Saros

When {Saros} really pulls out all the stops, there's nothing out there quite like Housemarque's latest. You absorb an enemy's projectiles with your shield and use the energy from them to fire a powerful secondary attack right back at their head, dash away from an unblockable attack and activate your grapple to create distance, before emptying your magazine into the head of another enemy, which unlocks your super, which you activate on the brink of death and send the particularly powerful enemy that has decimated your health into oblivion, all whilst a brutalist fortress looms in the background and the cannons around you fire off heavy artillery in a seemingly endless war.

With {Returnal}, Housemarque took the kind of quantum leap that, as a gaming enthusiast, one can only applaud and marvel at. Having perfected the arcade formula that had been their focal point right from their humble beginnings in the 90s, founder Illari Kuittinen declared the arcade dead in a press release disguised as an obituary, whereupon the once-prolific studio vanished to the dark side of the moon for three years, only to return with a game that retained Housemarque's arcade sensibilities, but now elevated to another level through a dazzling presentation and a surprisingly well-told story that truly sucked me right down into the cosmic rabbit hole.

Now the Finns are back and this time the quantum leaps and obituaries have been shelved, for {Saros} is a prime example of a spiritual sequel that takes themes, mechanics, and the overall game feel, and bends, develops, and refines them. And although this naturally makes {Saros} a less exciting game than {Returnal}, it is superior to its "predecessor" in almost every respect other than innovation, precisely because Housemarque makes a lot of good choices and proves itself to be excellent craftsmen and artists. It's what {Inside} was to {Limbo}; {BioShock} to {System Shock 2}. The new standard against which all genre peers will be measured.

But let's take a step back and set the scene properly. Just like {Returnal}, {Saros} tells the story of a determined individual trapped on an alien planet, where personal traumas tend to be just as formidable opponents as the horde of creatures that inhabit the planet. And Housemarque also reuses the narrative structure where audio and text files slowly fill in the gaps, whilst dreamlike sequences, cut off from the normal gameplay, shed light on the past.

But just as the setting is purely mechanical, Housemarque challenges itself here too. Whereas {Returnal}'s narrative was claustrophobic and intimate, {Saros}' is distinctly epic, yet without losing the personal core that forms the heart of the story here as well.

That core is Arjun Devrac. He is part of the Soltari Corporation's fourth wave of colonisation of the planet Carcosa. Ambitious dreams of the revenue gained from the planet's valuable mineral, Lumenite, have brought the Weyland-Yutani-like mega-corporation to the planet, but something has obviously gone wrong, and whereas previous expeditions had colonisation and research as their goals, Arjun's is a small rescue expedition tasked with trying to make sense of what has happened and, of course, saving Soltari's finances.

It soon becomes clear, however, that there is a good reason why things have not gone entirely smoothly for the previous teams. Carcosa is, to put it mildly, a hostile place, with extremely aggressive local fauna and defence systems that do not exactly welcome the Soltari personnel. And what's worse, Carcosa affects people in strange ways, possessing them. We see this just a few minutes into the game, when Arjun's colleague Tarn, with fire in his eyes, attacks him at the expedition's base itself, whilst raving about the sun.

It's an effective opening that establishes the paranoia that pervades {Saros}. I'd feared that the presence of NPCs would stifle the oppressive and isolated atmosphere that {Returnal} excelled at, but your colleagues are a source of unease rather than comfort, because you never really know where you stand with them. Do they have motives other than yours? And do the pilot's grandiose monologues mean that he, too, is becoming possessed by the same thing as Tarn? Arjun himself isn't entirely above board either, for he hides from his colleagues that he is searching for a person from one of the earlier expeditions.

This helps make The Passage, as the base is called, more than just a place you rush through. For whilst Selene's crashed ship was quickly seen, The Passage is far more expansive. Here there are rooms to explore, colleagues to talk to, audio and text files to provide context, and the Soltari AI, Primary, which, as well as giving off unsettling HAL-like vibes, is also your source for permanently upgrading Arjun's abilities.

But upgrades are, of course, not free; they cost Lumenite. So Arjun must head out into the field to gather this valuable resource, and to solve the mystery of the previous expeditions and uncover the secrets Carcosa holds. It's in Carcosa's mountains, tunnels, and cities that {Saros} really flexes its muscles. Housemarque has succeeded in creating a planet that is both varied and cohesive, with a breath-taking and sinister aesthetic. In particular, the icy, metallic architecture took my breath away at regular intervals, as did the psychedelic excesses that warp time and space. Carcosa feels truly alien, but in a believable way, and Housemarque has wisely chosen to take inspiration from FromSoftware by introducing you early on to incredible vistas where you can glimpse places on the horizon that you will later set foot in.

Views like these give you a reason to stop and take a short break, both for the sake of the view itself, but also to take a deep breath before the next frantic confrontation. The pace is fast in {Saros} and the complexity has been ramped up, and whereas {Returnal} was largely about dodging, firing your primary weapon, and occasionally using the sword for close combat, {Saros} adds a shield that can absorb bullets and then use the energy to unleash a powerful attack with your secondary weapon. However, this only applies to blue bullets. Yellow ones must be dodged or dashed through, otherwise they inflict corruption, which reduces your total health, and you cannot dash through red ones at all, so they must either be avoided or parried. In other words, there are more choices to make from moment-to-moment, and Housemarque certainly doesn't hold back when it comes to the volume of bullets and enemies.

