SAROS

The narrative may not be as convincing as that of Returnal but Saros one-ups its predecessor in almost every facet. It’s a seat-of-the-pants thrill ride that escalates the spectacle with every chapter and will haunt your dreams with walls of coloured missiles.

Housemarque pulls it off again. Saros is a remarkably gripping roguelite that preserves the best elements of Returnal while improving on its weaker points. The combat is chaotic, but you never lose control and are less at the mercy of luck. A compelling mystery also unfolds along the way. Only the characters… well, who were they again?

As expected, SAROS stands out as a worthy spiritual successor to Returnal, and even more so. Far from resting on its laurels, Housemarque has successfully built upon the solid foundation of its previous title to deliver an epic adventure, enhanced by new features that make it accessible to a wider audience. While more accessible, SAROS remains a challenging yet exhilarating experience that delivers incredible thrills. This makes it a new must-have in the PS5 catalog, which once again boasts one of its best exclusives thanks to the Finnish studio.

Overall, Saros feels like a natural evolution of what Housemarque achieved with Returnal, but with enough ambition to try to surpass it. The game refines the genre and takes it to interesting and exciting new places through smart design choices that aim to balance challenge and accessibility without compromising its core essence.

Saros is definitely a solid, challenging, and very well-executed game within the Roguelike/Bullet Hell genre. Although it features simplified mechanics reminiscent of Returnal, it distinguishes itself enough to keep fans of the genre interested. Visually, it is one of the most beautiful games in the recent history of this generation, featuring an interesting plot and frantic gameplay. Even though it no longer has the element of surprise, it is a highly recommended game.

Saros multiplies the Returnal formula with a brutal shooter and mechanics refined to perfection. Unfortunately, this excellence comes up against an uninspired and disjointed narrative that interrupts the rhythm. Even so, there is an addictive mechanical heart that keeps you coming back.

Saros is still a good game. I will never dislike a game that looks this good and plays this well. But the lessons that Housemarque learned from Returnal resulted in a game that is less than the sum of its parts.

Outro jogo digno de 10 feito pela Housemarque. Saros mantém toda competência que Returnal teve e acrescentou novos elementos de gameplay e uma excelente narrativa para a obra. De maneira geral, Saros é mais acessível aos jogadores sem muita experiência com jogos rogueLIKE, o tornando mais próximo de um jogo rogueLITE, porém ainda muito desafiador. Em Saros, você mantém certas habilidades em sua progressão, ao contrário de Returnal que é muito mais punitivo e te tira toda sua evolução na morte. A platina também está mais tranquila em relação aos coletáveis.

Après ma découvert de Returnal en début d’année j’avais hâte de jouer à Saros qui est ça suite spirituel et j’en ressort à la fois satisfait mais à la fois aussi un peu frustré. Point positif - Housemarque sont définitivement très fort lorsqu’il s’agit de faire un système de gunfight ultra grisant et addictif mais qui reste lisible malgré le nombre de choses qui se passe à l’écran. - le rythme du jeu est très bon, les combats sont bien rapide,nerveux et impactant et renforce le côté addictif du jeu - les boss en terme de mise en scène et de paterns sont largement mieux que ceux de returnal et ils sont très agréable à affronter - La DA est vraiment très jolie et immersive - l’ambiance sonore générale de Saros (son ambiant, son des armes, des ennemis…) est très bien réussi et renforce lui aussi l’immersion du jeu. Point négatif - Malgré que ce jeu s’appelle Saros il ressemble beaucoup trop à un potentiel Returnal 2 et n’arrive pas assez à ce démarquer par rapport à Returnal. - L’histoire du jeu est pas très bien écrite et les perso pas forcément intéressant non plus. - le gros point noir de saros et qui le rend frustrant est que j’ai trouvé l’aspect rogue-lite du jeu assez moyen dans ces mécaniques : Système de reliques quasiment inutile, très peu de variété entre chaque run ce qui rend le jeu trop redondant, aucune sensation de crée des build fort. Ce qui est d’autant plus frustrant est que dans ces mécaniques de rogue-lite je trouve que Saros est moins abouti que Returnal. - Saros a pas mal de problèmes d’équilibrage : une arme beaucoup trop cheater par rapport aux autres, aucun intérêt à passer par les biomes précédents dans une run car cela a quasiment aucun impact sur notre construction de build, des corruption de reliques beaucoup trop contraignant par rapport à leur bénéfice ce qui a pour effet que la plupart du temps ils n’y aucun intérêt à prendre ces reliques. Pour conclure je suis un peu confus avec ce Saros car en terme de shooter c’est un excellent jeu ultra kiffant à jouer mais en terme de rogue-lite c’est un jeu assez moyen qui se rate sur quasiment tout ce qui fait un bon rogue-lite.

No sé si voy por el último o penúltimo bioma de Saros, y aunque al principio estaba bien y era un juego muy disfrutable, estoy empezando a saturarme de ver y repetir siempre lo mismo una y otra vez. Aunque con cada ciclo te vas haciendo cada vez más fuerte, se fuerza al jugador a repetir todo el recorrido desde el principio, recogiendo objetos que vayan mejorando tu equipo y llegar preparado al final. Si te transportas directamente al final, no tendrás suficiente poder o muy justoEntiendo que esta la mecánica real de Saros, pero a su vez es su propio enemigo. Me sé tan de memoria los biomas que estoy empezando a perder la motivación de seguir. Voy ya en modo tan automático que ni los disfruto. Incluso me sé de memoria dónde están los enemigos, cuántos son y qué van a hacer. empieza a ser monótono. El hecho de poder alcanzar salas antes inaccesibles a medida que vas aprendiendo nuevos movimientos no es suficiente para evita la sensación de repetitividad.

This game is trying hard to be something, but it doesnt really hit the mark in any meaningful way. They story is pretty meh. Graphics are nice. VA is decent. Gameplay is unmemorable. Skip it until it goes on sale.

Six years after Returnal, Housemarque has delivered a game that strips away everything that made their first effort special. As a fan of Returnal, I went in with high hopes and came out genuinely disappointed. To start with the good: the fast twitch 3rd person combat is still fun, at least for a while. The graphics are sharp, the sound design and gunfeel are excellent, and the orb-based enemy attacks have a cool Nier-esque quality to them. That's about where the positives end. Unlike Returnal, the run-to-run variety here is almost nonexistent. The world generation feels like a formality and you'll start recognizing the same exact locations within a few hours. The gun selection has been gutted to four archetypes (assault rifle, pistol, shotgun, crossbow) with minor variations like burst fire or auto-aim, but nothing that meaningfully changes your approach. Perks are described so vaguely you'll need to look them up, and if you die with a weapon, the game just hands it back to you on the next run rather than pushing you toward different builds. The artifact system has the same problem. There's no incentive to be selective, so you just grab everything. The skill tree compounds it all: an enormous grid of minuscule stat buffs that never change how the game actually feels. The bosses are easy but frustrating for the opposite reason you'd want. Most have three bloated health bars and a moveset they'll cycle through on repeat until you finally outlast them. The second boss, for example literally spams the same three attacks the entire fight. The story doesn't help either. Protagonist Arjun spends most of his time shouting his wife's name and calling out to characters you've never been properly introduced to. When those characters turn up dead, there's no emotional weight because the game never gave you a reason to care about them in the first place. The facial animations and lip sync issues make it even harder to invest, and it's clear that combat was the studio's priority above all else. What Saros feels like, ultimately, is a game that traded complexity for accessibility. Skip the day one price, play Returnal if you haven't, and if you loved that game and still want this one, wait for a deep sale.