Saros Review – Praise the Sun

What is Saros?

Saros is a third-person bullet hell roguelite game developed by Housemarque. While the game is not a direct sequel to Returnal in 2021, it is a spiritual successor that elevates the fundamental gameplay and story approaches that Housemarque ambitiously pursued in Returnal.

Saros is one of 2026’s most impressive-feeling and looking games. It also has a very engaging narrative, with interesting characters and an even more interesting setting. By the end of my 20 hours, I was left struck in awe by just how fantastic an experience the game provides. I didn’t want to stop playing, and at no point did I ever feel let down or discouraged.

Developer & Publisher // Housemarque, PlayStation Studios
Platforms // PlayStation 5
MSRP & Release Date // $69.99, April 30th, 2026
Reviewed On // PlayStation 5 Slim

A Forward Loop

Set on the planet of Carcosa, you step into the shoes of Arjun Devraj in his quest to find Nitya, the woman he loved. But he is stuck in a loop of braving through Carcosa, taking on all the planet can throw at him, and becoming a force of nature on his quest. But along the way, Carcosa is filled with mysteries of an alien civilization and a strange force that corrupts Arjun’s squad. Leading Arjun to track down missing squad members and find the source of the corruption. But as the story progresses through deaths on a run, time progresses in unexpected ways. Eventually leaving Arjun to focus only on his selfish quest to save Nitya.

As someone who played Returnal before Saros, I noticed a massive leap in quality in the story’s presentation. It feels more urgent, and not relying on the underlying mystery. The characters go insane and eventually go missing; you find audio logs from those characters that describe their descent. Some talking about their mistrust of others, the others caving into “the voices,” and each one giving in to their desire for power. All the while, Arjun can delve into his memories to tackle the trauma that led him to look for Nitya by visiting a weirdly out-of-place tree.

When it comes to the general story of Saros, it feels like a well-paced sci-fi action film. Any underlying meanings to the things you see don’t get in the way of the things you see on the surface. Everyone’s performances, especially Arjun’s, kept me engaged. And obviously, it’s not all story and characters; it’s also got some of the best third-person shooting gameplay I have ever experienced!

Dancing in Hell

Saros is a bullet-hell game, meaning that enemies do not always attack physically. They shoot little orbs that either stay in certain spots or spray out everywhere. You have a mix of flying enemies and turrets that create little lines of different-colored orbs. Then you have weird dog-like enemies or demons that go for physical attacks. Later in the game, however, there are these weird priest-like enemies that shoot out interesting patterns of orbs, such as pentagrams or walls comprised of all 3 different types of orbs: red, blue, and yellow.

In Arjun’s arsenal, he has a shield that can absorb blue orbs to then fire out a special attack. Yellow orbs can still be used to channel that ability, but corrupt the health bar, lowering how much health you have. Then red orbs can’t be dashed through or absorbed. You do get a parry system for these orbs to stagger foes. It makes discerning what enemy fires what into a test of knowledge in the heat of the moment. This is where you have to balance the very fluid movement and shooting Saros offers.

The Slick Movement and Combat of Saros

Arjun can run, jump, grappling hook, and dash along the shield mechanic. You have to constantly watch where you’re going and maneuver around everything while you fire different types of guns. You have pistols, shotguns, auto rifles, crossbows, and chakram shooters. Each one also has a few different types of firing modes and alternate firing modes. For example, my favorite gun was always the smart auto rifle because it could auto-track the bullets to enemies, allowing me to focus on avoiding getting hit.

The only problem with the different weapons and their firing modes is that you have to test them out during a run and hope you enjoy them. On the flipside of all this, the alternate firing modes are very cool, utilizing the PlayStation 5’s DualSense in how they function. If you hold the left trigger halfway, it locks and activates the alternate fire, which can be focused fire or little explosives that fire out. Then, if you hold it down all the way, you can activate your equipped special ability, creating an interesting mechanic that only works with the DualSense itself.

The aforementioned special ability can either be high-power explosives or little spikes that seek enemies to deal damage over time. A lot of bosses even have certain attacks that allow you to absorb blue or yellow orbs to throw that power back at them, and speaking of bosses…

A Legion of Differences

The bosses in Saros all have unique approaches. They will always have 3 health bars and will usually take a long time to kill. But the fights are always dynamic.

