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This past week or so, I haven\u2019t been able to stop thinking about Saros. <\/em>Housemarque\u2019s intense roguelite third-person shooter is a tremendous refinement of its previous work, Returnal<\/em> <\/em>(a game I feel is one of this console generation\u2019s best). Yet its harrowing, cosmic horror-influenced narrative elevates it to something especially memorable.<\/p>\n\n
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Platform reviewed: <\/strong>PS5Available on: <\/strong>PS5Release date: <\/strong>April 30, 2026<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nIf you\u2019re familiar with Returnal, <\/em>it probably doesn\u2019t come as a surprise that Housemarque has once again deployed the Torment Nexus for Saros\u2019s <\/em>doomed spacefarers, and the concept of its protagonist being forced into a seemingly eternal cyclical hell is very much present here. That said, Saros <\/em>is decidedly more manageable than its predecessor, featuring gameplay and progression systems that allow for a more forgiving experience overall.<\/p>\n\n\nDon\u2019t get me wrong, though; Saros <\/em>is still a tough PS5 game. Strip away all its new systems, and I\u2019d say it\u2019s about on par with Returnal <\/em>in terms of difficulty. Enemies hit hard, and bosses demand keen focus when it comes to learning and dodging their bullet patterns. You\u2019re going to die a lot in Saros, <\/em>but given I reached the true ending in a tidy 20 hours, it\u2019s a good bit friendlier to the average player.<\/p>\n\n
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A skill tree packed with permanent upgrades \u2014 alongside a very clever modifier system unlocked early on \u2014 ensures that protagonist Arjun grows steelier with each run. Furthermore, checkpoints placed at the start of each biome mean that, unlike Returnal, <\/em>you don\u2019t have to play through the whole thing in one flawless run. That alone condenses runs from Returnal\u2019s <\/em>2-3 hours to a far more manageable 30 or so minutes, depending on what you\u2019re looking to achieve on each run.<\/p>\nAnd like its predecessor, Saros <\/em>is polished to a mirror sheen. Arjun\u2019s movements are fast and snappily responsive. Color-coded bullet patterns instantly communicate the approach you need for each enemy. Weapons are varied and often creative in design and their sub-weapon functionality. And those haptics and adaptive triggers? Simply the best I\u2019ve ever experienced and reminded me that, for all its faults, the DualSense is still capable of wowing me after all these years.<\/p>\nAll in all, Saros <\/em>is very much another slam dunk from a studio that has mastered the art of blending arcade-like trappings with AAA production values. It\u2019s not quite perfect; I wish there were more post-game activities (and no daily challenge system yet, a la Returnal<\/em>), and there are very (and I do mean very<\/em>) occasional performance dips on base PS5 hardware. But there\u2019s nothing that puts a serious dent in what I\u2019m sure will be a game of the year frontrunner for many who seek Saros\u2019s <\/em>yellow shores.<\/p>\nHail to the King<\/h2>\n\n\n
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(Image credit: PlayStation \/ Housemarque)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\nSaros <\/em>puts you in the role of Arjun Devraj, portrayed by actor Rahul Kohli. Arjun is a member of Echelon IV, a team sent by megacorporation Soltari to the planet Carcosa. Their purpose is twofold: to continue the extraction of a valuable resource called Lucenite, as well as to uncover what happened to the previous three Echelon teams that have made no contact with Soltari since planetfall months ago.<\/p>\n