In pursuit of the ideal roguelike, Saros runs are shorter than Returnal's as Housemarque wanted to "keep the feeling of danger" and "reduce the feeling of helplessness"

A close-up or Arjun Devraj's eye shows spirals of yellow circles reflected in it, in a Saros cutscene.

Five years on from Returnal, developer Housemarque is about to return with Saros, another sci-fi roguelike shooter. This one's quite different, though, favoring shorter runs and offering specific mechanics for them, like the ability to teleport between areas. Getting these aspects right is more of an art than a science, but the devs are proud of the balance they've struck.

"We were asking ourselves, what aspects of the roguelike do we like, and what do we want to augment?" Abebe Tinari, lead game designer, tells GamesRadar+. "One thing for us was to keep the feeling of danger when you're on a long run, where you don't want to lose your progress, but also reduce the feeling of helplessness when you know there's a potential three hours to get back to where I was."