Review of Saros

In 2021, Housemarque released its most ambitious project to date Returna roguelike third-person shooter with fast-paced action and a dark sci-fi mystery at its core. Return was one of the best PS5 exclusives at launch and one of the better reasons to own Sony's latest console. Five years later, Housemarque delivered a Return successor in form Saros. Like Return before that Saros is one of the best reasons to own a PS5.

Brand new IP, Saros stars Rahul Kohli as Arjun Devraj, an enforcer from the Soltari Company, who sends him and his team to investigate the whereabouts of a colony located on the strange planet Carcosa. Unfortunately for Devraj, Carcosa is populated with all sorts of Lovecraftian-esque space horrors.

Fighting Saros“Monsters make the player 90% of their time in the game, so it's good that Housemarque has created an addictive, rewarding and challenging combat system. Enemies attack Devraj with brightly colored projectiles that give the game the same kind of frenzied energy that hellfire shooters have, and learning how to deal with each enemy and their attacks is integral to success in the game.” Saros.

Devraj can easily punch through blue projectiles or even absorb them with his shield to power energy weapons, but red projectiles must be avoided (and later parried). The green projectiles, meanwhile, will not only damage Devraj, but also reduce his maximum health. Any given room in Saros is full of different enemies all unleashing their attacks on Devraj at the same time, resulting in a game that is exciting and non-stop action from start to finish.

Saros is a more affordable return

Saroslike Return before that, he can be brutal sometimes. Any given hit from an enemy is likely to cause serious damage to Devraj, and healing items are in short supply in most biomes. Saros players will probably die a lot as they master the game's movement and combat mechanics, but the core gameplay is so much fun that things never get frustrating.

Also, averting frustration is Saros' a progressive system that ensures that no runs are actually wasted. Players collect currency that, along with harder-to-find collectibles, can be used to permanently upgrade Devraj. As Devraj's health, shields, and other stats improve, players should have an easier time conquering the game's biggest challenges.

There is also a way to do it Saros even easier. Saros giving players the opportunity to tweak certain settings to give them a better chance of survival in any given run. For example, players can tweak the game to deal more damage to enemies or reduce incoming damage. However, players can only tweak the game in one direction for now, so if they're oversimplifying things, they may have to accept some potential debuffs and other restrictions to even things out.

Purists may scoff Saros it allows players to have more control over the game's difficulty, but I think the way it's implemented goes a long way toward ensuring that more people can enjoy it for longer. In one part of the game I had to repeat two fairly long quests to get to a boss, and the repetition started to get old. Since I was only interested in beating the boss and didn't care about using those runs for loot, I sacrificed my ability to get a super important upgrade collectible in exchange for Devraj's damage boost, allowing me to make quick work of the enemies in my way and make a beeline for the boss. Of course, Saros' Carcosan Modifiers can be completely ignored or used to make the game more difficult, so those looking for a Return-level challenge you can still find it here.

Saros players must occasionally activate an eclipse that transforms Carcosa, opening access to new areas and rewards, but the enemies become much more dangerous in the process.

As said, Saros is definitely more affordable than Returnwith clearer goals and a consistent and obvious way forward in all circumstances. This approach may irritate the hardcore Return fans, but in the long run it will probably mean more people getting into them Saros than the previous Housemarque game.

This is also great because it means more people get far enough to see Saros'unbelievable bosses. Saros the boss fights are suitably over-the-top and jaw-dropping, with a few that could stand as the final boss in any other game. Boss fights are intense and chaotic, with demanding players mastering all the skills they've acquired up to that point if they hope to survive.

Saros Combat is next level

i love SarosBoss fights for the most part, but there is one boss that is recycled as a regular enemy on certain biomes in the game, and that was a little disappointing. The smaller versions of the boss are weaker, but still take a while to put down and have the exact same attacks, which can make the game a bit repetitive. When players get stuck running through the same area over and over again, repetition can make the experience difficult.

For the most part though SarosThe minute-by-minute gameplay is incredibly fun. Much of this has to do with Devraj's abilities and the weapons at his disposal, with players able to find handguns, machine guns, shotguns and other creative tools as they make their way through the game's biomes.

Saros makes great use of PS5's unique DualSense features to fully immerse players in combat. The haptic feedback caused the controller to shake to the point where certain combat encounters made my hands tingle like a lawnmower. Adaptive triggers, meanwhile, are cleverly used for alt-fire. Pressing L2 halfway activates alt-fire weapons (with some really cool ones like shotgun blasts that hang in the air for a few seconds before flying forward), but pressing all the way down allows players to unleash whatever weapon they have on hand. New weapons are constantly available, and while players may be tempted to grab something if it has higher damage than their current weapon, they have to think about what the situation calls for and load up accordingly.

Saros' combat is an explosive ballet of relentless action that looks absolutely fantastic. I experienced zero slowdown or graphical oddities while playing the game, no matter how chaotic the on-screen action was. The biomes are visually distinct and unnervingly beautiful, and the enemy designs are top notch. Human characters are very detailed, but facial animations outside of cut-scenes leave something to be desired. The characters' faces don't always match the actors' performances, so someone can be sobbing and their character's face doesn't reflect it, which can be distracting.

SarosHuman characters in general can be considered a potential weak point of the game. None of them leave much of an impression, which is why finding all the collectible audio and text about them – the driving force behind much of the game's replay value – falls a bit flat. Saros” The story also takes a little longer to get going Return'sa honestly wasn't invested in it until the last few hours. Rest assured it will all pay off in the end, but I think some Return fans can leave and little disappointed Saros'narrative overall.

The main reason is collectibles Saros players will want to go back through previously completed biomes, but there's plenty of replay value, such as particularly challenging optional rooms to conquer and certain areas that are inaccessible until players acquire specific tools later in the game. SarosThe core game is so much fun that players don't need much of a reason to keep playing. They do it because they enjoy it and the extras are just icing on the cake.

Reaching out SarosThe end credits took me about 9.5 hours, but it can be done faster depending on skill level and use of modifiers. It can also take a lot longer, and while you can technically “beat” the game relatively quickly, there's a ton of replay value.

Saros is an excellent, heart-pounding action game that is easily one of the best PS5 exclusives. The combat is exciting and Carcosa is something to explore. Quality of life features make it more accessible than Returnand while this may annoy some purists, it does help Saros avoid some of the frustrating pitfalls that roguelite games sometimes fall into. Saros is one of the best releases this year and a must have for PS5 players.