Returnal trailer tours an alien world where "everything has changed"

A new Returnal trailer teases some of the many mysteries you'll discover as you explore the alien world of Atropos.

Where the last trailer gave us a crash course on Returnal's third-person shooting combat, this new trailer is all about the planet itself. We follow space explorer Selene as she moves through Atropos, trying to reckon what she's already seen of this strange world with what's before her eyes right now: mysterious broadcasts, artifacts of a seemingly extinct civilization, the same location appearing in two completely different forms. "Everything has changed," Selene says.

The trailer introduces the Overgrown Ruins, Derelict Citadel, and Crimson Wastes biomes - with another three listed as "Unknown Biomes" on the side of each title card, so it looks like there's just as much still to discover in the game itself. Each has its own oddities, but the most enigmatic of all may be the farmhouse that appears in the Ruins; Selene's reaction indicates that this is a place she's personally familiar with, not just an unexpected manifestation of human architecture.

How did it get here? And who or what is waiting for Selene in that one room with the illuminated window? These are not the kinds of questions we're used to asking about previous Housemarque games like Super Stardust and Resogun, and we can start to find out the answers when it arrives as a PS5 exclusive on April 30.

Don't worry, the arcade heart of Housemarque is still beating: Returnal's developers told us that they're aiming "to create unlimited replay value" with a new generation of roguelike shooters.