Housemarque takes its winning formula to the next level
Five years after Returnal announced Housemarque as a serious AAA player, the Finnish studio is back with Saros, a game that takes everything its predecessor built and pushes it further in almost every direction. This is not a safe follow-up. Housemarque has rearchitected the loop, deepened the systems, and hired Rahul Kohli to anchor a story that actually has something to say. The result is the best PS5 exclusive in a long time.
You play as Arjun Devraj, an Enforcer dispatched to the planet Carcosa as part of Echelon IV, a corporate rescue mission sent to find out what happened to three previous expeditions that went dark after landing. The setup is familiar science fiction territory, but Housemarque uses it well. Carcosa itself is a planet that shifts and changes with each solar eclipse, which is the in-world explanation for the roguelite loop. Every time Arjun dies, the eclipse resets, and he wakes up back at camp with no memory of what just happened. The loop is not just a mechanical conceit here. It is the story.
Gameplay
Here's the thing: Saros is more accessible than Returnal, but do not mistake that for easier. The game will still beat you repeatedly and without apology. What has changed is that the path forward always feels fair.
Soltari Shield parry system
The core third-person bullet hell shooting carries over from Returnal, but the movement has been tightened to a degree that feels almost surgical. Arjun can sprint, jump, dash through blue orbs, and use a tether for environmental traversal. All of these tools were present in some form before, but the responsiveness here is noticeably better. Dodging a dense projectile pattern and immediately snapping into a counterattack feels like muscle memory within a few hours.
The biggest new mechanical addition is the Soltari Shield, which introduces a parry system into the combat. Projectiles are color-coded: blue ones can be blocked to charge your power weapon gauge, while red ones need to be dodged or parried back at enemies for massive damage. Getting that parry timing right transforms encounters from survival exercises into something closer to rhythm games. The skill ceiling is high.
Persistent progression is where Saros most clearly improves on Returnal. Rather than starting from near-scratch every run, you accumulate upgrades across a branching tree that permanently expands Arjun's capabilities. Jump pads, tether upgrades, and new traversal options unlock over time, and the sense of getting meaningfully stronger across runs keeps the loop compelling far longer than Returnal managed.
Permanent progression tree
The weapon pool is the one area where the gameplay shows strain. Across longer play sessions, the variety starts to feel limited. You will cycle through the same handful of weapon archetypes repeatedly, and while each run randomizes the specific stats and modifiers, the underlying feel of the weapons does not change much. It is not a dealbreaker, but it is noticeable.
Graphics and audio
Carcosa is a spectacular place to die repeatedly. The planet shifts between biomes that range from crystalline mineral deposits to decayed corporate infrastructure, and the art direction throughout is confident and distinct. The eclipse lighting system in particular does impressive work, casting the environments in shifting amber and shadow that gives every encounter a slightly unreal quality.
The DualSense integration is well-executed. Weapon feedback through the adaptive triggers is varied enough to make each gun feel physically distinct, and the haptic feedback during close-range combat adds a tactile layer that genuinely enhances the experience on PS5.
The score is one of the best in recent memory for this genre. Organs and strings carry the quieter exploration sections, while distorted riffs and percussion drive the combat encounters. It is not subtle, but it does not need to be. The music tells you exactly how much danger you are in at any given moment.
Rahul Kohli's performance as Arjun deserves specific mention. He plays the character with a controlled intensity that makes the repeated deaths feel personal rather than mechanical. The frustration in his voice after a failed run is not melodrama. It reads as genuine exhaustion, and that sells the loop in a way that pure gameplay never could.
Story
Saros has a much stronger narrative focus than Returnal, and for the most part this works in its favor. The ensemble cast of Echelon IV survivors gives Arjun people to react to and care about, which makes the loop feel less isolating than Selene's solitary nightmare in Returnal. The mystery of what happened to Echelons I through III is genuinely compelling and pulls you forward through early runs.
The story is delivered through a combination of cutscenes, optional dialogue between runs, radio chatter, voice memos, and flashback sequences. The layered approach works well when it is firing properly. The problem is that it does not always fire properly. Optional dialogue can queue up in batches that feel unnatural when heard back-to-back, and the character animations outside of cutscenes are noticeably stiff.
Carcosa's eclipse-lit biomes
The bigger structural issue is that the narrative loses some of its focus in the back half. The corporate sci-fi mystery that drives the early game gives way to a more personal story about Arjun's past, and the shift does not entirely land. The personal stakes feel less interesting than the planetary ones, and the resolution is deliberately abstract in ways that some players will find rewarding and others will find frustrating.
Verdict
Saros is Housemarque operating at the top of its game. The combat is the best the studio has ever made. The world is more fully realized than anything in Returnal. The permanent progression system solves the single biggest complaint about its predecessor. Rahul Kohli gives a performance that elevates the material around him. If you want to stay current with the best PS5 games releasing right now, you can browse more reviews and guides at GAMES.GG.
The flaws are real but contained. The story wobbles. The weapons could use more variety. The endgame needs more content. None of these issues undermine what is otherwise a near-complete package. Saros is the game Returnal fans have been waiting five years for, and it delivers.
