A special preorder bonus for the PlayStation 5 exclusive game, Returnal, was recently announced via Amazon. The new third-person shooting game is being developed by Housemarque and is scheduled to release on March 19, 2021.
Returnal is advertised as a science fiction psychological horror game and is a departure from the developer’s usual formula. The Finnish video game developer is popular for making arcade-style games with an extreme focus on gameplay above all else.
However, with Returnal, the development team appears to be putting more focus on its characters and story based on what was shown in the reveal trailer from last year. Now that the game is only a couple of months away from launch, it is only natural that preorders have started to go live, and with them are exclusive preorder bonuses.
Players who will avail the Returnal preorders through Amazon Deutsch will receive two additional suits. The translations for the two suits read as “Astra Model 14 Takiter Suit for Selene” and “Astra Model 9 Prototype Suit for Selene.”
As of writing, the bonus only appears to be available via Amazon Deutsch and it is uncertain if the suits are simply cosmetics to make players look cooler or have in-game effects. The price for this Returnal preorder is €79.99 which is approximately $97.
The scarcity of information regarding this preorder bonus is a bit unusual. When Demon’s Souls, another PlayStation 5 exclusive, announced that it had preorder content, specific details came along with the reveal to inform fans of what exactly they would be receiving.
In comparison, gamers are left to think if the Model 9 and Model 14 Returnal suits are simply skins or something more. On top of this, there is no confirmation whether or not this content will become available in other markets.
While the game does look amazing from both gameplay and narrative perspective, this bizarre preorder situation might hurt the game long before players get their hands on the game. There appears to be a breakdown in communication between the developers and the gaming community but it might not necessarily be the development team’s fault.
Sometimes sellers prematurely release information that was not meant to be announced yet to the general public for some time. The fact that this preorder for the Model 9 and 14 suits only appears to be available on Amazon Deutsch implies that this is what happened here too.
Whether or not this is an error, it is still a tough start for a title that looks promising. Hopefully, the chaos revolving around Returnal’s preorder suits will not discourage fans who are interested in trying the game out.
