Saros

Of all of the launch-ish titles for the PS5, Returnal was probably my favorite entirely new experience. Between the initial launch and the time I was finally able to get a console during the supply chain disruptions of the pandemic, I had already played the cross-gen games like Spider-Man: Miles Morales on my old PS4 Pro. But Returnal was a true exclusive that really felt next-gen with its seamless loading, silky smooth framerates, and flashy particle effects. But in addition to the showcase of Housemarque’s technical prowess, Returnal was unforgettable for me due mostly to its bold structure, relentlessly oppressive tone, and dark, cosmically terrifying yet intensely personal narrative. It’s still one of my favorite games of the generation, and the announcement of Saros as a followup was great news for me. Returnal is a tough act to follow, but how well does Saros live up to its legacy?

I’m going to do my best to explain and address Saros’ attributes and experience on its own terms, but comparisons to Returnal are pretty much unavoidable, in my eyes. To me, this is a sequel to Returnal as far as mechanics and design go; even though it’s a new IP that is (apparently) set in its own universe, it’s the spiritual, iterative sequel in terms of gameplay. I find it difficult to fathom reviewing Saros outside of that context, considering how much time I’ve put into Returnal, so much of this review will end up directly comparing the two. The games are very similar in gameplay and structure, but with a few major differences that ripple all throughout the fundamental nature of the experiences.

A Streamlined Experience

In many ways, Saros feels like a second attempt at Returnal’s formula, but with many of the rougher edges sanded down for the sake of easier approachability (for better and for worse). The moment to moment gameplay is streamlined, and the narrative is more straightforward.

Returnal’s narrative was isolated and intentionally vague; so much so that there is still ongoing debate about how literal any of Selene’s journey was. Was any of the sci-fi world of Atropos meant to be taken as a literal, physical place, or was the entire thing an extended metaphor for Selene’s behavior and relationships? There isn’t a clear answer. But the narrative Saros definitely feels more grounded and literal, mostly due to the fact that it includes more characters than just the protagonist. I’m comfortable assuming that Carcosa and the Soltari colonists are meant to be taken as physical places and beings. While Saros’ protagonist, Arjun Devraj, has a traumatic and problematic background similar to Selene, the time-warping nature of his journey is easier to decipher and is more explicitly laid out than whatever was happening on Atropos.

The game’s overall aesthetic and tone feel dialed down in comparison to Returnal as well. While still otherworldly, the planet of Carcosa feels less alien than the constantly slimy, squirming, hostile feel of Atropos. Selene probably couldn’t have even breathed its air without her suit. And nothing in Saros comes close to topping the horrific mid-game twist that Returnal inflicts on its protagonist and players. The weapons are similarly more familiar, with the majority of them being based on conventional human designs rather than futuristic, otherworldly devices. There are a few of the more out there weapons available later in the game, but Returnal built most of its arsenal around ancient alien tech. I’m not saying this is inherently a good or bad thing, just a notable difference in tone and aesthetic. I understand that Returnal’s oppressive, all-encompassing hellscape could easily be exhausting for certain people. I derived most of my enjoyment from that atmosphere, but Saros is clearly trying to be more approachable in every regard, so I can see why it might be a good idea to tone down the discomfort and add more familiar grounding elements if that’s the goal.

The narrative streamlining is also paralleled in the game’s overall mechanical streamlining. Coming off of Returnal, I needed to re-map my muscle memory to the new default control scheme that moves most of the game’s major functions away from the face buttons; aside from Arjun’s jump, grapple ability, and contextual interaction function, everything is now on the shoulder buttons and triggers. Even the manual sprint function was removed, with Arjun’s default running speed being roughly equivalent to Selene’s max speed. But other than those points, you can tell that this was built off of Returnal's core mechanics, with Arjun moving around with a similar weight and level of mobility. Saros has the same core mashup of Third-Person Shooter and Bullet Hell mechanics that worked so well in Returnal, but with major changes: to name a few (that we’ll dive into later), there is a more fleshed-out color-coding system for projectiles, a shield mechanic that works off of that system, a completely reworked item economy, and the entire removal of active-use consumable items.

