Returnal launch trailer is equal parts arcade action, mystery, and philosophy

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Housemarque's next game is almost here

The Returnal launch trailer is here, and it brings it all together: sci-fi gear, third-person bullet hell battles, and existential intrigue.

The trailer follows lone astronaut Selene as she comes to grips with the strange nature of the alien world of Atropos, and how it has her trapped in a time loop that seems to be as inescapable as the tide. It's like Groundhog Day if Bill Murray could loot his corpses from previous loops and hear snippets of their forgotten memories, though that probably would have changed the mood of the movie a little bit.

"Time is like a tide. It pulls us. It shapes us. It covers our secrets, hidden, deep below the surface," Selene explains in the voice over for the trailer. "With each rush upon us it leaves a fresh scar behind. No matter how hard we fight, we can never stop it. We alone must find meaning amidst the flow, creating our own fate, finding our own answers. For when all is lost, the tide remains."

Returnal is set to arrive on Friday, and it's set to be one of the biggest PS5 exclusives since Sony's new console arrived last year. If you want to start playing ASAP, you can get your Returnal pre-load going now and start streaming down all 56GB ahead of time - and hopefully it will stick around a long time, as the developers at Housemarque aimed to create a game with "unlimited replay value."

Speaking of big PS5 games, don't miss the new Ratchet & Clank trailer that finally gives us a proper introduction to Rivet. 

Connor Sheridan
Connor Sheridan

I got a BA in journalism from Central Michigan University - though the best education I received there was from CM Life, its student-run newspaper. Long before that, I started pursuing my degree in video games by bugging my older brother to let me play Zelda on the Super Nintendo. I've previously been a news intern for GameSpot, a news writer for CVG, and was formerly a staff writer at GamesRadar.