PS5 exclusive Returnal delayed to April

When Returnal was first unveiled to the world, it was difficult to figure out what it was exactly. This isn’t a knock against it at all; if anything, the deeply atmospheric and weird trailer did an excellent job of raising our hopes for the game. Sony has often played its exclusives very safe so see Sony Interactive Entertainment take a big ol’ swing on Returnal was refreshing. Despite how solid it looks and the backing of Sony itself, that doesn’t mean it’s immune to the delay wave that has been plaguing so many games in recent months. Thus, Returnal’s release has unfortunately been pushed back… by a mere month.

Returnal was initially meant to release on 19 March but following the announcement from Sony and developer Housemarque, the game will now arrive on 30 April. The extra month will be dedicated to polishing the game. “SIE 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,” read the tweet announcing the delay. I don’t know how long Housemarque has been developing Returnal but given how vastly different it looks compared to their other games, one has to imagine it took a while.

Whatever the case may be, I’ve been excited for Returnal ever since I saw the first trailer. The combination of a strong narrative backed by PS5 presentation with a tightly controlled rogue-like couldn’t sound more like a game made just for me. Now just to figure out where to get a PS5 from…

Last Updated: January 29, 2021