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Returnal's Terrifying Enemies Required New Tentacle Technology

Lovecraft's influence is pretty undeniable when looking at these enemies.

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A new development video for Housemarque's Returnal focuses on the terrifying enemies you'll be encountering, and a whole bunch of them have tentacles. The studio has taken some inspiration from Lovecraft, with several varieties of tentacle-sprouting monsters that look like they're capable of destroying Selene in two seconds. It even required special new tentacle technology that the studio developed internally, so it better be worth it.

The various environments in Returnal--set on the planet Atropos--are meant to all stand out, and they include dark, damp areas that show clear horror roots. Some of the organic enemies you'll fight in these ares sport tentacles and have bioluminescence, and they can make use of the tentacles to pull off unusually-timed attacks.

The designs required Housemarque to create its own tentacle technology, and the studio aimed to make these enemies challenging in multiple ways. For example, one enemy type is the Titanops, which only has tentacles on one arm. The other has a larger piece of bone that can land slower, devastating attacks, so you'll have to watch out for both. Others will have long-range attacks in addition to tentacle-based melee blows, forcing you to stay moving or risk getting overrun.

Despite the AAA production values and third-person camera perspective during combat, Returnal retains much of Housemarque's signature shooter gameplay. You'll still be dash past attacks and avoiding walls of projectiles while you take enemies down, but there is a new level of verticality to the environments that should make it even trickier.

Returnal launches exclusively for PS5 on April 30. Read our Returnal review for more info on how it succeeded at combining arcade elements with AAA quality. If you're keen to play the game, you can also check out our essential tips to know before playing it to best prepare yourself for the difficult journey ahead.

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