Saros Review

Saros is the spiritual successor to Returnal from Housemarque, and the first Sony first party single player game to release in 2026. I played Returnal about four months ago and it made me a genuine believer in the studio. It was easily one of my favorite games I played last year, a tremendous third person shooter with an excellent story that set Housemarque up for incredible success with whatever came next.

So when Saros was announced I largely ignored it. I hadn't played Returnal yet, and without that context it didn't mean much to me. Having now played Returnal, I was very excited to check it out and I am now also pleased to report that Saros is fantastic.

From Roguelike to Roguelite

The most significant change from Returnal to Saros is the transition from roguelike to roguelite, and it's worth understanding what that actually means in practice. In Returnal, death wiped almost everything. Outside of unlocking the occasional weapon perk or a shortcut to a future level, your character completely reset each run. That was a major sticking point for a lot of players and honestly caused many people to drop the game altogether.

However, Saros changes that with meaningful meta progression. Extra health, extra resources, and stronger base power that carries forward and makes each subsequent run just a little bit more likely to succeed than the last. It makes the game more approachable, and I'll be honest, I was nervous about that. Part of what made me fall in love with Returnal was that feeling of overcoming hopelessness, of climbing the mountain run by run until you finally reached the summit.

But Saros does not ditch Returnal’s signature difficulty. The game is genuinely challenging, arguably more so than Returnal in certain respects. It's faster, there are more ways to take damage, and the meta progression actually gives you the freedom to experiment more aggressively rather than playing it safe. The systems work together rather than against each other and it allows Housemarque to push the player to their limits level after level knowing that each run causes them to come back stronger.

The Best Third Person Shooting in Recent Memory

The core gameplay is a refinement of everything Returnal did well. It’s a third person shooter with a dodge that has i-frames, but with the major edition of the shield. Certain projectiles can be absorbed by the shield, which charges up your alternate fire, essentially a super move unique to each weapon. It's a welcome addition that dynamizes every encounter and causes you to look at each enemy attack as a chance to turn the tide in your favor rather than simply looking for an opening to return fire.

Projectiles are also color coded now, which means each enemy and each encounter plays out in more specific and meaningful ways. In Returnal it largely came down to dodge, dodge, dodge. Saros asks more of you. There's a much bigger emphasis on verticality, faster movement, and a genuine bullet hell quality to the combat that makes every run feel like you're operating at the edge of your capabilities. The flow state this game puts you in is captured so well that you're basically on the edge of your seat from room to room as you absorb blues, parry reds, and dodge yellows in a feverish haze.

The bosses are the crown jewel. Returnal had maybe two stand out bosses across its runtime but Saros has nearly all of them firing on all cylinders. There's a midway mini boss I'd consider more of a skill check warmup, but beyond that every main boss with its three phases is incredible. The last four in particular are some of the best action bosses I've fought in any game. Their sound design, their arenas, their visual design, the way they escalate through phases. All of it is just exceptional.

Where It Falls Short

Unfortunately, two areas do hold Saros back from being a genuine masterpiece in my opinion.

The modifier system is where I’ll start. You balance easier modifiers with harder ones like a speedometer, customizing your difficulty experience each run. But in practice it functions as little more than a difficulty slider, and that's a shame. I would have loved to see content locked behind certain difficulty thresholds. Different enemies appearing at higher settings, unique weapons or skins unlocked for pushing your limits. Something closer to Diablo's approach where testing your skill actually reveals new things. As it stands the system is underutilized and House Marquee could have put a lot more into it adding a ton more content and replayability as a result.

The story is the other disappointment, and this one stings more because Returnal's story is so underrated. Selene's journey through Atropos and her quest through madness was genuinely compelling. The ambiguity, the willingness to hide things around every corner, the constant question of what was real and what wasn't. It was a driving force that made going back run after run feel meaningful.

Arjun's story in Saros just doesn't reach that same level. The lore is solid and the world building is interesting, but the narrative feels more grounded and linear by comparison. It progresses front to back without the same sense of mystery, and uncovering the little hidden secrets along the way frankly wasn't as engaging. The gameplay is so good that it more than compensates, but the story was a genuine missed opportunity. If Housemarque had landed that plane then I would have no issue with giving this the elusive “masterpiece” tag but as it stands the game leans on purely on gameplay just a little too much considering the studio’s past success in this realm.

Weapon variety is also worth flagging. Returnal had more weapons and I think more interesting ones. In Saros you're essentially working with a pistol, a shotgun, a rifle, a crossbow, and a weapon that bounces spinning saw blades between enemies. The perks and alternate abilities keep things interesting, but more weapons would have gone a long way. Especially because each weapon does feel unique and fun to use, a broader sandbox would have felt fantastic.

The Verdict

Visually the game is stunning. Rock solid 60 frames on PS5 Pro, a strong and distinctive aesthetic that carries the art direction beautifully. The shift from Returnal's dark blue environments to Saros's bright desert like electric technological world is a bold and successful one. The sound design is incredible, a mix of Dune inspired metallic textures and DOOM rock music that fits the brutalist mechanical and hellish nature of the enemies perfectly.

If the story had been stronger and the modifier system had more meat on its bones, we'd easily be looking at a ten out of ten. On the gameplay front alone it's going to be hard for many games to match it this year or even in recent memory. House Marquee have cemented themselves as one of the most exciting studios in the industry, and I can't wait to see what comes next.