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Is Returnal also coming to PlayStation 4?

By Matthew Liebl

PARIS, FRANCE - OCTOBER 30: A gamer uses a Playstation PS4 controller as he plays a video game during the 'Paris Games Week' on October 30, 2019 in Paris, France. (Photo by Chesnot/Getty Images)
PARIS, FRANCE - OCTOBER 30: A gamer uses a Playstation PS4 controller as he plays a video game during the 'Paris Games Week' on October 30, 2019 in Paris, France. (Photo by Chesnot/Getty Images) /
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Returnal is set to release on April 30, 2021, and is easily one of this month’s most anticipated games. It’s also one of the rare games that is being released exclusively on PlayStation 5.

Developed by Housemarque, who has a pretty long track record of putting games on PlayStation only, Returnal is a third-person shooter/psychological horror with roguelike mechanics. It looks like an incredible game and it’s easy to see why so many PlayStation fans are excited for this one.

Unfortunately, unless you own a PlayStation 5, you won’t be able to play it.

Is Returnal coming to PS4?

As it stands, Returnal is a PS5 exclusive. And although Sony has shown a willingness to release its exclusive games on both PS5 and PS4 in the past, as to not completely abandon its last-gen console, it doesn’t appear that there are any plans to release Return on PlayStation 4.

Why isn’t Returnal releasing on PS4?

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There have been a ton of games released on both PS5 and PS4, but Returnal won’t be one of them. If I had to guess, it’s simply too demanding for the PS4’s hardware. Housemarque is taking full advantage of the PS5’s hardware and its DualSense controller to create a fully immersive experience.

Between the haptic feedback, 3D spatial audio and real-time ray tracing effects, it’s quite likely that they couldn’t replicate this experience on PS4. Not to mention, the roguelike aspect of the game, with Selene caught in a time loop of an everchanging world, the PS5’s increased processing power and solid state drive, could drastically cut down on loading times as well as the variety of enemies, visual effects and gameplay objects.

In other words, even if Sony wanted to bring Returnal to PS4, it’s highly unlikely that the console could even run the game. So if you want to play Returnal when it launches on April 30, you’re going to need a PlayStation 5.

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