The biggest overall structural change comes in the form of Saros’ focus on meta-progression. This was the single most fundamental change to the formula, and was what concerned me most about the overall game. The focus is embodied in the tagline “Come Back Stronger”, which I found concerning since upward meta-progression in Roguelite experiences is very easy to mishandle, often creating bizarre difficulty curves that risk locking progression behind stat grinding rather than rewarding player skill. I’ll get more into this in later sections, but suffice to say that the focus on stat progression is not as much of a detriment as I feared, even though it does create a somewhat odd final product.

The Combat and Item Economy

The fast-paced, Bullet Hell combat is where Saros shines brightest. Like Selene, Arjun dashes around the arenas with a breakneck pace. Standing still is the easiest way to get killed, so it behooves the player to constantly be on the move. The most extreme encounters become little bullet ballets, where you can get into a flow state of dancing around, dashing through, and absorbing the barrage of colored neon energy balls, inflicting damage yourself whenever and however you can. Arjun is equipped with a Dash (accompanied by invincibility frames*), as well as a new Soltari Shield, which is activated by holding down the Melee attack button. This Shield can absorb specific projectiles and convert them into Power.

Returnal had a few different enemy projectile types to dictate their function. Any could be avoided by just moving out of their path; some could also be dodged through with the i-frame-inducing Dash mechanic, some imbued suit Malfunctions on hit, and some would damage you even during a dash.

Saros takes this a step further, with even more defined projectile classification that adheres to a strict color-coding system. Thankfully for colorblind folks, there are ample customization options to dictate the exact colors of each type, but I’ll explain them here in their default settings.

Blue orb projectiles can be Dashed through or absorbed with Arjun’s Soltari Shield.

Yellow orb projectiles imbue Corruption (lowering your max health) on hit or absorption, but otherwise behave similarly to Blue orbs.

Red orbs cannot be Dashed through and will overload and disable the Shield on impact. They generally have to be avoided by moving out of the way, but the Parry ability you acquire midway through the game also allows Arjun to smack them back towards the sender with a well-timed melee attack, so long as it’s angled toward the end of the projectile with the white glow.

Beams (and expanding rings) come in yellow and red forms. Both will disable your Shield on impact, and only the yellow variant can be safely Dashed through.

Seeker projectiles appear like wispy little arrows, and will actively home in on Arjun’s position. They otherwise function like the respective orbs of their color.

Each weapon comes with a randomly-rolled Alt-Fire mode. As compared to Returnal, these differ in that they are true alternate firing modes, with no cooldowns or limits on their use vs. the weapon’s standard fire. It just changes how the attack functions in some way. The replacement for Returnal’s Alt-Fire system comes in the form of the Power Weapons that Arjun will find along his journey. These are assigned their own item slot independent of your primary weapon, having their own power level stat, and are activated by fully pulling down the adaptive trigger on L2 and pressing R2 to fire. While I find the variety of these Power Weapons a bit lacking, they are still generally useful and satisfying to use. They rely on Power to function, which is tied to your Command stat and is replenished by absorbing projectiles with the Soltari Shield. This creates a nice ebb-and-flow to the combat encounters, where the player is incentivized to watch for the different projectile types and react accordingly. Having more opportunities to utilize your Power Weapon is dependent on gaining Power, which usually means taking risks and absorbing the right projectiles with the Shield. Once Arjun’s full kit is unlocked and you’ve had time to master each mechanic, the battles can truly become a satisfying, overstimulating dance of destruction. Unless you get out of that flow state and get your ass absolutely handed to you, that is. While I would generally say that Saros is easier than Returnal as a whole (or at least, becomes easier), it still offers a significant challenge and I died a lot during my playthrough.

That stiff challenge is the primary incentive to engage with Saros' new central feature: the massive upgrade tree you can access in the hub area. The game’s main currency, Lucenite, has both macro and micro functions; during one of Arjun’s runs into the various biomes of Carcosa, collecting it from fallen enemies and from around the environment will upgrade his Proficiency for the run, which enhances the level of equipment you find during the run. Proficiency resets on death, but the primary use of Lucenite is to pay for permanent upgrades on this tree. Unlike the Obolites from Returnal that could be spent at the various shop structures throughout Atropos and would vanish entirely on death, Lucenite is never spent as a currency during a run and at least some of it is banked to your permanent supply on death. The rarer, purple substance Halcyon is reserved for specific, powerful nodes on the upgrade tree. It’s similar to the Aether from Returnal, but lacks any kind of utility in the middle of the run other than “pick one of two” chests that force you to decide whether to collect it to make future runs easier or opt for something with more immediate utility instead.

