Saros is putting so much pressure on my controller's right-trigger that it will likely turn into diamond before the credits roll. Surviving in this sci-fi shooter demands dividing your attention between dodging bullets, flinging them back, and hoping you don't back-pedal off a ledge. Yet – fitting to developer Housemarque's cosmic horror leanings – I can't resist sneaking glances at the forbidden knowledge that the planet of Carcosa teases in my peripheral.
Pillars of stone-carved hands reach for eclipsed heavens, while silver gates gleam incongruously in ancient alien ruins. Below, mineshafts carved by would-be colonizers sprawl into futuristic vaults. What does it all mean? Your guess is as good as mine – I'm only a few bosses into Saros at time of writing – but Carcosa feels skeletal yet still autophagic; devouring itself to excess.
