Developer: Housemarque
Publisher: Sony Interactive Entertainment
Genre: Roguelite / Third-Person Shooter
Completion Status (How Long to Beat): Yes (19 hours)
Saros is a fast-paced third-person roguelite shooter that builds upon the bullet-hell foundation of Returnal, tasking players with surviving breathtaking encounters while maximizing the PlayStation 5 controller. The game truly shines in its moment-to-moment action, offering tight and responsive controls and gameplay. Much like Returnal, the game gets the most out of the PS5 controller, using the adaptive triggers and intuitive button mapping to perfectly complement its demands on dexterity and quick reactions. The boss encounters are breathtaking and stand out as some of the most impressive visual spectacles I’ve ever seen in games. They are fun and fair, rewarding careful observation and well-timed evasion.
Despite its exceptional combat, Saros struggles with some of its structural and narrative choices. Saros very much feels like a response to the criticisms of Returnal resulting in a game that fails to reach the focused highs of Returnal and can sometimes feel watered down. The game uses nonsensical terminology to represent various stats and does a poor job of explaining what these different terms mean. Additionally, Saros stretches the definition of the rogue-lite genre by allowing players to select levels; while not inherently a bad thing, certain routing choices can lock players out of specific paths, and choosing to start from earlier levels creates noticeable balancing issues. This imbalance carries over into the game's breathtaking bosses, which would have been more rewarding had they been more difficult, especially in the late game. Finally, the voice acting and more direct story fell flat, leaving me longing for the cryptic isolation that made Returnal so compelling.
Ultimately, Saros is a game that meets and oftentimes exceeds the moment to moment gameplay of Returnal, however its attempt to reach a wider audience leaves it feeling slightly more hollow.
Pros:
- Extremely tight and responsive controls and gameplay.
- Bosses are breathtaking, visually spectacular, and extremely fun and fair.
- Excellent use of the PS5 controller's adaptive triggers and intuitive button mapping to support dexterity-focused gameplay.
Cons:
- Uses nonsensical terminology for stats with poor explanations.
- Level selection stretches the rogue-lite genre, creating balancing issues and locking players out of paths.
- Late game bosses lacked the difficulty needed to be truly rewarding.
- The voice acting and story fell flat; lacked the cryptic isolation of Returnal.
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