Many of the nodes on the tree incrementally increase the values of Arjun’s stats: Drive, Command, and Resilience.

Drive lets Arjun retain more Lucenite on death.

Command increases his total Power level.

Resilience increases his maximum health.

Additionally, all of these stats contribute to the effectiveness of the various weapons you find during a run, with weapons randomly rolling towards which stats are favored by which weapon attribute. For instance, one gun might deal increased damage with a higher Command stat, but another might have its damage dictated by your current Drive level instead; the weapon’s overall level (which is, in-turn, based on your current Proficiency level) dictates the maximum amount it can utilize your current stats. If your stats exceed the weapon’s maximum levels, then it might be time to find a higher level weapon. These stats can be temporarily increased during a run by collecting Artifacts, but only the upgrade tree can permanently increase their starting values.

Other nodes on the tree will improve the functionality and effectiveness of Arjun’s abilities, bump up his starting Proficiency level, or increase the drop rate of useful items during a run, among a few other things. The tree is not the only way that Arjun increases his power level, however, as he also permanently adds new pieces of equipment to his loadout and activates planet-wide mechanisms as the story progresses.

Another interesting mechanic is that the higher these stat levels go, the higher the risk of overloading them and turning them into negative versions of themselves when you collect an item that increases them. Resilience becomes Arrogance, Drive becomes Negligence, Command becomes Ignorance. Each is still functionally the same, but has a unique negative effect for the rest of the run, like not being able to see enemy health bars or corruption effects on Artifacts, or losing all Lucenite on death.

Artifacts return from Returnal, with some changes. In both games, they essentially function like the passive upgrades you’d find in a traditional Roguelike or Roguelite, offering a specific utility or a straight improvement to your stats. For instance, some might increase the time that Lucenite stays on the ground before disappearing, or cause nearby enemies to be stunned when you get a melee kill.

But Saros’ take on the Artifact concept also combines it with both the Parasite and Malfunction systems from Returnal. In the latter, Parasites were organisms that Selene could pick up that offered a specific benefit along with a specific downside. The player would have to weigh the proposition and determine if they thought the pro was worth the con; is the prospect of getting more currency from enemies worth having to deal with fall damage, for instance. Aside from the game’s early areas that have clean Artifacts with no downsides, most of Saros’ Artifacts come packaged with Corruption effects, a telegraphed negative trait very similar to what you might find on a Parasite. The main difference between the two games’ systems are that Returnal’s Parasites had their benefits and downsides inextricably linked: to get rid of the liability, you have to get rid of the whole Parasite, benefits and all. In Saros, by contrast, making it to the end of a biome will cleanse all of the Corruption effect from your supply of Artifacts and make them purely beneficial tools going forward. So the meta game becomes judging how much baggage you can carry and still survive the rest of the biome; if you think you can beat the boss with increased recoil and longer Dash cooldown, the next area might be made easier by the benefits of the Artifacts that currently have those downsides. These Corruption effects also go onto a list very similar to the Malfunctions that Selene’s suit would suffer from various sources in Returnal. While that game would give the player little mini-challenges that would clear the Malfunction on completion (e.g. collect enough currency, get a certain number of melee kills), Saros relies solely on the biome-clearing to remove them. The system pretty elegantly streamlines all of these effects into one core Artifact mechanic.

The weapons themselves fall into one of a few archetypes, with a few sup-types in each class. Arjun can use various Soltari pistols, rifles, and shotguns, along with more unconventional Carcosan weaponry. Each weapon’s effectiveness is weighted towards specific stats, as touched on prior, with higher level weapons able to utilize higher stat levels. Each weapon comes with an Alt-Fire that is activated by pulling L2 halfway, changing the function of the basic weapon shots (like a slower-firing but more damaging projectile, or fusing a crossbow’s usual spread of shots into a single projectile that breaks apart and homes in on targets after impact). The weapon variety is pretty good, but a bit less creative than the weird and wild alien guns in Returnal. Like I said, most have more conventional theming. But that’s more of a matter of taste than an indictment of any kind.

