I’m so all-in on Saros that even its developers would probably tell me to reign it in a bit. But who can blame me? The last game from Housemarque, Returnal, is my favorite game on PS5. A neon nightmare of a third-person shooter that’s the perfect roguelike for when I need a brutal break from Hades‘ upbeat chatterboxes. I still do the daily challenge from time to time to try and top the leaderboard. Have I ever topped it? We’re not here to discuss that today, we’re here to nod and agree with my correct take that their next game, Saros, is the PS5 game to beat in 2026.
This spiritual successor is Returnal 2 in all but name (Re2urnal? Oh, God no). It’s another intense particle-effect showcase of a shooter, trading Returnal’s icy blues for blazing golds. But Saros is more than just a pretty reskin. Housemarque is evolving their winning formula.
Never stop moving
The active reload, wherein you can reload faster if you nail a QTE, is such an inspired mechanic that one day I’ll have every shooter contain it by law. Returnal knew how to make nailing its active reload feel like getting a high-five from Christ. They even renamed it ‘overload’, which is typical of the game’s obsession with giving everything the most metal name possible (its poison-shooting gun is called the ‘rotland gobber’).
I loved this feature, and Housemarque has responded to my love by apparently removing active reloading from Saros entirely. Wait, what? Housemarque, why would you do my beloved active reload dirty like this? Well, if you messed up overloading in Returnal, you had to frantically run around swearing for a few crucial defenceless seconds. Desperately trying to hide from about nine million deadly projectiles until your gun finally bothered to start working again. Games shouldn’t be afraid of punishing mistakes but this still interrupted Returnal’s sense of flow.
I think that’s why Saros instead opts for a new shielding system. Holding R1 creates a bubble shield around you that both defends you and absorbs enemy projectiles. Those absorbed projectiles power up your weapon’s devastating alt-fire attack, another Returnal feature that used to require waiting impatiently for it to reload. Clearly Housemarque has looked at anything that slowed the frantic pace of Returnal and torn it out in favour of pure adrenaline. Potentially exhausting? Oh, no doubt, but I can’t wait to see if they’ve pulled it off.
Classic ideas reborn
Let’s talk more about that shield. Because on first glance, it looks like it’s made Saros a far easier game. Dodging projectiles surely takes more skill than just standing still and holding R1, maybe using your free hand to check your phone or post ‘omfg they’ve ruined it’ on r/returnalwasperfect.
Possibly. But I don’t think Housemarque is ashamed of Returnal’s high difficulty. Plus it’s not like a shooter hasn’t done something similar before and still proven to be controller-smashingly difficult. This week I played Ikaruga, the legendary shmup from Treasure. In Ikaruga your little spaceship can switch between black and white. Bullets of the opposite color to your ship are lethal, but bullets of the same color can be absorbed, charging up devastating special attacks (sound familiar?)
After about 10 minutes of Ikaruga my housemate had to beg me not to start smoking again. Ikaruga is evil. A non-stop barrage of bullets with you helplessly trying to color-switch, dodge, and fire back while your brain turns to mush. If Saros has really taken inspiration from this then I’ll be lucky to get past its title screen.
Will later areas of Saros add quirks to your shield like Ikaruga’s color-switching? Switch it off entirely just when you’re getting comfortable? Only let you use it if you can successfully explain the plot of Returnal (gulp, good luck)? Clearly there’s tons of defensive potential here.
Let There Be Light
Lonely astronaut Serene was the perfect protagonist for the cold, gloomy story Returnal wanted to tell. The casting of Rahul Kohli in Saros is a good sign that Housemarque might have decided to lighten up a little. He’s great comedy relief in iZombie, proved he has dramatic chops in the excellent Midnight Mass, and was delightfully boo-hissable in The Fall of the House of Usher as an immoral videogame publisher (where does Hollywood get its ideas?).
Plus, after Returnal was a one man show, Saros introduces the groundbreaking idea of having multiple characters in a story. Wow! Having a hero who banters with someone throughout is a smart way of making Saros distinctive from their last game, and it’ll be interesting to see how far they take it.
One way Saros definitely has lightened up is in the roguelike structure. There was permanent progression in Returnal, but so subtly you could easily miss it, and having to restart runs from scratch could become a slog. In Saros we’re promised that after each failed run, you’ll be able to choose from a loadout of weapons and suit parts that can also be permanently upgraded for your next go. Getting to start over with a nasty new gun should take the sting off failure.
The only permanent upgrade we’ve seen so far looks like an essential one, particularly for fans of Sekiro. ‘Second Chance’ is exactly what it sounds like, an extra life that’ll let you jump right back into the action. In Returnal I’d have to attach some horrible health-sucking parasite to myself to get anything as generous as that.
I would have been happy with a straight Returnal sequel, let alone a spiritual successor that truly innovates. Even Rockstar delayed their little underdog GTA 6 just to get further away from Returnal’s March 20 release date (not the official reason from Rockstar, but come on now). I can’t wait for next year to see if Housemarque has delivered my new favorite game on PS5.
Check out our best PS5 games ranking for what to play next!