'I try to play as a completionist and leave no stone unturned and no enemy unkilled': Returnal director Harry Krueger talks Deus Ex, Resident Evil, and the arcade classic that inspired Housemarque's best games
Harry Krueger didn't get into PC gaming until early adulthood, but that all changed when he encountered the deathmatch thrills of Quake 3: Arena. "I went from zero to hero, basically," he says. "I went from never having a PC ever in my life to setting up a LAN and getting Quake 3: Arena, Tiberian Sun, and Red Alert." He recalls gathering with friends in Greece for competitive sessions, playing in his house with two teams and experiencing both friendly and not-so-friendly competition.
Krueger entered the games industry as a programmer for Finnish developer Housemarque, where he worked on the studio's early titles like Outland and Resogun. He later assumed the role of Game Director for Nex Machina in 2017 and served in the same role for Returnal, the bullet-hell roguelike that won four BAFTAs in 2022, including the award for best game.
After leaving Housemarque in 2021, Krueger has since established his own studio—Cosmic Division, which is working on its first title. "We want to be a lean and mean studio that makes evocative gameplay-first experiences," he says. Krueger mentions that Cosmic Division's debut game will inherit the arcade action DNA of Housemarque's finest works. "I think players will also be pleasantly surprised," he adds.
Krueger took a break from his latest game development to show me around the bullet-riddled tower of his PC, a journey that took us from PC gaming's heartland to the lofty heights of the arcade shooter.
What game are you currently playing?
I do carve out time for games that are really important to me, and recently I managed to play Resident Evil: Requiem. I'm a huge Resident Evil fan, and I had pretty high expectations for Requiem, which definitely delivered on all of them. I think it's a phenomenal mixture of action and horror, the power fantasy and the vulnerability. I think it's up there with the very best of the series.
The gunplay and action, all the set pieces are incredibly satisfying, and I always love the exploration in Resident Evil games, the keys and secrets. I'm a bit of a completionist, so I do enjoy going through all the nooks and crannies, and the horror elements were masterfully designed and executed as well.
I've already finished the game once, but it's one of the few games that, once the credits rolled, I felt like I wanted to play this again. I haven't had time to jump back in yet—I started a little bit, and I predict that once I catch a breather, I'll be going in to complete another playthrough as much as I can.
What was the previous game you played, and is it still installed?
I finally got around to playing Return to Monkey Island. I've always cherished the Monkey Island series, and I felt like the latest instalment was a true return to form. I really enjoyed the puzzles. The characters were endearing. The humour was top-notch. I think it was a wonderful experience. I do enjoy getting stuck on puzzles and having those big breakthrough moments.
To be honest, I did think it was a little bit easier on average than the first three in the series that I've enjoyed the most. It's interesting—we were talking about horror before, that it's difficult to nail effectively. But I do feel that, in some ways, getting a consistently high calibre of humour is the hardest thing to nail across any media. Monkey Island is one of the very few series I feel has succeeded the most at that.
Just getting that high quality, endearing, sweet spot of humour is something I really appreciate.
What is the oldest game (by release date) currently installed on your PC?
It's the original Deus Ex, which was released around 2000. So it was actually around the time I started playing PC games. Deus Ex is one of my favourite games of all time. I really appreciate the incredible mixture of exploration, action, the meaningful decision making, and I still consider it maybe the best cyberpunk story ever told.
It's always one of the first games that, when I get a new PC, I just instinctively reinstall it. It's been a few years since I've had a chance to play it, and I feel it's well overdue for a replay. I like having it there because I feel like I can jump in and give it another spin sometime soon. I may be a hopeless romantic. I do cherish these experiences that make us who we are, and I find it genuinely beneficial and inspiring to revisit some of these games that help shape us.
I like to play mostly stealth. I like to find all of the keypad codes. I try to play as a completionist and leave no stone unturned and no enemy unkilled. But that's what I enjoy about it. It's so rich with possibilities and you can just approach it any way you like, and the decision making as well. I always try to be a bit of a good guy or try to complete side quests. But I find the characters, the writing so endearing as well, that I always enjoy it, even though I've experienced it so many times. The music as well is just fantastic.
What is the highest number of hours you have in any given game, according to Steam?
Apparently I have over 200 hours in Tetris Effect. I'm a huge Tetris fan. I used to play it religiously on my original black and white Game Boy. I used to carry it around everywhere with me, and I spent countless quarters at the arcade machine as well.
And it's an interesting game, because there are hundreds of Tetris versions and clones out there. But I think it's a good example of a design that's super simple and easy to execute, but it takes a lot of finesse to execute well. It's a good reference when it comes to game-feel because you know you can make it functional, but getting it to feel crunchy and satisfying and getting that satisfying impact is what makes it stand out.
