Leonardo Faierman is a games and film critic, comic book creator, podcaster, and persistent freelancer in fields both known and unknown. He is a co-founder of Albany Poets, Inc., co-creator of the comic strip. Snow Stun with Marcus Kwame Anderson and 1/4 of the long-running podcast #BlackComicsChat.
A recent comic strip, “Sámaras”, was published in Power & Magic Press’ Latin American science fiction anthology Mañanawith magnificent illustrations by Richard Zela, which have also been translated into Spanish.
Oh, and it’s pronounced “Firefighter.”
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Some measure their lives with teaspoons, but others count saroses. Housemarque’s highly anticipated sequel to 2021’s sublime bullet-dancing roguelite Back delivers another provocative sci-fi adventure, featuring saros far more accessible than the brutal perils of Atropos. I hesitate to claim it as its superior successor, but there are few things comparable to saros‘ with a creative, confident vision, and his longer campaign finds each new run easier than the last.
Back centered on Selene Vassos, a lone astronaut stranded on a deadly planet trapped in a time loop. Filled with tentacled monstrosities springing from ornate projectile mandalas, the game’s stressful roguelite combat fit perfectly with its story, with Selene eventually divining its connection to the planet and its traumatic circuit of self-destruction.
For my money and whatever the medium, Back presents one of the best science fiction stories, reinforcing its a deliciously demanding third-person shooter so that each new progress seemed deserved. For better or for worse, saros is less outright merciless, but brings its own ingenious new story steeped in psychosocial metaphor and cosmic horror. Any Back a fan would be a fool to ignore it, even if its friendlier approach makes it a universally beloved counterpart to its weirder, more off-putting, more brilliant sibling.
The rescue mission doesn’t go well
A sci-fi world to explore with a solid ensemble
You are Arjun Devraj, an enforcer stationed on the distant planet Carcosa. A crew member from Echelon IV, Arjun and his comrades were sent to find out what happened to Echelons I to III. But more importantly, they aim to secure the fiscal interests of Soltari, a massive megacorporation seeking to establish a mining colony on Carcosa to extract lucenite, a miraculous mineral fuel native to the planet with the potential to take over Earth’s energy market.
At the beginning of sarosthe crew is discouraged, operating from a planetary FOB known as The Passage, and their mission progress stalls. They have found ruins and evidence of a war-ravaged alien civilization, but have yet to find evidence of life for previous Echelon colonists. As Arjun, you make forays into Carcosa, destroying its biomechanical terrors, discovering new weapons and tools, chatting with your increasingly frustrated peers over communication, and mysteriously regenerating yourself from a pool of amber after each death.
Saros’ many of the plots have unfolded over time, collected in a growing database that tracks accumulated information on Carcosian personnel, equipment, and flora and fauna, a vein of elaborate science fiction for lore followers to plunder. As the game continues, his interpersonal relationships and remnants of Echelon’s past transform into a captivating tapestry, balancing its surface drama and allegorical rescue tropes with the deeper information available in journals and codices.
This returning muscle memory will come in handy
Expect more bullet dodging and gun hunting, this time with meta progression
Comparisons to Housemarque’s previous game are to be expectedAnd a large part of BackGameplay and muscle memory resonate throughout saros. You still control your hero from a behind-the-back perspective that emphasizes the massive alien environs, traveling through procedurally generated chunks of biome while searching for collectibles, weapons, and artifacts, flushing them to death. The adrenaline system reappears intact, where avoiding damage grants combat bonuses to add a growing sense of power. There are new weapons, traits, artifacts, special sidearms, and even an ultimate-like overdrive, with new ingredients unlocked over time to be incorporated into your next run’s loot pool.
Oddly enough, there are no traders, preferring saros‘ the most extreme addition: metaprogression, and many things. Structured like an upgrade tree, you feed collected Lucenite into the Armor Matrix between runs to activate permanent stat increases. As a result, the game becomes easier and easier despite your overall performance, adding more HP, power reserves, stronger armor, and other simple perks, although subsequent parts of the armor matrix are controlled by boss kills.
