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[Men_in_Boxes]

Hades and Slay the Spire are largely considered the two best roguelites in existence. Both are making bukoo dollars.

Returnal is never in the discussion for GOAT tier roguelite. It's claim to fame is basically that it's the roguelite with the biggest budget. Is it crazy to assume a new Roguelite from them that has a more appealing setting, with better run variety could do massive numbers?

Now that Housemarque has had one crack at the genre, and they've seen what titles like Hades, Slay the Spire, Dead Cells, and Balatro can do on the market, would they be wise to take another shot at the genre?

 

[Pegasus Actual]

They should make Returnal into a GaaS

 

[RedC]

 

[Blackage]

Returnal was great, but do we know how well it performed? It might be a question of if Sony will let them make another Roguelite yeah?

 

[64gigabyteram]

Returnal is liked in spite of it being a roguelite more than anything. People love the aesthetic and world building and story but not everyone likes the fact you gotta explore a new map once you die
It feels more like a roguelite spinoff to a bigger, greater game than a standalone project.

still the 2021 GOTY for me

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

sony aint making indie games. I once knew a guy spreading the gospel of GaaS. You should ask him about it.

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

Returnal is liked in spite of it being a roguelite more than anything.

The roguelite genre is arguably the most popular genre in the indie space. It seems to be growing. I think the genre pulls more than it pushes.

 

[64gigabyteram]

The roguelite genre is arguably the most popular genre in the indie space. It seems to be growing. I think the genre pulls more than it pushes.

yes Rougelikes/lites are a big thing. Returnal is just the type of game where it would probably be better if they abandoned that for a traditional metroidvania structure

 

[James Sawyer Ford]

Is Hades making tons of money though?

 

[Holammer]

Sure, why not. Have another go at it.
Returnal is a good game, what killed it was the overly fart sniffing & convoluted story. The sort of shit you need to watch a VaatiVidya video to understand. The Side Order DLC on the other hand for Splatoon 3? It's simple and cute, the gameplay is as good, even better than Returnal. I had a 120% better experience with it.

Sometimes you just need to rescue the princess, not descend into a diseased mind addled by mythological symbolism.

 

[Sooner]

Returnal is my favorite roguelite that I've played. But, the genre may be too niche for AAA.

 

[James Sawyer Ford]

Honestly Housemarque just needs to improve the Returnal formula with a new IP and an actual protagonist that is cool and not some menopausal karen.

I don't mind whatever they do - roguelike or traditional. Just keep that amazing gameplay on point.

 

[Hudo]

I think Housemarque should make a Returnal 2. They can make it even better, imho.

 

[Majima Everywhere System]

sony aint making indie games. I once knew a guy spreading the gospel of GaaS. You should ask him about it.

When you stop multiple projects within a year, you can’t give 7 developers 7 years to right the ship.

They need a mix of games of varying scopes. Housemark may get charged with picking an older project back up and finishing it in 3 years, bluepoint and aggressive 2 year remaster.. etc

 

[a'la mode]

Returnal was really good, I'd certainly be interested in a new iteration of the formula. Not a Returnal 2 necessarily because that story is done and any continuance would just probably feel forced and awkward, but a new setting.

 

[Roberts]

I know there are a plenty of Returnal fans here and I understand it: it has nice shooting mechanics and so on but Hades is so much better as a roguelite. Hades also has amazing, smart, witty writing and great characters and I don’t think HM has it in them to write anything on that level. I think it would be better for everybody if they just made a simple arcadey 3d bullethell shooter with no roguelite features.

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

Is Hades making tons of money though?

SteamSpy estimates between 5 - 10 million sold. (No idea if they're legit, probably not)
Steam Revenue Calculator puts revenue at 300 million. 300 million divided by 20 is 6.6 million.
I assume it does reasonably well on consoles.
Hades II seems to be performing better than the first on Steam.

No great sources, but I suspect it's doing pretty well.

sony aint making indie games.

I'm not suggesting they make 2D indie games like Slay the Spire or Hades. I think they take the Returnal framework, replace the IP with something that has more mass appeal, and fix the inferior rogue lite elements of Returnal.

 

[Hohenheim]

Returnal is never in the discussion for GOAT tier roguelite

Retunal is, along with The Binding of Isaac, my GOAT roguelite. Without any doubt.
A Stone cold classic.

Hades is cool, and Sly the Spire is fantastic, but Returnal is pure bliss.
The atmosphere, the tight gameplay makes it something truly special.

I have very high hopes for their next game, and pray to the Elderich gods that they're not knee deep in Sony's GAAS Nightmare fuel, like so many other Sony studios these days..

 

[lughnasadh123]

Please god no. No more roguelites from them.

 

[PurePlatinum]

Just commenting to say that Returnal is still the best game of this generation and it's not even close.

 

[Pegasus Actual]

Just commenting to say that Returnal is still the best game of this generation and it's not even close.

I figured a random game would beat it and of course I was right:

 

[Beechos]

Umm returnal is goat tier

 

[GigaBowser]

hades annnnnd returnal genius

 

[linko9]

Returnal is my favorite roguelike by far, but I'd like it better if it had a non-random, arcade-style structure. The tower of sysyphus doesn't quite work because it's just an endurance test— you have to go for hours and hours to get a decent score, which isn't fun for most people. So I hope they drop the roguelike stuff for their next game and focus on making a great 3d arcade (likely shooter) game.

