Five years after making a name for itself with the hardcore roguelike shooter Returnal, Housemarque has returned with its latest title, Saros.
Saros is a culmination of the know-how Housemarque built while developing and supporting Returnal. Consequently, the first impression, overall systems, and even the feel of gameplay are largely similar. From its hardcore, third-person, roguelike nature to its bullet-hell mechanics, it feels almost like the same game at a glance.
However, that is merely a superficial take. While it clearly inherits much, Saros and Returnal are distinct. If Returnal was a hardcore roguelike shooter with clear flaws that often caused player frustration, Saros feels significantly more refined in that regard. It manages to preserve the fun of a hardcore roguelike shooter while minimizing the stress-inducing elements.
While Saros shows generally satisfying improvements, it is not without its shortcomings. When the dopamine hits, it provides immense catharsis, but when it doesn’t, the experience can feel incredibly cold and unrewarding. I want to discuss Saros—a game where extreme catharsis and profound confusion coexist—to explore what created this gap and what the final result looks like.
※ This review was conducted on the standard PS5 version; please note that it may contain spoilers for general gameplay and certain bosses
Tangible Growth: Hardcore, but Not Punishing
Roguelikes are generally perceived as unforgiving. Because of permadeath, dying means losing everything—from the levels you gained during the session to the gear you painstakingly collected—and starting over from scratch in a procedurally generated world where the structure, items, NPCs, and enemy placements are completely different from the previous run.
While most players accept this as a core feature of the genre, the real issue lies elsewhere: character progression. Having your level and hard-earned endgame items wiped out to start from zero is, beyond just a game mechanic, a significant source of stress.
In recent years, many roguelikes have attempted to address this stress while maintaining the core loop. This shift toward the ‘roguelite’ subgenre introduced permanent progression systems. By ensuring that not everything is reset upon death—allowing players to retain some resources to boost base levels or stats—a virtuous cycle is created where players return stronger after every death.
This holds true for Saros as well. As players repeat dozens of deaths and challenges, their skills improve, and their character grows—slowly, but steadily.
As a roguelike, the growth system in Saros can be divided into two main categories. The most fundamental is the stats. Saros features three stats: Vitality, Command, and Momentum. Increasing Vitality boosts health, while Command increases the maximum power gauge, which in turn expands the shield gauge and allows for more frequent use of power weapons (discussed later).
Momentum is tied to ‘Lucernite,’ the experience and currency gained from defeating enemies. When you die or return to the base (Passage) after defeating a boss, your Lucernite is tallied, and higher Momentum grants a bonus.
While Momentum might seem purely focused on out-of-combat growth, it is also tied to the second progression element: Proficiency. Proficiency is essentially your level. Every time you gain Lucernite, your Proficiency experience increases; reaching the cap raises your Proficiency level, which grants +1 to Vitality, Command, and Momentum.
However, ‘leveling up’ here doesn’t always mean permanent growth. While you can spend Lusernite at the base to permanently increase proficiency and raise your baseline, dying sends you back to the base, and that hard-earned proficiency is reset. Simply put, the growth system in Saros consists of both permanent and volatile elements, which ensures that players can clearly feel their progression.
The growth curve is subtle at first, but the stats and Proficiency you accumulate eventually pay off in the late game. What started as minor stats eventually hit the 100s, and Proficiency climbs past 30 toward 40, making the character feel significantly more robust.
Beyond basic health and Power gauges, stats directly enhance weapon performance, from fire rate to blast radius. This is especially noticeable with Power weapons; while you might only fire them once or twice early on, higher Command allows for more powerful and even rapid-fire usage. It is a slow, steady, and natural blossoming of power.
Extreme Shooter Catharsis Through Diverse Combinations
If stats and proficiency provide a sense of growth through leveling, the various weapons are what deliver genuine catharsis in combat based on those accumulated stats. True to its roguelike roots, the core of Saros lies in collecting and combining various equipment. These are divided into three main categories.
The first is the primary weapon.
Think of the weapons in Saros as a diverse arsenal, each with its own distinct characteristics and functions. Just like different types of firearms, such as pistols, rifles, and shotguns, each weapon in Saros offers unique gameplay mechanics.
The secondary fire feature highlights these traits, allowing players to use special abilities or techniques depending on the situation. For example, a pistol may have a rapid-fire mode or a charged shot option. This forces players to strategize and choose the right weapon for each encounter, whether dealing with mobs or tougher enemies.
Power weapons, on the other hand, act as special skills that consume a Power gauge shared with your shield. These weapons offer powerful effects but require players to absorb blue enemy projectiles to replenish their Power gauge. This adds depth to combat by forcing players to make decisions between dodging attacks and absorbing projectiles to fuel their abilities.
Artifacts in Saros serve as armor and accessories that provide significant stat boosts and special options. These items enhance your performance during gameplay and can be stacked to create powerful synergies. Additionally, weapons can have special options based on your Proficiency level, which can be more important than their base stats.
Carcosa Mutations allow players to adjust the game’s difficulty by choosing between buffs and debuffs. By selecting the right mutations, players can counteract negative effects and tailor their gameplay experience to their preferences.
