Even though I've only gone hands-on with Saros for three hours so far, blasting and shielding my way through the Returnal spiritual successor's first two levels, it's already shaping up to be one of the best PS5 games of the year. While Returnal was an impressive release, Saros is shaping up to really reflect how much better Housemarque have gotten at getting the most out of the console. I liked Returnal a lot, but I felt like I didn't love it as much as everyone else. But, that makes it even more exciting that I love Saros so much, and it's well worth making sure this roguelike shooter is on your new releases radar.
Saros really feels like a refinement, both of the foundations Housemareque laid with the mysterious, arcadey, "gameplay first" Returnal, but also with the roguelike genre in general. With action dubbed by the developer as "bullet ballet", it's all about weaving through challenging waves of enemies through a beautiful but dangerous alien planet, Carcosa, as it transforms and reshapes across each run. There's a lot to love, but these seven Saros features are the ones that I'm digging the most so far, and really help it stand out as having the potential to be one of the best roguelike games I'll keep coming back to long after its April 30 launch.
