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Is anyone else thinking Housemarque will go after the Hades / Slay the Spire throne? (POLL)

Will Housemarque make a new roguelite? (Please explain your reasoning)

  • No, and they shouldn't.

  • No, but they should.

  • Yes, but they shouldn't.

  • Yes and they should.


Results are only viewable after voting.

Men_in_Boxes

Snake Oil Salesman
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?

returnal-returnal-coop.gif
 
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64bitmodels

Reverse groomer.
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
 
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64bitmodels

Reverse groomer.
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
 

Holammer

Member
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.
 

James Sawyer Ford

Gold Member
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.
 
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
 
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a'la mode

Neo Member
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

Member
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

Snake Oil Salesman
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

Member
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..
 

linko9

Member
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.
 
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