There’s an accepted understanding that the Housemarque name brings with it an expectation of exceptional action. Great gunplay. A superbly tuned gameplay intensity by way of ultra-refined and overlapping mechanics and systems. And in just over a month, PS5 players can experience that pedigree first hand again with the Finnish studio’s latest, as a rescue crew tries to discover the fate of a human colony gone dark at the far reaches of the cosmos. Saros is sci-fi action with a cosmic horror twist.
Housemarque has shared a taste of what’s to come before in a scene-setting story trailer, and outlined the gameplay systems that’ll power your survival on the alien planet of Carcosa. We’ll play Enforcer Arjun, his combat prowess making him the perfect choice to scout out the terrain for the rescue crew. And we know on Carcosa, death is not the end. Arjun resurrects every time he falls, returning to the rescue crew’s home base to start his expedition anew. That resurrection is a common theme during our hands-on with a three hour slice of the game proper, which incorporates the game’s first two levels – the cliffside Shattered Rise and the claustrophobic Ancient Depths – and the brutal bosses that lie at their end.
To go alongside that session, we chatted to creative director Gregory Louden and art director Simone Silvestri to dig deeper into the systems at play.
Turning threats into opportunities
Saros’ core mechanics are extensive yet easy to memorise, tied as they are to different resistances of DualSense controller’s adaptive triggers, as well as L1 and R1 bumper taps and holds.
Soltari’s human-crafted tech covers your collectable handheld weapons such as Hand Cannons, Rifles and Shotguns. You’ll scavenge these as you explore, and while there are multiple variants, each with its own unique perk, they all have two fire types. Primary fire is mapped to a pull of R2, with an alt-fire mode unique to each weapon chosen through pulling L2 halfway down (a satisfying resistance in the adaptive trigger signifying activation), with a trigger of R2 to unleash.