‘Saros’ review: ballsy successor to modern cult classic ‘Returnal’

Returnal, released in 2021, blended a deep literacy of arcade style coin op games with the looping timelines of the modern roguelike subgenre. It’s a fiendishly compelling formula that Returnal‘s spiritual successor Saros takes even further.

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You play as Arjun Devraj, crew member of the Echelon IV and an enforcer for Soltari, a hegemonic megacorp engaged in the standard sci fi enterprise of interstellar colonisation. Galactic domination has hit a bit of a snag, however, on their latest claim, Carcosa. Saros offers no real preamble, throwing you straight into a Groundhog Day-in-space nightmare. Carcosa is procedurally regenerating itself with gleeful abandon, while periodic golden eclipses send crew members mad – a condition reminiscent of the cultish astronauts in Danny Boyle’s Sunshine.

The mission must continue, though. Players are in thrall to a sassily authoritarian AI called Primary, Soltari’s managerial representative on the ground, who isn’t willing to sacrifice the company’s return on investment. Arjun has his own agenda, hunting a woman from his past.

Gameplay-wise, Saros improves on Returnal in just about every conceivable way. Developer Housemarque’s genius lies in their knowing translation of some of the medium’s oldest formal traditions into high-production values and modern shooter sensibilities.

Take the enemies: from tentacled robots to beasts red in tooth and claw, they are defined by the patterns of the glowing orbs they emit. Be prepared to react to steeplechase fences, closing walls, skipping ropes, sprinklers or, in the case of the magnificent bosses, turret guns and Death Star beams. Each colour of orb demands a different response: blue can be shielded and you’ll need to swing fists for red. When an eclipse descends, amping up enemy power and environmental hazards, these orbs turn yellow and begin corrupting your health bar permanently.

Arjun has his own armoury to draw on which includes perfectly tuned pistols, shotguns and rifles that offer secondary modes at a half-press of the PS5’s L2. He zips about at a faster clip than Returnal’s protagonist Selene – and combined with jump pads and a later-acquired grapple, Housemarque’s combat dance is pretty perfect.

Quality of life changes over Returnal are plentiful and welcome too. Perhaps the most significant is biome teleportation – a chance to skip the roguelike tradition of repeating the first section to reach later ones. Artefacts temporarily increase Arjun’s proficiency run to run, but a skill tree also furnishes him with a permanent set of power-ups. Carcosan modifiers act like Hades‘ pacts of punishment, but with positive influences too – such as increased weapon damage. Together, these systems give the player free reign over difficulty: Returnal‘s veterans will be warming up their thumbs for self-inflicted pain.

For those who valued Returnal’s solitary weirdness, isolation and creeping madness, the new cast of sci-fi crew members can feel a bit more conventional. This isn’t a charge against the story itself, but a simpler point about the proliferation of voices competing for the player’s attention. What is lost, when a teammate comes barking in over the radio, is a sense of the wondrous – a loss compounded by the vibrant beauty of Carcosa itself: epic monoliths, spiralling towers, cavernous mines, at times rivalling the best of cosmic Nintendo adventure Metroid. Occasionally, you may yearn for the stoic silence of that franchise’s quiet hero Samus.

‘Saros’ is out April 30 on PlayStation 5