The Prodigal Sun Returns: Housemarque’s Encore

I’ll be the first one to admit – the PlayStation 5’s lifecycle has been a bit of a slow burn since it was released back in November of 2020. To many of us living through the hectic months of start of the pandemic, the idea of PlayStation releasing their next flagship console seemed like the perfect product to save us from the boredom of a world that had lost all sense of normalcy.

Its release was heralded by games such like Demon Souls and Astro’s Playroom, but for many of us there seemed to be something missing. The titles we had grown to love over the PlayStation’s evolution were seemingly missing without a hint of when we would see them again.

Games like God of War and Spider Man eventually showed their faces again in the future, but for many of us the beginning was heralded by a joke that seemed too real to ignore – the PS5 has no games. And honestly, I understand the sentiment. The PS4 was known for its exclusives and the PS5 to this day hasn’t really brought itself up to the same level as its younger brother. Yet hidden in the mass of games released in the first few months of the PS5’s lifecycle was a game that even I discounted at the time – Returnal.

Returnal took the idea of a third-person action game and ran with it. Returnal wasn’t focused on the cinematic set pieces and epic stories we had come to know and love so much from Sony over the PS4’s lifetime, no. Returnal was an action game and a damn good one at that. Prioritizing intense cycle-based gameplay and a story that embraces the horrors of the human experience, Returnal proved that Housemarque was more than capable of standing on their own in a gaming landscape that is constantly shifting. But that was 2021. How has their formula fared in the years since the PS5’s release? Well their next iteration is finally here. Welcome to my review of Saros.

The World: Cosmic Horror Incarnate

Saros is a game that is in every sense built in the shadow of its older sister Returnal. The gameplay feels crisp and responsive, and the story deals with another uncomfortable aspects of the human psyche that a lot of people deal with. While Returnal’s story may have been rooted in the premise of a mother simply trying to internalize and deal with her mental health issues, Saros follows a much more complex aspect of mankind’s ascent towards conquering their own demons.

Much like its predecessor, Saros’s story is one that will undoubtedly be the source of hours of discussion online because of how it is presented throughout the games 10 to 15 hour story. Some things are painfully obvious and thrown in your face, while other aspects are just out of view waiting to be discovered. If you enjoyed the story of Returnal and how it expects the player to think and connect the dots, you’ll feel right at home here in the twisted world of Carcosa.

You play as Arjun Devraj, a man sent by the Soltari Corporation to set up a mining colony on the planet of Carcosa. As with most Sci-Fi horror media, the company you work for has found a unique material, in this case Lucenite, and expects you to do whatever it takes to secure the companies stake in this new world of wealth and mysteries. But as with most sci-fi adventures that challenge the hidden reaches of space, this is never so simple.

Arjun isn’t just part of the initial team sent to the planet, but rather an emergency response unit called Echelon IV whose entire purpose is to find out what happened to those that came before him. Hidden between the lines of this suicide mission is Arjun’s hope that he will be able to reconnect with his wife who was a member of the Echelon I mission. What follows is a wild ride that pushes our main character to his lowest and honestly, that’s all I’m going to say on that note. I’m here to sing its praises; not ruin its story after all. Just know it gets heavy fast and it will undoubtedly stick with some more than others.

In the first few hours of the story, you are introduced to a range of human characters just like you who are a part of your unit and Saros does a good job at making itself feel like its own adventure while harping back on that special kind of storytelling Housemarque does so well. Returnal was all about visualizing those tense moments of a mind breaking under its own weight, while Saros deals with those delicate interpersonal aspects of mankind that we all try to ignore in our everyday lives.

Though the humans are interesting enough in their own right, I found the most interesting character of all to be the one whose motives are the most ruthless – Primary. This AI is the one who continues to push you forward for the betterment of the company and the one whose motives remind you most of the coldness of the world around you. You see, the planet of Carcosa is the main character in every sense and this feeling of despair is the one aspect that follows you from biome to biome as you carve your way to the truth of what transpired on this hostile world.

Throughout your journey, you’ll be thrown into a variety of different areas that all have their own look and how they function as far as navigation. From sprawling cities filled with the deformed corpses of their final inhabitants to poison swamps with environmental hazards that play tricks on your senses, Saros presents Arjun with a host of challenges that go beyond the stereotypical playground most action games embrace. Throughout your entire playthrough, the game excels at more than anything making you feel as if you are following in the footsteps of those that weren’t ready for the cataclysm that fell upon them.

There are various sections throughout the campaign where you are forced to stare down at these monuments of death with nothing more to drive you forward other than the hope that your wife is somewhere to be found deep within the ruins of this civilization. It paints a hauntingly depressing tale whose story is just as powerful as the one that Arjun is going through.

More than anything, I’m pleased to announce that the Lovecraftian tone of Returnal has returned with a bang. Everything from the settlements to the grandiose city you visit all has this feeling of cosmic horror attached to it that makes every level feel as if you are two steps away from reaching out and touching that eclipse in the sky. And I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not one to gawk about graphics in the modern age, but I got to say – Saros will undoubtedly win numerous awards for its art direction.

It’s just simply awe inspiring from the moment you load in, till the credits roll. Every biome has been hand crafted to perfection, and honestly the only complaint I have is that the lip syncing is downright awful at times. Other than that very minor caveat, I can almost guarantee that you’re going to be pressing that screenshot button a ton. Everything is so hauntingly beautiful that you can’t help but stare right into the eclipse every opportunity you get.