Fortunately, Arjun has plenty of options to fight back. Your primary weapons are a mix of more conventional futuristic versions of pistols, automatic rifles, and shotguns, and more exotic weapons such as the chakram, whose saw-blade-like projectiles can embed themselves in enemies and deal damage over time. Most weapons feel wonderfully heavy to fire, not least thanks to the effective use of the DualSense controller, and together with the aforementioned abilities and, not least, the addition of a satisfying super move called Overdrive, they make Arjun a well-oiled war machine. His movements are fast and precise, so even though {Saros} likes to put the player under pressure, I always felt I had a counter-move, and when I failed, it was usually because I was too slow or made the wrong decision.

This is particularly true of the bosses, where Housemarque outdoes itself in terms of enemy design, structure, and attack patterns. The Finns wisely avoid repeating the iconic Hyperion battle (the one with the organ), instead finding other ways to stage the bosses. One of my favourites involves a storm, a gigantic ship, and an even larger sea monster, which in scale far surpasses anything from {Returnal}. The bosses in the latter half, in particular, are a veritable showcase of varied design - both visually and mechanically - with attack patterns that demand your full concentration. Most of them have three distinct phases, with the final one typically being a veritable inferno, though it's over more quickly; and on occasion, Housemarque surprised me by introducing new elements to a phase, which alters the rhythm of the battle and demands my adaptability. They are challenging; in fact, several of them are more demanding than any boss in {Returnal}, but my goodness, are they satisfying to defeat.

Funnily enough, this almost gushing paragraph brings me to one of my few criticisms. {Saros} is in many ways more accessible than {Returnal}. You can teleport directly to a biome once you've reached it, and the massive skill tree with permanent upgrades gives you ample opportunity to shape your Arjun so his strengths better suit your playstyle. For example, I went all out on upgrading Overdrive so it dealt more damage and recharged faster, but you can also gear him more towards being a tank or a glass cannon. Or perhaps optimise your chances of enemies dropping healing aether when they kick the bucket. Don't get me wrong, nothing here fundamentally changes the way {Saros} plays, but it's nice to be able to customise Arjun and satisfying to fill out the skill tree.

But despite these efforts, there's still something that grates a little in {Saros}' structure. It can take up to 30 minutes to reach a biome's boss, and because the bosses are so challenging, I found myself stuck in a loop several times where I reached the boss fairly easily but couldn't beat the big bastard. Here, the repetition becomes a bit too much for me, partly because {Saros}, despite putting gameplay on a pedestal, is also very story-focused in a more plot-driven way than {Hades}' character-driven approach, which heightens the curiosity to see what lies behind the boss. This is particularly frustrating towards the end, where there is less activity in The Passage and the bosses become extra challenging. However, there are biomes where you unlock shortcuts that let you reach the boss faster, which works brilliantly, and I hope Housemarque will lean more towards this approach in future.

On the other hand, the Finns manage to vary the runs better than before. The areas are clearly handcrafted, but enemy types and placements, as well as the surprisingly brilliant platform-based trap sections, are remixed to create variety. There are also more choices when it comes to the run-based upgrades. We're not exactly talking about {Hades}, but you often have a choice to make, and the introduction of an item that allows you to "roll the dice again", so to speak, is also a boon to the game.

The major innovation on this front, however, is the solar eclipse, which has been central to the game right from the first trailer and is defining for {Saros} mechanically, visually, and narratively. Mechanically, because it alters the enemies' projectiles, replacing the friendly, absorbable blue ones with nasty, corruption-inducing yellow ones; adds hazards to the levels, such as water pits that fill with acid; and attaches negative effects, such as reduced health, to otherwise useful upgrades. But at the same time, it provides more Lumenite for permanent upgrades, faster upgrades during runs, and opens up new paths that can lead to rewards. The solar eclipse is something you activate yourself, and in half of the levels, it can be triggered in several different locations, further varying your combat experience through them.

Visually, the eclipse is also the source of some of {Saros}' most memorable images. The eclipse is in itself a mesmerising cosmic nightmare to behold, but it also brings Carcosa to life, so that abandoned areas once again become war zones, and the parched vegetation suddenly reaches out for you. In this way, it adds new layers to the fascinating tale of Carcosa. {Saros} is mind-bending, eye-melting cosmic horror with a solid, emotional core. From the start, I was drawn to the story of an incredibly greedy mega-corporation on a very alien planet, but when the answers began to materialise roughly halfway through {Saros}, I became truly invested. However, Housemarque does, on a couple of occasions, follow a well-executed reveal with an overly obvious confirmation of the event in The Passage, which is perhaps a consequence of {Returnal}'s story dividing opinion in terms of clarity.

{Saros} is a fantastic example of just how much good can come from giving a razor-sharp developer the time and freedom to create the game they want from a clear vision. For whilst {Saros} is, in scope, Housemarque's biggest game to date, it still feels laser-focused in its desire to bring bullet hell into a 3D space and equip the whole thing with an engaging sci-fi story set in a fantastic world. It plays like a dream and the stunning visuals have their own distinct identity, whilst the music - by turns atmospheric, unsettling, and pulsating - ties a beautiful bow around the whole package. Housemarque is still struggling a little to find the perfect structure for the games in the company's new chapter, but that doesn't change the fact that {Saros} impressively surpasses its "predecessor" and cements Housemarque as one of the gaming industry's most exciting studios.