Returnal 2 isn't going to be Housemarque's next game

A sequel to Returnal won't be happening any time soon as Housemarque confirms it's working on a new IP.

One of the standout releases of the new generation so far has been Housemarque's PS5 exclusive Returnal. The roguelike's success was enough to prompt Sony to acquire the developer shortly after the game's launch. Despite Returnal garnering praise from critics and players alike, it appears Housemarque has no immediate plans for a follow-up to Selene's gruelling space adventure.

Confirmation that the team is working on a brand new IP comes from Ilari Kuittinen, managing director at Housemarque. As reported by VentureBeat, Kuittinen said during an interview at the DICE Awards last week, "Nex Machina, a few years ago, was very much a shoot-'em-up game in the style of the coin-ops from the '80s. That's sort of a clue. But it's interesting. We've been thinking about that. We had our stint working on multiplayer games, because a few years back it seemed like you needed to have some kind of multiplayer experience. We tried that, and we really didn't do it as well. But it's early days with us starting a new game, a new IP, concepting it out. We'll see what comes with that."

Housemarque may not be developing a sequel to Returnal, but the studio seems keen to adopt the same arcade stylings and considerable challenge for its new IP. Returnal's game director, Harry Krueger, said, "At this stage, we're quite proud of what we accomplished with Returnal, and we're quite excited to pursue that same trajectory as a company."

Returnal won awards for outstanding achievements in original music composition and audio design at this year's DICE awards.

In his review, Ben describes Returnal as "Sony's most beguilingly weird blockbuster in a long time".

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Originally from Ireland, I moved to the UK in 2014 to pursue a Games Journalism and PR degree at Staffordshire University. Following that, I've freelanced for GamesMaster, Games TM, Official PlayStation Magazine and, more recently, Play and Games Radar. My love of gaming sprang from successfully defeating that first Goomba in Super Mario Bros on the NES. These days, PlayStation is my jam. When not gaming or writing, I can usually be found scouring the internet for anything Tomb Raider related to add to my out of control memorabilia collection.