Gameplay: A Evolution of Near Perfection

And that brings us to the most important aspect of both Returnal and Saros – how fun is the gameplay loop? Now let’s get something out of the way right off the bat: If you enjoyed the gameplay systems of Returnal you’ll feel right at home here in the world of Carcosa. The gameplay revolves around the same roguelike systems and somehow improves on the fast paced ‘bullet hell’ combat of Returnal in nearly every way.

What separates Saros from its predecessor is primarily how the game functions as a whole from a base gameplay perspective. In Saros, death is just another step in the path towards finding you wife, not a setback.

Saros employs a ton of new systems that all feel right at home in a genre such as this. Long gone are the drawn out runs where you have to start all the way over back at your ship like Returnal. Saros’s ‘come back stronger’ system not only gives you the chance to revive after your first death, but through our favorite terrifying robot companion Primary we now have the ability to teleport to specific sections of the game that we have unlocked through the campaigns natural progression route.

One of the most frustrating parts of Returnal was the fact that death was a hard reset, and Housemarque has somehow created a new system that not only encourages you to die, but to also explore the world to your hearts content without the added horrors of having to retrace your steps if you mess up. It was honestly the change that stood out to me the most but wait – there’s more.

The fundamental gameplay loop of Saros is that you are progressing through each biome till you reach the boss and the real fun lies within those tense moments as you carve your way through an army of freaks with a sizeable armory of mostly interesting weapons. You have access to 15 weapons across 5 different categories with your options ranging from standard assault rifles (With extremely fun to use variants like a Smart Rifle and a heavy hitting Onslaught Rifle) to crossbows and more exotic weapons that all feel like they have their own uses and situations where they can thrive.

As with any roguelike game, there really is a weapon for every type of person and you’ll almost always be chasing your favorite type in Saros if you’re anything like me (Smart rifle gang rise up). One of the main complaints I’ve read about in the past week was the weapon variety, and honestly I can’t say I really agree.

There are also four power weapons that you can find scattered around the world that level up as you slay enemies just like the standard weapons, and I have to admit they are a blast to use in pretty much any scenario as each one feels unique as opposed to just being a variation of the one you start the game with. Some are meant to create huge AoE blasts that are meant to clear our basic enemies, while others excel at single target damage and feel as if they were made for the boss encounters at the end of each biome.

The best part of all is that this system encourages you to try every weapon. Throughout your journey you’ll find dozens of weapon pickups that have their own strengths and weakness, and I often found myself straying away from my usual choice if the newer option was powerful enough to make my experience easier in the long run.

This brings me to the strongest aspect of all – the bosses. I’ll be the first to admit that Returnal was one of the only games in my life that has legitimately been hard enough to stop me from playing simply because I wasn’t able to beat a boss. Its RNG aspects mixed with the fact that I didn’t have any interest in it led me to put it down all those years ago without even making it past the 2nd biome.

Now hold your horses all you Returnal mega fans. I’ll have you know I finished it finally in March of this year, about a month before Saros’s release. You know I wouldn’t let you down like that come on now. But my point is that Saros has one upped the ‘wow’ factor of Returnal’s bosses in pretty much every measurable metric.

Each boss has its own strengths and weaknesses and dare I say Housemarque has done it again from a boss perspective. Each one is a spectacle to fight and I have no complaints as far as how each of their areas function. The crippling sense of Cosmic Dread (Lovecraftian vibes we talked about earlier) permeates from each fight and there were more than a few times where I felt like I was fighting against a god from another dimension. And honestly for the sake of keeping that ‘wow’ factor in check, that is all I’m going to say about the bosses as a whole.

Each one is worth the price of admission, and by the end of the game you’ll be begging to jump right back in for a second playthrough to experience them all again in all their glory. Simply put – a grand spectacle that will keep you entertained for hours on end and keep you coming back for more.

The last thing I want to talk about before I wrap this bad boy up is the new system in place that revolves around the games main selling point – the eclipse. This seemingly innocent aspect of the planet of Carcosa is perhaps one of the best new additions of all. Scattered throughout every biome are these alien looking devices that have creepy, demonic looking hands reaching towards a glowing ball with what appears to be the sun inside.

Activating this alien technology not only plummets the world around you into chaos but also makes every enemy you encounter stronger and able to cast corrupted projectiles that reduce your max health. Sometimes the eclipse can be skipped, while other times well. You simply have to dive right in to progress. It does add an interesting risk-reward aspect to the gameplay loop as the enemies do reward you with more Lucenite and honestly, it really does add an extra layer of challenge for anyone whose looking to suffer in 4K instead of just HD.  

Final Thoughts

Saros is a triumph for Housemarque and a reminder that some of the most exciting games being made today don’t need to rely on cinematic spectacle to leave a lasting impression. It takes everything that made Returnal special and builds upon it in meaningful ways, from its improved progression systems to its breathtaking world design and its roster of unforgettable boss encounters. The story is heavy, the gameplay is addictive, and the world of Carcosa will stick with you long after the credits roll. If Returnal was Housemarque announcing themselves to the world, Saros is them planting their flag. Don’t sleep on it.

Saros was reviewed on PS5. The game released on the 30th of April 2026.