If you are a glutton for punishment or like a challenging shooter that plays like a platformer with randomly generated levels, prepare to ruin your fingers and thumbs with Saros. A PlayStation 5 exclusive, Saros offers a stylish and innovative take on the rogue-like genre.
Set in the dark alien world of Carcosa, Saros is a third-person action adventure shooter where dashing, parrying and deflecting endless waves of projectiles (what the developer describes as “bullet hell”) is the key to survival.
Saros is developed by Housemarque, a Finnish game studio based in Helsinki whose claim to fame is Returnal in 2021. Unlike Returnal, which is a “rogue-like” game where death means having to play through the level completely with minimal progression, Saros is a “rogue-lite” game where the character can still gain some progress and level up upon death and restarting the run.
Of eclipses and madness
You play Arjun Devraj, an enforcer for the Soltari Corporation which had set up colonies on the planet of Carcosa to mine Lucenite, a powerful source of energy. When the colonies had mysteriously gone silent, Soltari Corporation deployed Arjun and his crew on a mission to investigate.
However, when one of the crew members went mad and sabotaged their craft, Arjun was also under suspicion when he found himself “missing time” and losing his some of his memories.
Saros creates an interesting premise but storytelling isn’t the game’s strong suit. The plot is scattered, leaving you to piece together the story with audio logs, holograms and obtuse dialogue with a handful of NPCs (non-playable characters).
The dribs and drabs of information reveal that Carcosa’s dramatic eclipses can drive madness and unpredictable behaviours in humans, and make enemies more aggressive.
Saros’ design of the otherworldly surreal alien landscape of Carcosan fills you with awe and dread. The game features eight visually distinctive biomes, including alien ruins decorated with broken, twisted stone statues, sci-fi inspired industrial structures with futuristic lighting, as well as desolate alien landscapes.
The dramatic eclipses that completely change the mood and increase the danger add even more tension as you approach a “boss” level hostile, known as an Overlord of the biome.
If you are a horror fan and find Arjun’s mug familiar, it’s because Arjun is played by English actor Rahul Kohli, who acted as Owen in The Haunting of Bly Manor on Netflix.
Random runs for endless fun
Saros features rogue-lite elements where maps change at every run, and dying will send you back to the base, known as the Passage, where you need to restart the level from the beginning. With randomly generated maps, each run feels different every time, with traps and loot located in varied locations.
Since it can take many runs to complete each biome and kill off the boss to proceed, the randomness keeps the experience fresh. From my experience, each run takes about 30 minutes to complete, so be prepared to dedicate at least this amount of time to clear a biome.
Designed to be chaotic and unpredictable, Saros is a rather punishing game with its randomness and having to restart the level upon death. The game forces you to adapt quickly to the situation, experiment with various tactics to beat enemies and find different to traverse the levels, offering more than just being a straightforward shooter.
A lot depends on chance as the weapons, power-ups and artefacts available are randomly generated at each run. There were some runs where I had my favourite weapon, a good collection of artefacts, buffs and upgrades, while other times I entered a boss battle with subpar weapons and boosts.
However, I also learnt my lesson the hard way that artefacts that are equipped cannot be swapped out unless there is a re-roll item in Arjun’s inventory. So, some thought needs to be put in before equipping an artefact.
As you progress in the game, various weapons will be available to Arjun, such as handcannons, rifles, shotguns, crossbows and even a Chakram that fires discs. Besides these weapons, Arjun can also equip a power weapon on his left hand that can be charged up by absorbing projectiles and unleash hell on enemies.
It pays to explore every map and level thoroughly to find all the artefacts that can change the tide of the battle for Arjun. As you progress in the game, more traversal equipment like grapples and jump pads will be unlocked, which lets Arjun access more loot and new areas.
In this respect, Saros is also not very newbie-friendly as a lot of the gameplay mechanics are not explained, and you the player have to play through and experience the game in order to find out. Even the seemingly detailed Databank contains encrypted data, which will be unlocked as you progress in the game.
Live, die, repeat
Dying is just part of the game, and the rogue-lite (and not rogue-like) elements lets Arjun come back stronger at each run, which provides for some encouragement to keep trying. Every time Arjun dies, he is sent back to the Passage where he can spend Lucenites picked up during each run to upgrade the Soltari armour, which can help him better survive the next attempt.
However, there is a penalty of 50 per cent of the Lucenites you pick up during a failed run, which can be reduced as you upgrade Arjun’s Soltari armour. Thankfully, you get to keep your equipped weapon type but it gets reset upon death, and the weapon will lose any perks and attachments picked up during a failed run.
If things are not going your way, you can also tweak the difficulty with Carcosan Modifiers back at the base, but you need to be able to balance the perks (Protections) with the punishments (Trials).
For example, you can choose Armour Enhancements to increase the protection offered by the Soltari Armour while choosing a Trial to forfeit your chance to get Halcyon for accessing higher level upgrades later. There is a limit of using only six Protections and Trials at a time, so it takes some testing to find the best balance for Arjun.
Back at the base, Arjun can also look for audio logs to unveil more of the story, and talk to the handful of NPCs although they don’t usually have much to say.
What doesn’t kill you…
Saros is a punishing game that tests your persistence and quick reflexes to adapt to the situation. Even the hostiles you encounter can be different each run, which keeps you on your toes.
Enemies in Saros are designed to be creepy and surreal, with a blend of fantasy, sci-fi and horror. These include worm-like turrets, multi-tentacled bots, demonic bat-like creatures as well as elaborately-designed hellish Bosses known as Overlords, all of whom can spit out loads of projectiles and deal severe melee damage up close.
Saros’s fast-paced “bullet ballet” gameplay style means you need quick reflexes to deal with the different coloured projectiles hurled at Arjun.
Blue projectiles can be dashed past or absorbed by the Soltari shield and be used to charge Arjun’s power weapon on his left hand, while red projectiles cannot be absorbed or avoided by dashing until some modifiers or upgrades are unlocked, and yellow projectiles can be avoided by dashing but can cause corruption damage to Arjun’s armour if he is hit.
Sudden deaths by kamikaze enemies dropping on you and self-destructing are extremely annoying, and can end your run prematurely if you are not careful. In addition, certain high-level enemies will activate a Solar Cage where you cannot escape until you have defeated them.
I found the game frustrating, especially when trying to beat the Overlords that have multiple stages and phased attacks at the finale of the runs, and a simple mistake can send Arjun back to the beginning again.
I had suffered a lot at the multiple hands of powerful Overlords of each biome, meaning that I had to do many, many runs just to trip over some projectiles and die at the feet or tentacles or some gross appendage of the Overlords.
Like Souls-like games, there is no escape from climactic Overlord battles – you either kill them and progress, or die and restart back at the base, where you need to go through a randomly generated run from the top again. With high stakes and extreme tension, Saros is definitely on my list of games most likely to break my controller.
TL;DR
With its randomised maps, rogue-lite gameplay, and punishing runs, Saros offers a breath of fresh air in the somewhat tired shooter genre. The visually stunning landscapes, grotesque hostiles and dramatic eclipses makes for an immersive yet creepy experience. Although the premise is promising, the plot delivery is rather piecemeal and relies on audio logs, holograms and reticent NPCs to build up the story.
If you love the challenge and unpredictability yet yearn for some degree of progression despite dying repeatedly, Saros offers innovative gameplay and progression as well as rewarding your persistence by unlocking new abilities as you progress.
However, the game’s high difficulty, low tolerance for mistakes and punishing boss fights can break your spirit and your controller.
Saros is available for the PlayStation 5 at S$97.90 at the PlayStation Store.
