- Publisher: Sony Interactive Entertainment
- Release Date: Apr 30, 2026
- Critic score
- Publication
- By date
- Unscored
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May 6, 2026Saros is a good game, and I need to be clear about that. The sheer speed and kinetic energy of the combat, the visual design, and the moreish nature of the roguelike loop come together to make something that is, by any objective measure, well-made and something that consumers clearly like to play. But on the other side of the coin, I really can’t stand Saros because I look at it and all I see is the cynical Sony studio formula slapped over the top of what was, a half-decade ago, a pretty fine game. In fact, I think I’ll dust Returnal off for a replay.
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Apr 24, 2026While it loses some of the allure of Returnal, this game aims to attract players by smoothing out the learning curve.
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Apr 24, 2026Saros’ story remains an overall disappointment and is another reason why the game is an unsatisfactory follow-up to Returnal. Not only does Saros fail to build on what that 2021 title started, it takes massive leaps backward by having an unstable and frustrating difficulty curve, a less cohesive story, and shallower roguelike systems. Devoid of the context given by release dates, it would seem as though Saros came well before Returnal with how much less confident and taut it is in comparison. While fiery suns define Saros and play an ever-present role in it, it is Returnal that is the shining star here, one that cleanly eclipses its spiritual successor.
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Apr 24, 2026Saros tries at an interesting and ambitious story it isn't always able to effectively tell, but Housemarque has once again proved that its bullet-hell sensibilities mesh incredibly well with fluid and challenging action.
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Apr 23, 2026Saros is a game I'll be chewing on for the rest of the year. It's a game that has a lot of flaws, but makes up for them in showcasing the complicated and messy dynamics that humans find themselves in. An easy recommendation for those looking for a bullet hell with a deep mythos around it. A game that isn't perfect, and is messy, much like all of us.
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May 2, 2026Saros is still a good game. I will never dislike a game that looks this good and plays this well. But the lessons that Housemarque learned from Returnal resulted in a game that is less than the sum of its parts.
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Apr 27, 2026If you liked Returnal, I’m sure you’ll love Saros too. It is a very similar experience, so it doesn't have that same element of surprise anymore, but it is much more fast-paced, "on steroids", and filled with smart design choices that give it better balance and flow.
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Apr 24, 2026For now, I’ll say Housemarque’s “house style” of tough-as-nails roguelike dipped in symbolism has managed to capture lightning in a bottle twice, and in a PlayStation ecosystem where Sony threatens to homogenize all its output, this studio maintaining what makes it distinct in the company’s catalog is just as challenging a feat as anything you’ll face in the game itself. Saros is a prickly, demanding game whose hours of physical and mental carnage will make it difficult to parse for some, but I keep diving back in and finding new philosophical and mechanical challenges to overcome each time.
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Apr 24, 2026Being able to turn yourself into an overpowered king by flipping a few switches has its advantages. It gave me more breathing room to marvel at Carcosa’s ornate alien architecture. It let me try different artifacts and test out how a negative perk would mess with my play style. And it allowed me to get more aggressive in battle, which meant generating more glorious particle explosions that put my PS5 Pro to work. Even with my frustrations, Saros still had me glued to my controller as a work of pure sci-fi spectacle with an eerie atmosphere that bleeds out of your TV.
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Apr 24, 2026Over the past 30 years, Housemarque has garnered a well-earned reputation for punishing bullet-hell shooters (see also Nex Machina and Resogun). Yet with Saros, you can feel the studio, now owned by Sony, wrestling with a conundrum: how to make the genre more accessible without diluting its essential, thumb-punishing essence. The game largely nails this balance, though its most arresting moments remain the deadliest.