Saros Hands-On Preview
Saros had been a game that I was cautiously optimistic about. I loved Returnal, but was also simultaneously left emotionally broken by it. I was hesitant towards Saros because while I liked many of the permanent buffs and improvements that were being introduced, I was worried about the depth to those, and whether I would find myself in the same grind that I did in Returnal, bashing my head against a wall, begging for the the video game stars to align in a way that would get me to the game’s conclusion. After Sony kindly brought me to their Sydney office and gave me three hours of hands-on time with Saros, my reservations have completely dissipated, and I’m ready to lean in completely. Saros could be my GOTY in the making.
The demo allowed players to access two regions of Saros, and the information I was provided from the outset is that few managed to make it to the second region during the international preview opportunity of last week. My anxiety levels began to climb upon hearing this, but it wouldn’t be long before I recaptured a rhythm for ‘bullet ballet’ with my experiences in Returnal, and more recently Sektori setting me up for some early success, and the heart rate began to normalise a bit.
There’s a lot of mystery to the world of Saros, as the player assumes the role of Arjun Devraj (Rahul Kohli), a powerful Soltari Enforcer, who has landed on the off-world colony on Carcosa, desperate to find someone very important to him. Where most games throw that emotional hook at the player right away, it takes a few runs, and some poking at the seams of the world to begin to learn about Devraj’s motivations, as the game’s larger mystery, its frequent eclipses, and what it triggers in the flora and fauna of the world, quickly takes centre stage.
In a pre-release trailer, Devraj says “Every time the sun dies, madness reigns. Then everything begins again. But after every death, I always come back stronger.” It’s the core loop of Returnal, and many roguelikes, with a spicy twists that is felt with every eclipse. Throughout my time exploring the game’s first main region, the Shattered Rise, I felt like the game again employed the hand-designed but randomly assembled design philosophy of Returnal, while also featuring a room that contained a multi-armed alien device that must be activated to proceed, and also triggered the eclipse. It seems that this room is acting as a bottleneck within the region, and once it has been activated, the enemies seem to be driven into a far more hostile state, making every room/region you enter from this point onwards, a far riskier prospect. You’ll begin to question the need to pursue the room off to the side with great rewards (but plentiful threats), or even the need to continue to push deeper into the area, when you could simply beeline it to the boss battle of the area. In my 2 hours spent in that region learning the ropes, I could see the risk/reward questions being asked of me, and as my proficiency with the game grew, I started to make riskier decisions that I wouldn’t have earlier on.
Upon besting the Shattered Rise’s first boss, Prophet, I then entered the Ancient Depths, a broken-down metallic base, reminiscent of a more dilapidated Cauldron in Guerrilla’s Horizon games. It was a nice contrast to the rocky, mountainous, and red-sand covered Shattered Rise, and showed a great level of design diversity from Housemarque. They’d already demonstrated this capacity in Returnal, but their efforts seem to have been dialled up a few notches with Saros. The game looks phenomenal, is a treat to blast into your ears, and leverages the pulsing Dualsense to help players feel the tension of the world.
I didn’t get to spend as much time with the Ancient Depths, but I already felt more in control as I explored the new region of the game, and this was largely because of the growth in Devraj from prior depths. As I’d failed in previous runs and returned to my base of operations, I’d been able to invest the currency I’d collected (Lucenite) into upgrades that elevated Devraj’s base stats, unlocked a second chance ability (think about the astronaut revival in Returnal), and more. The upgrade tree looks pretty expansive, and I’m quite confident that I couldn’t see all of it either, so I’m excited to see how much deeper it will go and what else Devraj can do in time. Those bosses are nasty, so I wouldn’t mind being as beefed up as possible to take them down, and while improvements to base stats will help, repeating earlier stages to milk live upgrades will also be beneficial the further you go into the game. Players can also opt to begin a run at whichever stage comes next, but that comes with its own risks of being underprepared.
I could go on for hours about the game, far longer than I spent playing it. I am so impressed by Housemarque’s response to the feedback they were given following the release of Returnal, because the design decisions that they’ve made feel so integral to the loop of Saros, and will undoubtedly be important to those who are less experienced or capable in games such as theirs. I confidently declared, following Returnal, that the game was their best work (despite an incredible history that included Super Stardust, Resogun, and Nex Machina among others), but it seems that with Saros, the team is primed to top themselves once again. We’ll soon see, though, because Saros is out later this month.
