The former PlayStation 5 exclusive Returnal officially turns three years old today on April 30th with some new announcements from developer Housemarque shared to celebrate. Returnal teasers from Monday suggested that something new was on the way, and we now know that something to be Returnal: Fallen Asteria, a graphic novel telling a new story involving the game’s protagonist, Selene. Alongside this graphic novel, it was announced that an art book from Dark Horse is on the way, and the first chapter of Returnal: Fallen Asteria has been adapted into an animated comic as well that you can watch right now.
Atropos is the hostile alien planet Selene finds herself stranded on in Returnal, and that’s the planet that’ll once again play host to a Returnal story in the new Returnal: Fallen Asteria book. It’s created by creative director Gregory Louden and Khalil Osaimi from Housemarque with art by Igor Lomov and Aaron Järvinen, and you’ll be able to find it in bookstores on October 22nd and a day later in comic shops on October 23rd. The art book, The Art of Returnal, will be available on the same dates.
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The first issue of the graphic novel can be seen in its animated form below.
Any new Returnal news is welcome by those who’ve been strong proponents of the game since its launch, but it’s true that many people thought these teases from Monday had more to do with video games rather than extensions of the Returnal world. There’s been no indication that the Housemarque game would get DLC, especially not three years after release, but from the teasers, many were hoping that this would lead up to a sequel being announced or something of that sort.
Housemarque is indeed working on a new game but confirmed previously that game would be a new IP, so a Returnal 2 or anything similar seemed unlikely. After Dark Horse got in on the teasers and started sharing them, too, people began to put together the pieces that this would likely be a comic or a graphic novel.
Still, if you liked Returnal, this can be seen as good news as it shows the IP is still very much alive even if the smaller Housemarque team is focused elsewhere right now. And if you haven’t played Returnal before, it’s very much worth your time either on the PS5 platform on on the PC via Steam. It’s a roguelike shooter, and while many of those are played from a top-down or platforming perspective, Returnal takes a different approach with some great ideas worth replicating. One of my own grievances with the game was that it was a PS5 exclusive at the time which limited its reach, but that’s since been rectified, so it’s only gotten better since launch. Returnal also utilizes the DualSense controller exceptionally well, so if you’ve got one, it’s best to play it with that.
“Returnal may not beat out other more anticipated titles for Game of the Year honors at the end of the year, but it won’t by any means be forgotten as the potential of next-gen hardware is explored,” an excerpt of our review said. “It’s a shame the game isn’t available on the PlayStation 4 or even other platforms so that more players could experience it, but if that compromise means we get more games like Returnal, that’s a convincing argument. Other games may employ similar mechanics in the future, but Returnal should always be remembered as one of the ones that did it first, and, as of now, did it best.”
