reached its fifth installment
- A misunderstanding about Returnal’s place in Housemarque’s lineup (it’s not their fifth game)
- Perhaps thinking about the PS5 platform it launched on
- A typo or search term mistake
Whatever the case, we’re really talking about the potential for a “Returnal 2” at this point.
What Housemarque Has Been Working On
Since Returnal’s release, Housemarque has:
- Released a DLC expansion called “Ascension” that added co-op play
- Continued supporting the game with updates
- Presumably begun work on their next project under Sony’s umbrella
The studio hasn’t announced their next game yet, leaving the door open for either a Returnal sequel or something completely new.
Community Reception and Demand
The Returnal community remains active, with players still discussing:
- Hidden endings and secret content
- Speedrunning strategies
- Tower of Sisyphus (part of the Ascension DLC) high scores
- Theories about the game’s cryptic narrative
There’s definitely appetite for more content in this universe, which could influence Sony’s decision-making.
The Realistic Timeline
If a Returnal sequel is in development, here’s a realistic timeline:
- 2021: Original game released
- 2022: Ascension DLC released, potential early concept work on sequel
- 2023-2025: Core development if sequel was greenlit
- 2025-2026: Possible announcement window
- 2026-2027: Potential release window if development began after Ascension
This is speculative, of course, but aligns with typical AAA development cycles.
I think a Returnal sequel is definitely realistic and even probable, but we’re likely still a year or two away from an announcement if it’s happening. The original game demonstrated Housemarque’s ability to create something unique in the AAA space, and Sony’s acquisition suggests they see long-term potential in the studio.
The critical acclaim of the first game, combined with its distinctive gameplay and mysterious narrative, provides a solid foundation for a franchise. However, we should temper expectations – game development takes time, and Housemarque might want to explore different creative avenues before returning to Atropos.
For now, if you haven’t played the original Returnal, it remains one of the PS5’s standout exclusives and is definitely worth experiencing while we wait for news about what Housemarque is cooking up next.
What do you think? Would you prefer a direct sequel to Returnal or something completely new from Housemarque? Their arcade-inspired sensibilities have certainly translated well to the bigger budget space!
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Learning those behaviors is important, because Returnal really, really encourages you to avoid getting hit. There’s an adrenaline meter that builds up as you score kills and grants up to five stacking buffs, but they all disappear when you take a single hit. Also, if you pick up health items while you’re at max life it actually adds to your total health capacity. Returnal is a hard game, but it rewards you handsomely for playing well and for making smart choices, which is always a great feeling.
Returnal rewards you handsomely for playing well and for making smart choices And those major risk-reward choices often aren’t so easy, either. Many chests and health pickups are “malignant” and have a chance to saddle you with a debuff that can only be removed by completing specific requirements, such as killing a certain number of enemies. Then there are parasites, which offer both a buff and a debuff that can only be removed with a rare consumable or by finding an equally rare parasite-removal machine.
Sometimes the risk pays off, like when I open a malignant chest and receive a powerful weapon that’s two levels higher than the one I currently have and helps me decimate the next few rooms of a level. But oftentimes it doesn’t, and I just get a weak consumable and an added two seconds of cooldown to my dash. Coming out on the bad end of a risk-vs-reward gamble can be brutal, but it also is one of the things that makes each run of Returnal feel unique and exciting. You just have to make the best of a bad situation, which is one of the key aspects of the roguelike genre that Returnal absolutely nails. This improvisational style of combat that has you constantly changing up your weapons, altering your strategy on the fly based upon the types of upgrades that you come across, and deciding whether to buy or save your currency is crucial to making every run feel like a new and fresh experience.
Returnal PlayStation 5 Screenshots
The roguelike format also works because of how interesting each of the 10 weapons are. While most fill the expected roles in a shooter, several others are wildly inventive. There’s a gun that never has to reload but can only be fired once a round bounces back into the gun, and a weapon that fires pylons into the ground and triggers streams of red lightning between them. It’s clever stuff.
There are many more possibilities for each weapon, which has given each of my playthroughs thus far a distinct flavor.The best part, though, is that each of the 10 weapons can spawn with one of nine gun-specific traits which can dramatically affect how that weapon is used. A shotgun might have a slugshot trait that makes it super accurate and powerful from a long distance or one that makes it spit out acid clouds for damage over time; a carbine can be given a chaingun-like trait that makes its firing speed ramp up as you continue to hold the fire button down or one that fires slow but powerful high-caliber rounds; and the pistol might spawn with a trait that turns it into a burst fire weapon, or one that gives it a barrage of homing missiles after every shot. There are many more possibilities for each weapon, which has given each of my playthroughs thus far a distinct flavor.
