Saros Review, Gameplay Impressions, Videos and Top Features

Saros from developer Housemarque is one of those games that could end up being a sneaky Game of the Year contender. 

Fresh off the hit game Returnal, Housemarque slots right back into a comfort zone with a third-person shooter littered with roguelite designs and wrapped in an engrossing sci-fi narrative. 

Returnal was one of the first PlayStation 5 games to really feel next-gen. Now, Saros looks to carefully layer atop those familiar trappings and one-up itself in the process. 

An interesting melody of gameplay elements, progression systems and straight-up violence, Saros isn't to be overlooked in what has already turned out to be a stacked year.

Graphics and Gameplay

When it launched, Returnal was an embarrassment of riches in terms of presentation, with shockingly good visuals even during fast combat, superb sound design, stunning PS5 controller haptic feedback and a fitting sense of loneliness. 

Saros as a whole, and the planet Carcosa, one-ups that triumph in these areas across its many different biomes while going for a different style. 

Said style is danger. The environments that range from pretty to threatening all feel tense, both because enemies can pop up at any time, but also because of the game's narrative backdrop about super-threatening eclipses that change everything about the world. 

Fittingly, the gameplay vibes perfectly with this splendid presentation choice. 

Comparisons to Returnal will pop up. But the difference in gameplay alone is vast. 

There are similarities in perspective and movement while using an arsenal of weaponry against varied enemies, yes. 

But Selene in Returnal was constantly backpedaling, merely trying to survive. In Saros, players sprint ahead and are more aggressive, seeking out kills and accomplishing goals. It's much more pedal-to-the-floor, both narratively and in actual gameplay feel. 

One of the core gameplay mechanics here is the player's shield, which can strategically absorb energy thrown their way, then be repurposed into a weapon with the other arm. It's fun and demands players to think strategically at high speeds, judging how and when to dive into the line of fire on purpose to charge up an offensive ability.

That's the main driver for the notable differences between the two titles. But tack on the character's jumps and dashes (and longer versions of each, too), and this is a far more aggressive, danger-seeking experience. 

A player's hard work culminates in boss fights that are fittingly bombastic. They're about timing and choices, yes, but also learning and understanding attack patterns and openings. Fitting, too, in the sense they really highlight the responsive, punchy gameplay as a whole. 

The eclipse mechanic of the game isn't just window-dressing, either. When it hits, enemies go wild and new projectiles, attack patterns and problems get heaved at players to sort out on the fly. 

With roguelites, nothing is more important than the overarching progression. This time out, Saros offers up permanent upgrades that range from improved weaponry discovered to a revive that saves a run. This smooths out the difficulty while helping players feel like they're making real progress, even during a "failed" run. 

Each run seems like it checks in around the 15 or 20 minute mark, which feels good. It helps that some things have been streamlined, like teleporting around maps instead of endlessly needing to fight through enemies and areas the player has already cleared. 

Story and More

Players assume the role of Arjun Devraj, a man tasked with finding out what's going on down on Carcosa. 

It's a classical sci-fi backdrop: Carcosa is an alien planet. Human corporation Soltari is after its rich deposits of the important big resource, Lucenite. Things don't go to plan. Investigations required. Heroes (the player) needed, there's enemies to fight and a big mystery to solve. 

That's painting in broad strokes on purpose, of course. This is easily Housemarque's most story-driven experience to date. One can feel it in the character development as things progress through a lengthy tale. 

The Passage is the hub that houses a good chunk of the conversations and character backdrops around the supporting cast. Players don't need to stop and talk, but the context is usually much appreciated and it does feel like they can miss things if they don't go over the area with a fine comb. 

Exploration offers meaningful storytelling, too, in the form of discoverable holograms that do some serious worldbuilding and lore context. This is, as a whole, a backdrop that inspires curiosity and, with any luck, won't be a one-off appearance in merely this game. 

To briefly touch on the mentioned progression, Saros does a good job of making it feel like even "bad" runs offered some measure of progress. It doesn't feel overly grindy, either, and it's simply fun to experiment with different things within the confines of the smooth combat. 

Saros is packed with little quality-of-life features very obviously learned from the Returnal experience. Players can now suspend a run, if needed. And there are more fast-travel options. Hardcore fans might bemoan this, but becoming more accessible means reaching a broader audience, and reaching a bigger audience means a more successful game, which means more games, so the complaints fall flat under a microscope, no?

Somewhat-joking aside, Saros runs great despite all of the things happening on the screen. That, and the quality list of options tucked into the menus, isn't really surprising, given Returnal successfully laid the groundwork in these areas years ago. 

Conclusion

Even with an uptick in expectations because of Returnal's success, Housemarque has another smash hit on its hands with Saros. 

A smart evolution of the roguelite shooter niche genre, Saros is enthralling equally because of its steady sense of progression and for its earnest efforts to tell more of a story in an engrossing setting. 

The small efforts to make the experience more accessible are largely optional for hardcore players, but should go a long way toward making sure more players pick up the game, and more players actually see the credits roll. 

While not a surprise, Saros is a success that will understandably slot on some GOTY lists and have plenty of fans anticipating what's next after back-to-back hits.