Returnal was one of the most surprising hits on the Playstation 5 when it launched in April of 2021, It was a roguelike that had mastered bullet hell mechanics to a tee along with an in-depth story that took a twisted turn at any moment. It received praise from casual and hardcore players alike on the game’s gun mechanics and smooth moment to moment gameplay. Housemarque has announced a sequel or more of an improvement with Returnal as the basis called Saros.
The Similar But Different Setting
Similar to Returnal, we will play as Arjun Devraj, voiced by Rahul Kohli, who is stranded on an alien world and is looking for someone. In Returnal we learned that the very planet was the one who was causing us to return to the very beginning after every death, here the cinematic trailer hinted at the dying sun that is hosting this planet to be the culprit.
As Arjun states while walking towards the Sun at this beach, that each time the sun of this alien planet dies, horrors and monsters come out to hunt him but each time he dies he wakes up at the shores and has to continue walking towards it again.
It seems based on the little amount of information we got that it is following the system and story that Returnal followed. Both being soldiers who ended up in an alien world and are somehow stuck in some sort of time loop which they need to break out of.
Key Difference In Gameplay
In a short blog post by Housemarque’s Creative Director, Gregory Louden, a key difference between Saros and Returnal will be the retained resources on death. In Returnal dying meant that whatever resources, upgrades or guns found in the previous run would be lost thus making the player start anew.
In Saros however the resources that we collect over our attempt will not be lost much like in other roguelikes. However the question is what are the kind of resources that will be retained and how useful will they be in the next run.
It can also be an indication how tough the enemies and mobs will be compared to Returnal if Housemarque is willing to let the player base already know about this mechanic. The cinematic did show an 8 armed godlike being that emerged from the waters as Arjun walked towards the dying sun, readying his gun.
Potentially Other Survivors
The blog post also revealed that Arjun will encounter other people on this planet, quite unlike how it is in Returnal. It seems Housemarque is giving focus on the story this time and trying to add depth and characters but at the same time stating that gameplay experience will always be the first priority.
The addition of NPCs can also mean there could be side missions or objectives that reward us when completed similar to how it is in Hades.These NPCs could also play significant roles in the story, where they might become bosses for us to fight or allies to gain when fighting bosses
However this is speculation and should be taken with a grain of salt. Housemarque is set to reveal more details about the story, the action, music and much more in the coming months along with a gameplay reveal too.
Conclusion
Housemarque are giants in the gaming industry with a history spanning over nearly 30 years, Housemarque did make a lot of titles for various playstation consoles before joining Sony in June of 2021. The gameplay and success of Returnal is more than enough to state the quality of the game and how they prioritize the gameplay of whatever they make.
Saros is sure to be another masterpiece in terms of gameplay, visuals and this time story as the director stated in the blog post. Of Course it is difficult to find information about a title that was announced so recently but we only have to wait a few weeks to get more information about the game. Saros will be released early 2026 as an exclusive for the PS5.
Which means by 2027 we could be seeing a PC release as now it is clear that Sony is willing to release their first party titles to PC after one year of exclusivity as they have done so with God of War Ragnarok and Spider Man 2.
