Review | Saros

A short review

I was really into Returnal - both for the story, the atmosphere (alien-like feel), the protagonist... Everything was so mysterious and new, plus the gameplay was from another planet; fast-paced, hard, and really fun. The whole experience of getting better to beat randomly generated levels is really dull for me, but in Returnal it was bearable.

Here, we have another game from the same developers, but this time it's about a different planet and characters. The game works perfectly (tested on my PS5 Pro), without any bugs or issues. It's a polished experience from start to finish. Is it a better game? I wouldn't say so, but I had my share of fun.

Story and the characters

This segment feels mediocre at best. The whole crew and the characters you find in biomes (the dungeons) are shallow, with no depth. The overall story is the same; maybe it's not so bad, but considering the crew sucks and the facial animations are mostly stiff, that will probably make you skip some parts. I was invested in Returnal; here, nope. Especially the true ending, oh my god... What the hell was that?

Game design, exploration

The game structure is almost the same as in Returnal. This time around, you can skip biomes and just start from where you want, although it's better to start from the beginning because you can get good buffs along the way and be much stronger this way.

You start in the hub area, unlock lore (through files and logs, plus some conversations with your crew), and venture forth through the portal to die again and repeat that until you get stronger and finish the game. Sounds simple, and mostly it is; but it's still a lot of fun. Just don't expect more than in Returnal, because it's a game revolving around combat, and that's it.

Combat

I loved the adrenaline rush in Returnal, and I love it here. New weapons and permanent upgrades help a lot; they even make the game somewhat easy. Still, it's not that easy, but you can do everything in around 20-25 hours, which was enough for me to enjoy and then delete the game. I loved the combat, I think it's well-refined here, and it's approachable to a wider audience as you can make the game easier, which is not that bad.

You can still use certain mods inside the game to make runs harder. Boss fights are awesome, I love the colors and the movement in tight windows to avoid damage... It's awesome, but more of the same.

Side Content

Side content is not really worth mentioning; it's mostly collecting upgrades in biomes, logs and files (as lore), and... That's it. If you somehow fell in love with the story, maybe you will find more to it, but for me the game is just about the gameplay.

Conclusion

Saros is a great game, and a let-down in terms of story and characters. For veterans of the genre, maybe the difficulty level will not be enough, but for sure it will take some time to find the best weapon and learn how to play with all combinations.

I've spent around 20 hours finishing almost everything, now I can try and collect all logs and upgrades... But I'm done, I just don't feel that "something" here, which was present in Returnal. Save your money and buy this one on discount, unless you really want to feel that gunplay ASAP.

Lovable colors, lovable locations (somewhat), and really dull protagonist.

As usual, the first biome is the "prettiest", others are just cathedrals and metal mines.

The best moments in the game are the boss fights.

It's all fun a games until you die and resurrect again with no recollection of certain events. Spooky plot, too bad it's not done better.