Saros Review

Housemarque has spent close to two decades perfecting one thing, the feel of moving through a room full of projectiles, and Saros is the version with a story attached that does not fight it. Arjun Devraj wakes on Carcosa with a hole in his memory and a lost mining colony to find, on a planet whose eclipses drive the wildlife faster and meaner, so the pressure climbs on a schedule you can learn rather than a shuffle you have to accept.

The Soltari shield is the new idea: block, absorb what was fired at you, and convert it into the weapon you fire back. Permanent weapon and suit upgrades carry between runs, which quietly answers the objection most players had to Returnal, since a bad run now leaves something behind. Critics praised the combat and the spectacle almost without exception. Where they diverged was the narrative, ambitious about memory and resurrection but repeatedly drowned by the fireworks around it. As action design this is the studio's strongest work to date.