Housemarque is celebrating the three-year anniversary of its hit shooter roguelike Returnal by teaming up with Dark Horse Comics for a graphic novel, artbook, and a new animated adaptation you can watch right now. This news follows yesterday's tease from both Housemarque and later Dark Horse Comics about Returnal, sending fans into an understandable frenzy about what the teams had in store for players. 

"Another year, another cycle," a post on X (formerly Twitter) from Housemarque reads. "The Third time around, extra loot is exposed with Dark Horse flair." 

Here's what that flair brings to the Returnal universe: 

• Returnal: Fallen Asteria Graphic Novel
• Returnal Artbook
• Fallen Asteria Animated Adaptation

Now, even with PlayStation dipping its toes into cross-media production with Amazon's God of War series and Netflix's Horizon adaptation, this Returnal adaptation isn't the same. Instead, it's an "animated version of the first issue of the upcoming graphic novel, Returnal: Fallen Asteria." Check it out for yourself below: 

Housemarque says the 88-page graphic novel will arrive in paperback on bookstore shelves starting October 22, 2024, and it will hit comic book shops the next day. 

It's unclear if the animated adaptation above is the animated adaptation today's announcement refers to or if it's just the first part of it since it only adapts the first issue of the graphic novel. 

Here's a look at the Returnal: Fallen Asteria issues coming this October: 

There's no word on when the Returnal artbook will arrive, but presumably it's this year. 

For more about the game, read Game Informer's Returnal review, and then check out this story about the PC specs required to play Returnal on a desktop or laptop. After that, read about Returnal's Ascension update, which added co-op gameplay and a new challenge tower to the game. 

Returnal hit PlayStation 5 on April 30, 2021. It launched on PC on February 15, 2023. 

Are you excited about today's Returnal news? Let us know in the comments below!

Square Enix, the company behind last year's Final Fantasy XVI and this year's Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, has seemingly canceled some in-development games, taking on some big losses as a result. As for why, the company is aiming to be more selective about its projects moving forward. 

This news comes from a release related to Square Enix's holdings, which explains the company is incurring losses of 22.1 billion Yen, or roughly $140 million, on its financial books for the fiscal year that ended in March. 

"At the meeting convened on March 27, 2024, the Board of Directors of Square Enix Holdings voted, in light of the myriad changes underway in the environment surrounding its group, to revise the group's approach to the development of high-definition (HD) games with the intention of being more selective and focused in the allocation of development resources," the release reads. "As a result of a close examination, the company expects to recognize approximately 22.1 billion Yen in content abandonment losses on its books for the fiscal year ended March 2024." 

While potentially canceled games might sound doom and gloom, it sounds more like Square Enix is sharpening its developmental focus to ensure that the games it releases are hits or, at the very least, financially successful for the company. Nonetheless, it sounds like roughly $140 million of games in development have been canceled and it's unlikely we'll ever find out what they were. 

This release comes after a big splash from Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, which Square Enix released in February. Elsehwere in 2024, Square Enix is releasing Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail, the new expansion for the MMO that will kick off a new saga for the long-running game, in July. 

What's your take on this news? Let us know in the comments below!

Xbox will livestream an Xbox Games Showcase this summer. Similar to last year's Starfield Direct, the showcase will be followed by a special "Redacted" direct that will dive deep into a beloved franchise. As for when, the Xbox Games Showcase will begin at 10 a.m. PT/1 p.m. ET on June 9, with the Redacted showcase streaming immediately after.

"Like our double feature last year with Starfield Direct, immediately following the Showcase we'll be airing a special deep-dive into the next installment of a beloved franchise," an Xbox Wire blog post reads. "We can't say much, so for now, we'll call it the Xbox Games Showcase followed by [REDACTED] direct. This will also be our first showcase featuring games from our portfolio of studios across Activision, Blizzard, Bethesda, and Xbox Game Studios, in addition to titles from our third-party partners."

And speaking of Activision Blizzard, I'm guessing the redacted showcase is about the next Call of Duty, based on the associated image that you can see in the X (formerly Twitter) post below:

We’re going to be talking about games of course

Tune in to the Xbox Games Showcase followed by [REDACTED] Direct on Sunday, June 9 @ 10am PT: https://t.co/z78G8h75r2 | #XboxShowcase pic.twitter.com/XgOGJy2gLv

— Xbox (@Xbox) April 30, 2024

We know another Call of Duty is coming this year, following up last year's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III, and that logo looks very militaristic. The Capitol Building behind it adds to this guess, too, especially if the next Call of Duty is about the Gulf War, which is what the latest rumors are saying (with Black Ops series developer Treyarch up to bat). Regardless, we'll find out soon because that presentation follows the Xbox Games Showcase happening in less than two months on June 9.

This Xbox Games Showcase will follow this year's Summer Game Fest livestream on June 7 (and takes place during SGF's media-only days, where press and influencers will play various games on-site in Los Angeles, California, from June 8 to June 10). Following the Xbox Games Showcase, Ubisoft will host another Ubisoft Forward event on June 10.

What game do you think the redacted direct will be about? Let us know in the comments below!