In 2021, Housemarque and Sony Interactive Entertainment released one of the best games of the current generation, a punishingly addictive experience called “Returnal.” Combining the brutality of a Soulslike game with the unpredictability of the Roguelike genre, “Returnal” was unlike anything else that year, winning multiple awards for its remarkable design. Five years later, Housemarque has released a spiritual successor in the excellent “Saros,” out next week exclusively for the PS5 and ready to dominate your spare time and raise your blood pressure.
First, a bit of definition: “Saros” is a “Roguelite,” a variation on the genre “Roguelike.” In the latter, every time one presses play on a game, it’s different, and nothing is retained from one play to the next. “Roguelites” feature upgrades, shortcuts, and even new start points after certain achievements, usually like killing bosses, but also include different elements with every play. For example, each trip through the portal in “Saros” will spawn different weapons, artifacts, and even a few settings, all linked together, among those that need to appear to progress the story. Think of it like a video game meets a deck of cards: You have a different hand every time, but always the same number of cards, and the rules of what you’re playing don’t change drastically.
In “Saros,” the excellent Rahul Kohli (“Midnight Mass,” “The Haunting of Bly Manor”) plays Arjun Devraj, a Soltari enforcer who ends up stranded on a planet called Carcosa, a place that is undergoing consistent solar eclipses that explain the remapped setting every time you play. How Arjun got there and what he’s searching for on this distant hellscape are things that Sony has asked us not to spoil, but there are some clear cinematic references, mostly of the philosophical sci-fi/horror genre. Tarkovsky’s “Solaris” feels like a major influence, and some of the true horror reminds one of the increasingly cult classic “Event Horizon.” Suffice to say, you are often alone on Carcosa, sent to vanquish hundreds of things that want to kill you.
Much like “Returnal,” “Saros” works on a biome system, but there’s a much more distinct progression system to this one, wherein you can use a portal to skip to the setting that meets your mission requirement, or if you just want to explore. The strongest parallel to “Returnal” is in the look and feel of the combat.
The creatures across Carcosa that want you dead are all relatively Lovecraftian in nature, demon-alien hybrids with varying ways to turn you into space dust. They all shoot three different projectiles in blue, yellow, and red. The blues are best dashed through, the yellows can be absorbed by your shield in a way that powers your weapon, and the reds can eventually be parried back at the enemy that shot you. At its peak, “Saros” becomes a combat ballet wherein you are constantly dodging, absorbing, shooting, and parrying. It is a remarkably addictive gameplay dynamic, one of those perfectly calibrated things that’s relatively easy to learn but hard to master. By the end of my “Saros” run, I had so much control over the system that I felt nearly invincible. It’s an adrenaline rush of a game.
Of course, feeling all-powerful was rarer in “Returnal,” a game you barely survived, more than mastered. While “Saros” is notably easier, it also offers deep customization options that let one adjust the difficulty for a greater challenge. Every run produces something called Lucenite, and most include an element found in the environment called Halcyon that can be used to permanently upgrade Arjun. Not only does this element of grinding make the game easier as Arjun gets more powerful, but there’s also a clever system called Carcosan Modifiers that allows for further modification. It’s basically a metered menu wherein if you want a little more firepower, you have to give up something, like how much Lucenite you retain after you die, for example. It’s more than just a difficulty management system; I found myself using it after what I learned on runs about what I needed and what I could sacrifice for the next attempt.
In keeping with the Roguelite genre, each run produces different weapons, upgrades, and artifacts that you lose on death. It’s such a fun dynamic in that each venture through the landscape of Carcosa feels unique, even though most players will eventually find the guns they hope to locate each time they launch. (For me, it’s a shotgun through most of the level and a better long-distance weapon like a crossbow or rifle for bosses.)
As addictive as any game you’ll play this year, “Saros” is a must-play, but it’s not perfect. The environments often feel repetitious and there’s a wild difficulty spike in the second act with one boss who took me a lifetime to dispatch. There may be some user variance here, but the boss before it and all of the ones after were dispatched the first or second time I faced them, while this particular nightmare fuel took literal days. Again, my gameplay may differ from yours, but such intense difficulty variations can make for an experience that’s more frustrating than fun.
There are also some moments in the gameplay when the facial models seem a bit outdated, although the cut-scene graphics are remarkable enough to overcome any visual concerns. Most impressively, the final act of “Saros” is its most narratively captivating. Again, my tongue is forcibly tied as to the how and why, but know that this is a more satisfying piece of storytelling than the familiar first half might imply.
Most of all, the game’s success comes down to gameplay that can be punishing but also feels so rewarding once it’s overcome. Like most Soulslike games that I love, there’s a sense of accomplishment in “Saros” that most games lack. It may lack in true authorship—there aren’t branching narratives or moral choices, for example—but you truly feel like you’re in control of this interstellar warrior, one who’s going to die if you do something. Again and again.
Sony provided a review copy of this title. It launches in early access for pre-orders on April 28th and to everyone on April 30th.
