Saros Reviews
Saros is certainly an enjoyable experience, but it remains completely overshadowed by Returnal. I would have preferred the team to have explored more innovative ideas within the game, but that didn't happen. However, if you haven't played Returnal, Saros will undoubtedly be a fantastic experience with plenty of challenging and fun moments.
Review in Arabic | Read full review
Despite the hiccups I experienced, SAROS is still Housemarque’s most ambitious game to date. The scale of the experience is impressive. From the fast, polished gameplay the studio is known for, to its stronger narrative focus, elevated production values, and standout sound design, there is a lot here to love.
Saros impressively combines chaos and control. This unfolds in a game that has you restarting hundreds of times—yet always with a sense of progression. What begins as an overwhelming storm of bullets evolves into a tightly orchestrated experience where everything revolves around flow, insight, and timing.
Review in Dutch | Read full review
Saros represents the natural evolution of a development team that has successfully reworked its formula without betraying its essence. Housemarque has crafted a solid and satisfying action-shooter, taking the frenetic gameplay of its illustrious predecessor and grafting it onto a progression system that rewards perseverance and mitigates frustration. The world of Carcosa, enhanced by inspired art direction and the brilliant Corruption mechanic, constantly challenges the player to balance risk and reward.
Review in Italian | Read full review
SAROS delivers a confident evolution of Housemarque’s roguelite formula, pairing exhilarating bullet-hell combat and exceptional boss design with meaningful progression systems that give each run a satisfying sense of growth. While its moment-to-moment gameplay consistently impresses through tight mechanics and smart use of haptics, the narrative struggles to keep pace, relying too heavily on logs and lacking cohesion in its delivery. Even so, the game’s distinct identity, strong encounter design, and engaging loop make it a compelling, if uneven, PlayStation experience that soars more often than it stumbles.
Saros is a satisfying iteration on Returnal, but its narrative can’t live up to its predecessor’s brilliance.
Saros is the latest banger of 2026. It plays like a dream, has a fun gameplay loop, looks stunning, has a superb voice cast and a mysterious story that will keep you hooked from start to finish.
SAROS is a safer and more accessible evolution of Housemarque’s formula—less complex, less punishing, yet still incredibly fun. It may not reach the same level of depth and impact as Returnal, but it delivers a solid, stylish, and addictive experience that clearly highlights the studio’s growth, even if there are still some rough edges to be polished.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Saros is a strong step forward for Housemarque, improving on Returnal with fast, addictive gameplay, balanced difficulty, and better storytelling. It excels technically with great visuals, sound, and smart DualSense use. Minor flaws aside, it stands as a serious Game of the Year contender.
Review in Arabic | Read full review
At the end of the day, this is the kind of game that had me saying “just one more run” at 1 a.m. on a work night - and then again at 2, until my wife finally took the controller away. Honestly, that’s the only score that really matters.
Review in Unknown | Read full review
Saros turns Returnal's foundation into a sharper, smarter, and more flexible action roguelite — and proves Housemarque is still one of PlayStation's most important studios.
Saros isn't just about making it through a strange planet; it's also about mastering chaos, understanding how systems function under intense stress, and gradually turning vast amounts of uncertainty into controlled precision.
Saros takes everything great about Returnal and builds something more ambitious, more accessible, and more human around it. The bullet hell action is easily the best yet on PS5 and the permanent unlocks makes every run feel meaningful. The visuals, audio, and performance all hit the high standard you'd expect from a top-tier Sony PS5 exclusive.
The end result is a top notch when gameplay, entertainment value, and difficulty level are perfectly tuned to the same pitch.
Review in Finnish | Read full review
Saros is a fantastic game, but probably not for everyone. The difficulty remains high, even though Housemarque has clearly tried to make it a bit more accessible with shorter runs and permanent upgrades. That certainly helps, but this remains a game that requires patience and perseverance. Moreover, you have to hold out for a while, because the game only really starts doing cool things after the second boss. From that moment on, everything falls into place better: more weapons, more gadgets, more variety in builds, and much more interesting combat. Meanwhile, the story is somewhat stronger and more prominent than in Returnal, but it still won't win any awards, partly because the characters you encounter remain quite one-dimensional. Fortunately, that isn't the most important thing here. Once Saros really gets going, there are few roguelikes that reach the same level. It is a worthy successor to Returnal and, in many ways, even a better game.
Review in Dutch | Read full review
"An action-packed experience that challenges you every turn" Saros delivers a skill-based experience with real-time interaction in a diverse and aggressive environment. The strong, cohesive design puts the experience on a different level, challenging the player at every stage. While there are some weaknesses in the visuals and cinematic presentation, the core gameplay is characterized by clear visuals and infrastructure. This game focuses more on performance and skill than narrative, and it succeeds in this.
Review in Arabic | Read full review
Even with these comparisons, Saros’ story remains an overall disappointment and is another reason why the game is an unsatisfactory follow-up to Returnal.
Saros is clearly made for people who liked the way Returnal was set up but wanted something that was more flexible and forgiving without losing the intensity. It keeps the core identity of Housemarque’s design philosophy intact—fast combat, tight controls, and high-pressure encounters—but layers it with systems that reward persistence rather than perfection.
Housemarque took a massive swing with the permanent progression in Saros and absolutely nailed the execution. Grinding for Lucenite and rare Halcyons takes the frustrating sting out of the studio’s notoriously brutal combat. The Soltari Shield revitalizes the flow of battle by forcing you to play aggressively to survive. If you love high-intensity action and building an unstoppable character, Saros is worth every penny.
The Finnish studio Housemarque reimagines the journey seen in Returnal with Saros, their latest project that improves upon the experience of its spiritual predecessor. It is an adventure that will leave no one indifferent, especially those who crave action and adrenaline.
Review in Spanish | Read full review