Some bosses, like the Legion, are a series of small flying enemies protecting one that can only be damaged. The arena is big, and the Legion shoots out widespread attacks. It’s seriously fun.

Compare this to the Prophet, a boss that has a smaller arena but isn’t too aggressive until the 3rd health bar is reached. Then it turns the arena into a small corridor, throwing waves after waves of orbs at the player, blocking them in and making the encounter much more intense. Some bosses I can’t spoil lean on scale and art direction to make them the most impressive bosses I have seen in any video game. Saros knocked it out of the park with the combat and bosses.

Ramping up Difficulty in Saros

Saros is a game that starts fairly challenging and then gets easier as you progress. But, as you keep progressing, the game offers a few avenues to ramp up the difficulty and keep you engaged. For starters, in every level you will stumble upon an altar of hands that initiates an eclipse. The eclipse makes enemies stop firing blue orbs of any kind, swapping them out for the yellow; they become more aggressive, and equipment you pick up is corrupted. Corrupted equipment has debuffs, such as longer cooldowns between dashes, taking fall damage, and losing currency when you get hit.

There are also little challenge rooms called “Nightmare Scars”. Nightmare Scars are side paths with waves of hostile enemies that are packed into condensed areas. This is where you will learn how to maneuver and be aggressive. The enemy combos get very crazy very quickly, and you have to look around for grappling points, jump pads, and tunnels to avoid certain death. It’s a very welcome challenge room with upgrades for your health and other currencies.

Finally, there are modifiers that give you some variety in your runs. It functions on a point system, where positive buffs lower your score and will not let you start a run until you balance it out with debuffs. Buffs can make perfect reloads easier for weapons, like in Gears of War, and increase the range of currency pickups. While debuffs can range from taking more damage to removing the “Second Chance” mechanic, taking away your only free revive in a run.

Saros knows to keep the challenge present in the game, no matter how much you learn and how many unlocks you get. This game can either become a breeze, or let you keep the pressure on.

Roguelite Progression and Accessibility

Unlike Returnal, Saros has a consistent progression system based on two currencies. Lucenite, which drops off all enemies, and Halcyon, which is very rare- too rare, in fact. Where most runs in Saros give you mountains of Lucenite, sometimes you can only get maybe 5-7 Halcyon when you need about 2-10 for most upgrades that need it. The upgrades themselves are incremental but do eventually pay off. Making you have more shield capacity and health, and increases how much Lucenite you gain. Other upgrades give you keys to open locked doors and items to reroll weapons or equipment.

Finally, Saros has a handful of good accessibility options. Such as text size modifications, color-changing options for colorblind players, and the ability to remap buttons as you see fit.

UI, Soundtrack, and Jaw-Dropping Art Direction

No beating around the bush here, Saros is probably going to be the most visually stunning game of 2026. Its overall art direction takes so many cues from FromSoftware’s aesthetics. You have a mixture of gothic eldritch-inspired enemies and architecture like Bloodborne. Then you have the aesthetic of the eclipse of Carcosa, which matches the same awe of the Erdtree in Elden Ring. Housemarque really upped their game and made this game a visually best in class in its genre.

The UI of Saros, however, is a little lacking in comparison. But it is very simple and easy to navigate in the menus. I wish it had a more unique layout in those menus. The UI when you’re playing the game is great and unintrusive, as you can see above. The soundtrack of the game is mostly just ambient and moody. I really did enjoy the final boss’s theme, however. It has some really great electric guitar work in it and made that fight more memorable.

One last thing to mention, and it’s disappointing, but Saros crashes a lot. The game crashed so often, I started using that as a sign to take a small break from it. It was never in gameplay-heavy segments, including bosses. Instead, I could just be dashing along or picking up health, and a crash would occur. It was so out of the blue that I felt sad after a while. Other than that, the game ran beautifully. It stayed locked at 60 fps and never encountered any bugs or visual glitches.

Closing Remarks on Saros

Saros is a beautifully executed game. It is not just better than their previous game; it’s one of 2026’s best games so far. It looks gorgeous, it plays wonderfully, and its progression system is simple. The bosses, enemies, and gameplay design all work together so well. It is a game that you owe yourself to play. Housemarque delivered on something genuinely unique, and I will remember this game for years to come.