Overall, the combination of primary weapons, Power weapons, artifacts, and Carcosa Mutations offers a diverse and engaging combat experience in Saros. Players must balance various gameplay elements, making strategic decisions in the heat of battle to overcome challenges and enemies. If there were options that significantly boosted damage at close range, a ‘one-shot’ melee build could be created, but such builds are not really possible in Saros. As a result, players tend to stick to the same few options.
This leads to neglecting certain weapons, like the chakram. It is powerful and unique, but I rarely used it because its special options are too niche, and it rarely rolled the ‘Power Generator’ option. Since Power Generator is almost mandatory for boss fights, other weapons just don’t get a look-in.
My personal favorites were the Power Generator for primary weapons and the Vacuum Bomb for Prominence. Even when I found stronger weapons with more options, I rarely swapped these out because their performance was just that good.
Generating Power just by attacking removed the burden of using Power weapons, and the Vacuum Bomb created a black hole that absorbed over 50% of incoming projectiles. The difference in difficulty between having these two options and not having them is like the difference between Easy and Hard mode.
In short, while there is a wide variety of weapons and special options, only a fraction of them create meaningful synergies. Some options are excessively powerful, while most others are mediocre, making it difficult to form diverse builds. Considering that Saros is a roguelike that should offer the fun of new equipment combinations in every playthrough, this feels like a missed opportunity.
The disappointment with weapons doesn’t end there. The issue of weapons with disabled auto-aim is also hard to overlook. While Saros provides auto-aim by default, you occasionally find weapons where this feature is randomly disabled. The problem is that if a weapon has such a clear drawback, its attack power should be at least double that of an auto-aim weapon, but it feels like only a 1.2x increase.
While you could theoretically deal nearly double damage if you have a special option that marks enemy weak points and you hit them accurately, that is a fatal flaw given the chaotic combat of Saros, where enemies swarm you from all sides and bullets fill the screen. Like the shotgun mentioned earlier, I felt no need to use these weapons and eventually stopped touching them entirely, regardless of their special options.
If the item combinations were merely ‘disappointing,’ the narrative is a clear weakness. It’s not that the story is bad; it’s that it’s baffling. The synopsis is simple enough.
When a valuable mineral called Lucernite is discovered on the planet Carcosa, the mega-corporation Soltari sends an expedition team named Echelon. When communication with Echelons 1 through 3 is lost, Echelon 4—which includes the protagonist, Arjun—is sent as a rescue and investigation team. Arjun is also searching for his lover, who was part of the previous team.
The synopsis is simple, but the storytelling is chaotic. Conversations with colleagues at the base are largely meaningless and become increasingly incoherent as the game progresses.
Usually, you would fill in the gaps in information through various logs found during a session, but that is not easy in Saros. While there is information hidden within them, it tends to be rambling and incoherent, leaving the player feeling only confused.
Without spoiling too much, even after seeing the true ending, I was left with nothing but questions. Why did Carcosa become this way? What are the secrets? What is the mysterious eclipse that warps physics? Why did everyone end up like this? None of it is explained satisfactorily.
The same goes for Arjun. There are flashbacks to his past, but they are so cryptic that you only get a vague sense that he had a ‘hard time.’ That’s it.
As was the case with Returnal, it is incredibly difficult to immerse yourself in the game or the character of Arjun. To be honest, it is almost impossible. Usually, when the end credits roll, you feel a sense of satisfaction, relief, or empathy for the characters and story, but Saros is the exact opposite. You are left with the question, ‘What on earth was that?’ and the catharsis of the intense combat is replaced by nothing but frustration.
In summary, Saros is a game that has upgraded both the strengths and the flaws of Returnal. While death itself felt like a source of stress in Returnal, Saros creates a virtuous cycle where you can grow even after dying, effectively breaking that most critical cycle of frustration.
Combat has more depth, too. With shields, Power weapons, and special options, you no longer feel like you’re constantly on the run. If you’re well-set up, you can dominate the battlefield.
While Saros inherits and improves upon many aspects of Returnal as a spiritual successor, it unfortunately inherits its flaws as well. Some may argue that the story plays a secondary role in games, but it is undeniable that it significantly impacts a game’s overall quality. When it comes to Saros, the story is likely to divide opinions. Not only is it unwelcoming to players, but it is also overly complex, even after piecing together all the logs.
For those seeking a compelling narrative, Saros might not meet expectations. Apart from the narrative quality, the story is simply too obscure and intricate. However, if you prioritize the enjoyment of combat, then the story takes on a different significance. The shooting experience not only surpasses that of Returnal but also offers more satisfaction than many other roguelike shooters. While it may not excel in all aspects, this uniqueness could be seen as part of Housemarque’s charm. If you enjoyed Returnal, there is no need to worry; Saros is sure to provide even more entertainment.
Review Platform: PS5 (Pre-release build) Please rewrite the following sentence for me:
“The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.” Please rewrite the following sentence so it is more concise:
“The company will be conducting a review of its financial statements in order to identify any discrepancies or errors.”
“The company will review its financial statements for discrepancies and errors.”