While the removal of consumable items results in less variety, they weren’t exactly perfect in Returnal. There were a few duds and some were way too situational to justify taking up a slot when there were better options available. In many ways, I can appreciate a follow-up that chooses to streamline and simplify rather than risk bloating the gameplay with extra layers of complexity. But I did find myself missing some of the variety that manually-triggered consumables offer while playing Saros. I kind of wish Housemarque had refined the mechanic instead of dropping it entirely.

A major change from Returnal is that Arjun does not have to die or completely finish a run to return to the hub area. The player can choose to end a run on their own terms when they reach one of the portals that bookend the various biomes. The player can also begin a run at any of these portals once they are unlocked, allowing for instant access to any biome. Returnal had shortcuts that unlocked as you collected permanent gear upgrades, but nothing that let you skip directly to later areas right from the starting crash site.

The focus on permanent upgrades has one major downside: it makes it far less feasible for skilled players to make it through the game’s later area without relying on banking currency and purchasing improvements. Returnal had plenty of lateral unlocks that increased the variety of options you can find along the way, but there was very little acting as a hard progress blocker in the gameplay itself; if one was skilled and lucky enough, they could make it all the way to the end of either of the game’s main acts without needing to reset their progress. Granted, much of the endgame stuff required revisiting previous areas with new equipment that allowed you to access previously locked-off areas, but the core runs themselves gave you everything you would need to progress and defeat the bosses. But Saros pretty much requires that the player enhances Arjun’s stats and abilities at every opportunity. If you don’t spend your Lucenite and Halcyon, you simply won’t do enough damage to enemies or have enough resources to stay alive without slowing the game’s pace to maddening degrees; you’d basically be a fragile little dude using pinpricks to slowly whittle down enemies’ health. I wouldn’t say that this upgrade-focused structure is inherently worse, but it does fundamentally change the type of experience that the player can expect. Reliance on objective improvements to the character means that you cannot track your own skill improvements as reliably; are you getting better at the game, or is the game itself just getting easier? It’s probably a bit of both at the same time, but the upgrade tree’s presence does muddy the experience a bit for me. But I’m all for innovation and genre-blending; Returnal was already a mashup of various genre elements, borrowing from Roguelites and Search Action games to varying degrees, so I’m not demanding that Saros adhere to any strict conventions of any genre. I appreciate the fluid blend of mechanics, and it works remarkably well for what it is if you keep an open mind. But I’d be open to more experimentation and refinement in Housemarque’s next hypothetical outing.

The World of Carcosa

Outside of a few visions/flashbacks, all of Saros takes place on the planet Carcosa. This planet apparently has an Earth-like atmosphere, since none of the characters need protective gear just to walk around it and breathe its air. The game’s initial impression can be somewhat underwhelming, since it saves its more impressive and otherworldly environments for the later segments. But it does indeed open up into some truly spectacular areas later down the line. I thought the rocky cliffs of the starting area were a bit basic and repeated too often, but the more H.R. Giger-esque areas down the line really delivered. While I still prefer Atropos’ own brand of xeno hell, I respect Carcosa’s design after viewing it in the context of the whole game.

One of the major additions to the game is the Eclipse. When Arjun reaches certain areas of a biome, he will need to literally shake hands with a puddle full of ghoulish appendages and activate the Eclipse for the rest of the area. The color grading shifts to a solar red and enemies become more aggressive and dangerous, and previously benign environmental objects can become dangerous obstacles. The placement of these activation pools depends on the area, with some later areas not even opening up at all until the Eclipse is active.

The various hostile mobs you will encounter throughout the game take the form of various alien beasties, mechanized automatons, and twisted, ghoulish humanoids. Some of the designs are surprisingly horrific for a T-rated game. There is suitable enemy variety throughout the game, with many areas having entities unique to them. There’s an unavoidable bit of overlap in both functionality and appearance between the enemies of Returnal and Saros, but Saros does a good job of creating a new, unique design language for each of the enemy classes.

And like with Returnal, the bosses at the end of each biome are no joke. You really need to make sure to prepare for these encounters and learn their attack patterns. Some of the later ones in particular have some devious projectile patterns that require careful and precise maneuvering to avoid damage.

