Saros Reviews
SAROS takes what made Returnal such a epically awesome action game and turns the dial way up while simultaneously offering such a distinct and immersive game world that it'll haunt your dreams even long after the end credits roll. ☀️
SAROS is a fantastic experience from beginning to end. The narrative delivers a brilliant cosmic horror narrative with a great cast of characters, brilliant performances, a rich and intriguing world, and incredible representation thanks to a great South Asian protagonist. Further, the gameplay is a non-stop thrill ride throughout, that never feels too difficult despite the occasional spike in challenge. While there are some issues with the post-game and build options, this is a must-play for any PlayStation 5 owners and an early game of the year contender.
Overall, Saros is an incredible follow-up to Returnal, which should be heralded in its own right as one of the most robust and satisfying roguelite games on the market today.
Saros is Housemarque at its absolute peak, refining Returnal’s foundations into a richer, smarter, and more accessible bullet-hell shooter for the PlayStation 5.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Saros, like the lead protagonist Arjun, is flawed. It’s a lot of ways; it’s partially because of the team’s success. Somehow, Returnal remains largely uncopied, if at all, which is an absolute shame but means I can really only weigh this experience against its predecessor. In this vein, it falls short in plenty of ways. The moment when Selene escapes from her hell, only to be lowered into the ground and return on the other side, gives chills just thinking about it.
Saros presents itself as the natural evolution of the path Housemarque embarked upon with Returnal, and in many ways it successfully builds on that foundation with great maturity and insight. The combat system remains the game’s crowning achievement: fast-paced, multi-layered, and supported by a color-coded bullet system that transforms every encounter into a fast-paced exercise in reading and reacting.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Saros is a mechanically well-executed bullet hell shooter that unfortunately suffers a bit from a lack of variety in level design, weapons, and run-altering artifacts. Because dying and retrying is a core feature, this does lead to noticeable repetition over a playtime of 20–30 hours. However, the option to start in the current biome rather than always having to begin in the first one helps to mitigate this repetition. The core gameplay—3D bullet hell combat combined with dodging, blocking, and parrying—is consistently enjoyable. The Carcosa modifiers can be adjusted to personal preference, even if there is no intrinsic reward for increasing the difficulty. Still, the game manages to surprisingly well compensate for its repetitive structure in moment-to-moment play. Overall, Saros is a good game that ultimately falls a little short of its full potential.
Review in German | Read full review
Just as the moon covers the sun, with lost Carcosa awash with golden yellow, Saros eclipses all in its wake. Boasting a deep and synergistic core gameplay loop evoking Returnal, premium difficulty balancing options, emotionally-driven character writing, and the newest look cosmic horror has seen in decades, you wouldn’t be driven mad by playing this game; you’d be mad not to. Strange is the one who cannot fathom the greatness of Saros, but stranger still is lost Carcosa.
Saros is not only a worthy successor to Returnal (and arguably even surpasses it), but also the best game the studio has created to date — and one of the finest action titles of its generation.
Review in Slovak | Read full review
The experience of Saros is not necessarily perfect, as it repeats the same mistakes we've seen in recent PlayStation games by delivering a weaker story than its predecessor, in addition to some issues in the implementation of the roguelite system. Despite that, it is still an excellent action game, whether because of its new ideas and enemy encounters, or the great game feel due to the visual aspects and its relatively high production value.
Review in Arabic | Read full review
SAROS veers further away from the roguelike path with its focus on permanent progression and more accessible levels. While its story and characters didn’t draw me in, its visual style and sound design are excellent. Most importantly, it delivers out of this world gunplay that simultaneously feels stressful, stimulating, and satisfying.
Saros is a high-caliber visual and sensory spectacle. If you’re here for a beautiful, fluid, and intense combat experience, you’ll have a great time. But its confusing story, shallow characters, reliance on collectibles, and mechanics like the Eclipse system — which promise more than they actually deliver — keep it from being the masterpiece so many people praise it to be.
Review in French | Read full review
Housemarque Studio once again proves its ability to create unique games with its own identity. Saros offers a difficult and intense journey filled with chaotic battles and huge Bullet Hell moments, creating fast-paced and addictive gameplay while giving the world beautiful visuals. The game also delivers excellent technical performance and great sound design. If you enjoyed Returnal and are looking for a similar experience, then don’t hesitate to travel to Carcosa planet and enjoy one of the most exciting action games out there.
Review in Arabic | Read full review
Saros delivers an excellent mix of 3D action and bullet hell combat, with fast, tense, and satisfying battles supported by a strong cosmic horror atmosphere and Arjun’s growing paranoia. Its permanent progression system reduces frustration without removing the challenge, but the experience becomes repetitive over time due to limited build variety, simplistic regions, and shallow progression. While still a great action game for fans of intense and difficult experiences, the lack of diversity keeps it from reaching its full potential.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Saros builds upon the strengths of Returnal and in itself creates a completely distinct experience that captivated me even more deeply. The gameplay loop worked perfectly for me, especially thanks to the more compact runs. The difficulty level was challenging yet never unfair and the game looks fantastic, runs smoothly and responds to every controller input with precision. Even without relying on preset difficulty levels you can adjust the difficulty through mods and the skill tree to make the game easier or harder all while enjoying a mysterious and exciting story.
Review in German | Read full review
Saros is an ambitious and visually stunning work, confirming Housemarque's crystal-clear talent for creating vibrant alien worlds and rock-solid gameplay. However, their attempt to hybridize their pure "action" formula with RPG structures and interconnected maps is not without its challenges: the menu management is a bit complex, the loot balance isn't always impeccable, and the game's pace suffers from slowdowns that Returnal fans may find unpalatable. It's a step forward in terms of the project's scale, even if the path seems to have taken a marked turn from the original. It's an experience worth experiencing for its atmosphere and technical brilliance, but it requires a greater degree of patience from the player than it has in the past. We're confident it will continue to offer a wealth of new experiences, given the fantastic support Returnal has received over time.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Saros is a visually stunning technical experience that puts you in the heart of an addictive, relentless combat chaos. The game excels in providing gameplay that is among the best in its class, making full use of the PS5's capabilities to give you a real feeling of every shot and every explosion. Despite the fun of combat, the game falls into the trap of repetition due to the limited enemy types and the weakness of the Roguelite systems, which do not offer strong incentives for replayability as in competing games. Additionally, the story—which began with an ambitious scope—falters at its end. In short, if you are looking for a game to showcase your console's power and enjoy a solid and fun gameplay experience for hours, Saros is an excellent choice. However, if you expect more from the story or variety in enemies and Roguelite elements, you may feel some disappointment halfway through.
Review in Arabic | Read full review
Saros is a highly enjoyable game to play, featuring truly fantastic action sequences, a constantly escalating intensity, and plenty of chaos, managing to take its sound design and DualSense utilization to new heights. However, it has etched itself into my memory as a title burdened by a narratively lacking story, acting performances that fail to rise above average, and skill systems that lack tangible impact.
Review in Turkish | Read full review
Housemarque evolves the foundations of Returnal into something even bigger with Saros, delivering intense third-person combat, stunning world design and a mysterious sci-fi narrative that constantly pulls you deeper into Carcosa. A breathtaking roguelite experience that feels both familiar and refreshingly ambitious.
Review in Spanish | Read full review