Review: Saros
Price: £69.99 PSN (£63 ASDA)
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Dev: Housemarque
I picked up Returnal via PlayStation Plus many years ago, and despite it being as tough as old boots, stuck with Housemarque's epic shooter, lured in by the perfect bullet-hell mechanics, the comfortable-yet-deadly level design and fiendish upgrade system. It is fair to say, Returnal has been a constant companion through my PS5 journey.
It took perhaps a dozen tries to beat the first boss Phrike (hey, I'm getting less young!). Then, three-years in-and-around other games trying to out-dodge Nemesis, I eventually cracked Biome 3. Finally, I'm near the bottom of the last underwater Biome and can hear the end calling.
But, while I really want to finish Returnal, I found a physical copy of Saros with few quid off out in the real world, and figured I deserved a treat. And Sony could do with the sales (according to some), so this is my ongoing mission to crack this puppy.
And, here we go, an epic PlayStation 5 experience with Rahul Kohli, one of my favourite actors in the lead and an excuse to go screenshot grabbing crazy for the review. Something I don't do enough of, as it is typically impossible to enjoy the visuals in the middle of a raging battle zone.
Visitors to Carcosa Recommend Factor 50+ Sun Spray
Overcoming Returnal's mad science lady, Selene, talking to herself all the time vibe. Saros provides Arjun Devraj (Kohli) with a team of buddies to drive the narrative as he explores why a planetary mining/colonising project on the planet Carcosa has gone radio silent, and why his crew is vanishing.
Once Arjun, tagged as the team's Enforcer, has dabbled with the eclipsing prologue and set out into the wild unknown, there's a familiar feel to this strange sun-scorched land. Areas we can't access, hints of paths that go here and there, and not-so-secrets leading to caches of goodies.
But, from the outset, it is clear Housemarque's designers revel in the chance to show off a new, if broken city and world. There are huge vistas compared to Returnal's largely compact, inward-focused rooms that make up each Biome.
And in response to Returnal's pain-inducing difficulty, Saros makes life a little easier with constant upgrades across Resilience, Command and Drive. Plus broader balancing through the Modifier menu (which are the focus of the game's first patch, so expect further tweaking over Saros's long life). They make Saros easier or harder, help players of all ability roll to their strengths or create new challenges, aka a cunning design feature.
Fighting the Good Fight (Again and Again)
Gradually, Arjun's skills toughen him up and he inches forward past the mini-bosses, finds the keys to access the end of the first level, with plenty of memos guiding the story along no matter how long it takes to get there.
If you didn't play Returnal, you'll soon get used to the bullet ballet skills required to succeed, or at least survive, in Saros. The shield is the major new feature, helping block incoming streams and adding power to weapons, while allowing me to charge into battle, rather than cower behind a structure in my traditional style, or circle endlessly until dizzy.
Pausing the action for a moment, and taking a look at the screenshots, the detail in Saros is a wonder to behold. Both up-close in Arjun's wardrobe, and far across the landscape. My one gripe is that having seen plenty of his movies, I know Kohli is a barrage of emotion and cheeky grins across his roles, but Arjun is typically flat, even in the cutscenes.
I'm sure things look better on PS5 Pro (higher base render, PSSR at 60fps), but I'm more than happy with how the environment sears the retina on my little old launch PS5, and really wouldn't care if a remaster came along for the PS6 launch. A ceremonial bow at this point for Sam Slater's soundtrack is essential, driving the mood along.
All of which is vanishes into a blur as we crash into Prophet, the first boss monster in its icky lair. Here the game goes full bore ethereal-doom-ball-hell, with streams of ammo from its various "heads/sacs" requiring the hop, kill and jumping skills of a little rubber parkour legend to avoid.
The joy of killing this mega-critter is palpable, especially if you're not a player with spec ops skills. The tension as health bars crash to the bottom is stomach churning, remembering the patterns while looking for that last hit.
The question then, as new gear becomes available, do I rush on to explore the plot and pick up new weapons or go back and fill in those little blanks in the early maps? As with Returnal, powering up is key to success and the next challenge in the guise of the mighty Bastion.
Fortunately, Saros's early auto-aim helps keep Arjun's bullets on target, but further across the city, later weaponry removes the stabilisers to add to the challenge. The second boss, Bastion, really ups the volume of expanding rings, volley fire and Arjun really needs to have mastery of shields, dodging and return fire to stand a chance.
Another additional update between Returnal and Saros is the faint hope of some health among the chaos of the boss battles. I prayed for these during Returnal, but now they're here in Saros they add a distraction, which I could well do without during the keep yourself alive phases. But I guess they are welcome as the health bar ticks down to dead.
With so much more beauty, death and destruction to come, I'll leave the review here, thanks real world! And will update as I venture further, a world of massive but inert machinery (there's got to be an on button somewhere?)
But to make things clear, Returnal fans will love Saros, especially those who gave up due to the difficulty or got fed up of re-treading their steps - Saros has more flexible portals to alleviate some of those issues. Perhaps there's less cannon fodder than Returnal, but the intricate scenery of later biomes certainly makes up for it.
And new fans will find an amazingly toned sci-fi epic in and among the total chaos of the battlefield and darkness within Saros.
Score 5/5 (6/5 if I ever get to finish this and Returnal)