Returnal’s persistent progression comes from the fact that these traits are already present on guns that you find when you start, but they must be unlocked by scoring enough kills with that weapon. After you’ve done that once, any weapon you find in a future playthrough with that trait has it automatically unlocked (and upgraded, once you’ve unlocked those). This adds another element to the risk-reward equation: sometimes you’ll have to decide whether you want to keep a weapon with great traits that’s helpful in the moment, versus tossing it in favor of a new weapon with a promising new trait that needs to be unlocked. That can definitely be worth the sacrifice in the long run.
However, one of the key aspects of the roguelike genre that Returnal does not nail is that nagging feeling of “just one more run.” That’s because a run through Returnal lasts way too long, plain and simple. To paint a picture, I’ve put in 42 hours into Returnal so far, and in those 42 hours I’ve only died 25 times. That’s not a weird flex, or me saying that this game is easy, because again, it’s absolutely not. It’s to illustrate that if you’re going to get anywhere near the end your run is almost always going to be at least about two hours long, which is exhausting. It also means you have to clear your schedule when you sit down to play, because there’s no saving your progress at any point in the run. Until you’re done with that run you cannot play any other game, you cannot fully turn the PS5 off (only put it in rest mode, which is risky in of itself), or do anything else that closes the application. And obviously, you’d better hope that it doesn’t crash – that happened to me on two separate occasions and halted two runs where I was more than an hour deep.
Runs last so long because of the fact that there is very little in the way of permanent progression outside of traits, and because of the way temporary progression on individual runs is handled. For instance, weapons don’t drop based on how deep into a level you are; instead, you build up a Weapon Proficiency meter by killing enemies and finding items that add to the meter. So, for example, if my weapon proficiency meter is at 5, weapons will drop with a power level of 5 or, with luck, slightly higher. Attempting a later level when your weapon proficiency is at too low a level takes an already hard game and makes it absolutely ridiculously difficult. So, if you want to make a real attempt at succeeding in Returnal, you have to grind.
If you want to make a real attempt at succeeding in Returnal, you have to grind.And that really slowed my momentum. Unlike with other roguelikes such as the Spelunky games, Dead Cells, or more recently, Curse of the Dead Gods, I was never eager to jump back into another game after a death. I needed a break.
The good news at least, is that the actual act of exploration in Returnal is done extraordinarily well. Every level is a sight to behold, whether it’s the dark, gloomy, and alien vibe of the Overgrown Ruins; the Doom-esque feel of the Crimson Wastes; or the ancient mechanical atmosphere of the Derelict Citadel. It helps, too, that there’s a great variety in the challenges of the many rooms. Despite the procedural generation that keeps Returnal from becoming too predictable, enemies and environmental elements always feel deliberately placed – especially the grapple points that allow you to put distance between you and especially dangerous foes, deadly pits that punish careless movement, and loads of secrets lying in wait.
While Returnal is not a PS5 graphical showcase on the level of say, Demon’s Souls, it still looks really good and runs at a mostly consistent 60fps, though it does dip every now and then ever so slightly in certain spots. Where Returnal does show its “new-gen” chops is in the ways it uses the DualSense controller. Barring Astro’s Playroom, this is the best usage of haptic feedback and adaptive triggers so far on the platform because it actually makes a difference in how you play. Sure, it’s cool to be able to feel rain drops on the controller, but what’s even cooler is having that added element of sensory feedback to let you know when your alt-fire is off cooldown in the form of a very specific feeling rumble in your controller.
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FAQ
Does Returnal get easier if you keep dying?
It gets easier with each death. Every run is an opportunity to increase weapon traits, collect ether, and get better at the combat dynamics. Never stop moving; learn enemy animations; perfect your jump/melee range; Never Give Up.
Is Return a good game?
Return goes on sale quite often so its usually around ten dollars. And although it is a short game, (my play through was around five hours) it delivers a great story and world that I will definitely remember. I had an amazing time, and of you’re looking for a good rainy weekend game, give Return a try.