 

[Pegasus Actual]

Returnal is my favorite roguelike by far, but I'd like it better if it had a non-random, arcade-style structure.

You're not sounding super-qualified on what makes a good roguelike...

 

[vaibhavpisal]

They should do a metroidvania. Would be in day 1.

Though, it could sell probably even less than Returnal, considering Metroid Prime sales.

 

[Grizzled Ghost]

The first time I encountered that third boss in Returnal it blew me away. Probably my favorite gaming moment of the generation.

I would love to see them do just a super polished, narrative 3rd person shooter without the roguelike element tbh

 

[xrnzaaas]

The roguelite genre is arguably the most popular genre in the indie space. It seems to be growing. I think the genre pulls more than it pushes.

I think it's become problematic. Tons of new indie games are adding roguelite mechanics and unfortunately it's usually a simple way to avoid making more unique content. Meaning it's poorly implemented and either the balance sucks or there's not enough stuff rewarding you for doing repeat runs.

For me personally it's usually a turn-off and the game has to look really interesting for me not to ignore it.

 

[The artful mincer]

The end game guns in Returnal are the most powerful feeling awesome guns in a game ever.

Jesus Christ the Portal Beam!

 

[Mozzarella]

Returnal was amazing, one of the best games of this decade for sure.
I definitely enjoyed it way more than Hades and about the same as Slay the Spire
My favorite Roguelike is Enter the Gungeon.

 

[mdkirby]

Honestly I would not be at all surprised to hear that Sony had them working on a marvel live service game, and the first we will hear about it, is that it is now cancelled.

 

[Clear]

The impressive thing about Returnal is that it works as a Rogue-lite and as narrative-heavy psychological sci-fi horror story without either treading on the other's toes.

Low-key its up there with Silent Hill 2 in terms of its story. Probably the most surprising thing about the game considering Housemarque had zero pedigree in that regard.

 

[ChoosableOne]

I think they should make a straightforward action game with gameplay like Returnal, featuring a cool main character, while also adding a rogue-lite mode for people like us. These two were the biggest reasons why the first game wasn’t popular enough(they were not a problem for me). I saw the GIF on OP... it truly was a great game. I will play it again sometime.

 

[TropicanaTwista]

Guess it depends. Roughlite is my favorite genre, but I felt Returnal was a little weak on that end. It's gameplay was just godtier which makes it super appealing to me. I personally have both hades and Returnal in the same tier of game, around 9.5ish out of 10 range. Maybe a slight edge to Hades as I thought the theme and story was better there.

Don't really feel like slay the spire and balatro are good comparisons. Yea they're roughlite but they're also turning based card games. Hell, balatro is my game of the generation so far but if we wanna talk gameplay, Hades and Returnal are just on a different level. The beauty of Balatro is just the insane depth of choices and way you can play. A bunch of different decks, with different antes, then you get different jokers etc. the amount of times I ran a build in that game and thought it was OP and wanted to try again, just to find another build that seems stronger. I probably have lost count

 

[Luipadre]

I bet they are working on a fucking GaaS too

 

[linko9]

You're not sounding super-qualified on what makes a good roguelike...

The question was "should Housemarque make another roguelike". My answer was "no, because while I loved Returnal, I would have preferred it as a non-roguelike game".

I don't dislike all roguelikes, but I prefer them when runs go much more quickly (20XX is a good example). Since Returnal is a roguelike, and I enjoyed it overall more than any other roguelike, it's my favorite. But the reasons I like it are the basic shooting and dodging gameplay, and the presentation. I would rather Housemarque make a game that focuses on what I liked about Returnal, not what I didn't like.

 

[Heisenberg007]

I have Slay the Spire in my library but haven't played it yet.

But I think both Hades and Returnal are absolutely 10/10 games in their genres and for what they were trying to do.

 

[april6e]

I mean, if you are asking if it is possible, sure. Returnal, IMO, is an S tier roguelite so they have proven they have the pedigree.

But I do not believe they can create a roguelite on the level of Hades or The Binding of Issac with a sequel to Returnal as this sort of game has already been done many times before. It needs to be something refreshing and new that hasn't been tried in the genre. This is why games like Hades or Balatro blew up so much as they basically created their own sub genre within the roguelite sphere.

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

5 million sold. Housemarque is in a great spot.

 

[sloppyjoe_gamer]

I hope not.....the only thing i hate more than live service games and rogue/rogue lite ones. All of those need to die a fiery death.

 

[yurinka]

I think they should continue developing and polishing the AAA and arcade mixture they started with Returnal. I'm not a fan of roguelike/roguelite games, but if it helps them keep the costs relatively low than the traditional linear game I'm ok with it.

What I'm sure is that they should be kept away from GaaS and competitive MP. I think going forward they should continue focusing in non-GaaS SP, or maximum coop.

 

[schaft0620]

I was thinking how is Sony going to mess up Housemarque and OP you nailed this.

 

[MSduderino]

I enjoy roguelites and gave Returnal a shot. Got my ass kicked 3 times and gave up. Should I give it another go? The aesthetic doesn't really attract me and I'm not the best at shooters but I like Rockstar and Naughty Dog games.