PS5 exclusive Returnal delayed to April

PlayStation 5 exclusive Returnal won’t hit its previously announced release date. Housemarque’s new third-person shooter will slip a bit later into the spring, with a new release date of April 30, Sony announced Thursday morning on the PlayStation Twitter account.

The announcement represents a delay of six weeks. Housemarque had said in December that it planned to release Returnal on March 19, 2021.

“[Sony Interactive Entertainment] and Housemarque have made the decision to move the release date in order to give the team extra time to continue to polish the game to the level of quality players expect from Housemarque,” Sony said in the tweet.

Housemarque — creators of PlayStation 4 launch title Resogun — announced Returnal in June during Sony’s PS5 reveal event. It is set to be the studio’s first non-arcade game. In Returnal, players play as a space pilot named Selene who is trapped on an alien planet and unable to die. With every death, she returns from the grave to fight again.

A recent trailer for Returnal shows off some sci-fi third-person combat. We also see Selene pick up a few weapons and gadgets via cutscenes, showing off different kinds of guns, swords, and a parasite Selene can upgrade to grow her powers. The official synopsis of Returnal describes the game as a roguelike — à la Hades or Dead Cells — suggesting Selene can hold onto some or all of these weapon upgrades when she dies.

Returnal’s trailers also focus heavily on the game’s narrative. Selene has lost some of her memories on the planet, and she’ll need to piece them together in order to escape. Aside from there being a central mystery to Returnal, we don’t know much about Selene’s journey or the upgrades she’ll earn as she battles.

Returnal is a PS5 exclusive and will cost $69.99.