Narrative and Presentation

This is a much more dialogue and story-heavy game than Returnal. While Selene was completely isolated, with only audio logs from alternate versions of herself to keep her company, Arjun Devraj is accompanied by a cast of supporting characters who have full conversations and story beats. Each time Arjun returns to the Passage (the game’s hub area) either through death or using a return portal, he’ll have opportunities to explore the area for various logs and chat up the NPCs. After key progression markers are cleared, a linear progression of story cutscenes will play out here as well. Similar to the Haunted House that Selene encountered on Atropos, Arjun can also have dreamlike experiences that force him to confront his past by entering the glowing roots of a massive tree at the top level of the Passage.

Before I get into the marked spoilers, I will say that I found the story decent, but not as compelling as Returnal’s. Saros’ tale and its characters’ journeys are more straightforward in their themes and presentation than the previous game. And it’s largely the less effective atmosphere that diminished the experience for me a bit.

Performances all around are quite solid. I liked Rahul Kohli in Midnight Mass, and he gives a strong performance in the game as Arjun Devraj. Jane Perry—who previously performed for Housemarque as Selene—also return(al)s as the new character Sheridan. This is a much more dialogue-heavy game than Returnal, and hews a bit closer to Hades in its narrative progression structure, so the actors are given quite a bit to work with. Much of that takes the form of static, back and forth conversations, but there are ample amounts of bespoke cutscenes with mo-capped performances to enjoy as well. In addition to the characters in the Passage, you will also encounter a few characters in Carcosa’s biomes, along with picking up audio logs from them and other individuals, which also help to flesh out the world and its mysterious nature. On my base, launch-model PS5 at least, the fidelity of the character models is a bit lackluster for this generation; however, they are more than sufficient to get the facial performances and nuance across. It’s not a bad looking game by any means, and the 60fps performance is impressive. I’m no Digital Foundry who was carefully inspecting a frame time graph, but I didn’t notice any performance dips or major bugs in my time with the game.

I’ll also take a moment to say how much I liked the UI design. The information is presented very clearly, and I especially enjoyed the Star Trek: The Next Generation-style colors and curves for some of the various bars and meters on the HUD. Clear communication is important in a game as chaotic as this, and the UI does a good job of conveying what you need to know at any given moment.

After this point, I’m going to address a few specific story points that contain spoilers. But in summary, the story was not really the thing about Saros that hooked me. The gameplay was quite fun, but the story itself was both somewhat predictable and somewhat obtuse at the same time. They clearly weren’t trying to make Arjun some bastion of altruism, but some of his choices can make him difficult to view as a redeemable character for some. Selene did some pretty awful things, but Arjun’s past sins are brutally front and center.

The story was told well for what it was, but the beats became predictable midway through. It’s definitely more straightforward and literal than Returnal’s dreamlike logic and metaphor-heavy world building, which seems to be on-brand for Saros’ apparent attempts to make this a more accessible game than its predecessor. But the obtuse, challenging, often unwelcoming design of Returnal’s narrative and gameplay structure was one of the things that actually made me fall in love with it. In comparison, Saros is just missing some of that secret sauce for me. It’s an easier game for more people to engage with, but the streamlining also results in a slightly less flavorful and cohesive whole than the game it's following up. The friction and messiness is sometimes part of the charm, and sanding it away can result in a less appealing whole. Returnal was a beautiful nightmare; Saros is closer to a slightly attractive, kind of scary dream. It softens the blows, but some of us are masochists who love taking them.

Final Thoughts

I liked Saros, but I wish I loved it as much as its forebear. As a package deal, it’s a more approachable game, but that was achieved at the cost of a truly unique and cohesive identity. As far as a Returnal successor goes, it gets a passing grade for me; but I wouldn’t call much of it a straight improvement over what’s come before. For the most part, all of the streamlining is a lateral move that creates a different type of experience altogether. For what it’s trying to do, it does a commendable job at it, and the consolidation of mechanics is generally pretty smart and reasonable. But for me, Returnal still stands as the poster child of this weird little mashup of genres Housemarque has created. I look forward to whatever they do next, but I do hope their next project leans more towards Returnal or novel experimentation rather than building off of Saros. I liked it, but I think I’ve had my fill of it.