As Housemarque celebrates its 30th anniversary this year, it's definitely on the up. It doesn't feel that long ago (but it was – 2017!) that the studio announced it wouldn't be making small, arcade-like games any more, which was an incredibly sad day given its prior output. But having made Returnal, a standout title in PS5's line-up, the decision (and Sony's purchasing of the developer) was vindicated – now backed by big budgets, spiritual successor Saros is looking to evolve on this new concept of glossy, twitchy play. Made to push the power of the PS5, it's set for release in just a few months' time. Is arcade truly dead, or has Housemarque simply reshaped it into something new?
Saros is very similar to Returnal, in that it's another third-person shooter with an interesting take on death. Unlike that game, which saw you restarting over and over with most perks and progress lost, Saros will straight up give you a second chance when you fall. It's an interesting system given Dark Souls punishes you for dying by halving your health bar when you respawn. Here, dying lets you come back stronger for your second bite of the apple. Another key difference over Returnal is the fact you will keep upgrades when you die, resulting in a more standard sense of progression. The team has stated they want to make the game more universally accessible than Returnal, so that fits.
Revenge bullets
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It's unclear what bonuses you'll receive for finishing a level in Saros without resorting to this Lazarusian buffing. Housemarque does love its high scores but there's a greater emphasis on story, characters, and cinematics for this game, according to Gregory Louden, the game's creative director. Housemarque also suggests the new IP and new name mean they can evolve Returnal's gameplay without having the baggage that comes with a direct sequel and having to make everything make sense against its forebear.
As a result, the plot is all-new. You'll play as a humanoid 'Soltarian' character called Arjun Devraj exploring a planet called Carcosa. The planet's sun plays a key role, with the trailer suggesting the sun 'dying' (which appears to involve an eclipse) sees time stretch and tear, and madness reign. It's unclear whether that happens dynamically as you play or at set beats in the story, but the potential of either is great.
What has been shown for sure is a temporary energy shield mapped to L1 that can absorb enemy projectiles and charge up a super attack, fired off from your arm via L2 using 'eclipse-driven weaponry'.
There is a dodge move that suggests temporary invulnerability as Arjun appears to break up into a hundred motes of light, and – of course – there's plenty of blasting. Your loadout will also evolve as you play – you always come back stronger – suggesting more special techniques are waiting to be unlocked.
There's plot exposition available through Soltari Holologs recorded by people on the colony, and Arjun can be heard vowing to find one of them during the gameplay trailer. The environment is giving Metroid Prime vibes with its eerie sense of desolation and isolation studded with corrupted echoes of civilization. The environments are grandiose and full of gorgeous volumetric lighting and the team's trademark exquisite particle effects are in full effect.
Louden describes Carcosa as a "shapeshifting planet", which is an intriguing concept, but it remains to be seen whether that means levels warp in real time, or simply that you get different level layouts on repeat plays as in Returnal. Either sounds promising, as games like this always benefit from variety to keep things fresh when you're essentially tackling the same run again and again.
Housemarque has been smashing out stunner after stunner for years now, including Super Stardust HD on PS3 and its PSP port, then Resogun on PS4 – the game that educated us all in the beauty of the 3D pixel or 'voxel' back at the console's launch. Nex Machina, Alienation… the list of great games goes on and on.
The prospect of the team using all those decades of experience to bring us a big-budget, ultra high quality shooter for PS5 is mouthwatering. The quality of the game engine is abundantly obvious from the footage, with at one point what looks like hundreds of physics objects spilling from a door around a monstrous-looking creature, all at 60fps. Imagine Astro Bot's visual wizardry but with skulls instead of acorns. So remember the name: Saros is coming. Your next exquisite slice of run and gun gaming releases on PS5 on April 30, 2026.