In addition to Lucenite, Halcyon is required for specific upgrades to Armor Matrix, a rare and sometimes optional drop found in random chests in Saros. Both seem to build up permanently after each run, so there’s never any pressure to “use it or lose it.”
Additionally, the World Modifier system provides a range of gameplay adjustments, allowing you to reduce damage received, increase the level of dropped artifacts, and apply various other benefits. These are subject to balance requirements, so checking off more than a few boosts requires that you also enable “trials”, reducing the game’s challenge in a buff/debuff compromise. It’s a unique player-driven approach to difficulty and includes valuable perks, like making a higher-tier version of your equipped weapon more likely to drop.
Technically, you’re free to ignore both mechanics entirely, although that would also mean missing out on Lucenite’s primary use in the game. Initially, I was excited to dive into Armor Matrix, expecting modular builds or even special abilities to be unlocked. Unfortunately, it’s mostly a scattershot of numerical augmentations, and could have been just as useful (and more consistent) as a conventional player stats screen.
If you love your gun, keep your gun
With its eclipses, Saros can seem like an extended conversation about challenge
A key theme in saros related to its title: Carcosa’s eclipse cycles are constant and controllable. You’ll find a creepy alien device in every biome that causes an eclipse, buffs enemies, activates otherwise dormant traps, and generally makes the level more difficult while increasing Lucenite gain. This seems oddly optional at first, yet another method of regulating the game’s difficulty, but it quickly becomes routine, albeit with some fascinating elements related to Saros’ traditions.
Along with all the bullet-dodging firefights, Arjun’s melee attack can be held up to form a shield bubble that blocks some projectiles while absorbing others to convert them into energy reserves. This replenishes the ammo needed for Power Weapons, more powerful secondary armaments that, much like the game’s guns, drop with random traits.
Back had similar weapon characteristics, but they are greatly simplified here and do not need improvement. Additionally, you always keep your last equipped weapon; fine in theory, but resetting character level after running weakens your weapon and removes a random number of its traits. Still, this means you’ll never need to restart with a pea shooter again.
Controlled chaos, controlled difficulty, superb boss fights
Is Saros an extended conversation about challenge in games?
After having covered a large part of sarosI opted for a modifier that negates all Armor Matrix upgrades. When my next runs felt mostly identical, I was disappointed by what was supposed to be a crucial gameplay hook. Sure, lower stats made my firefights slightly longer, but that didn’t necessarily make them more compelling, and I feel like saros contains fewer gameplay surprises and less race-changing potential than Backitself already failing in this regard compared to Hades, Chance of rainOr The Binding of Isaac.
Without Sisyphus Tower Style Endless Dungeon to commit, I hit myself Saros’ the challenge ceiling after the halfway point and slept through much of his later fights. Weapons are still fun to shoot, with a decent variety to shoot from and best-in-class haptic feedback on the DualSense. And yet, apart from the Smart Rifle (which trivializes certain sections of the game), they all seemed as effective as each other.
As for the bosses, these are undoubtedly the best meetings at Housemarque. They’re massive, mutated, deranged, crying, screaming things, further bolstered by the game’s story, with multiple wipes unlocking greater context and database details. While not the most difficult of the genre, they are still memorable, and some of the endgame set pieces are impressive.
Saros is for the people
A more accessible and no less exceptional sci-fi horror mystery to explore
sarosThe levels are beautifully eerie, with the best and strangest views reserved for the second half. The character and enemy design is also generally excellent, although NPC conversations can feel disjointed, with mocap underwhelming outside of its beautifully fitting cutscenes. This doesn’t distract from the game’s many superb voice performances, but it can become noticeably distracting at times. BackJane Perry’s was transcendent, but her voice had to carry this whole game, so it’s gratifying that Saros’ The ensemble cast, led by Rahul Kohl i as Arjun, is exceptional in every way, well beyond the quality we tend to find in our action films (and we even get the return of Perry in a minor role as the beleaguered Commander Sheridan).
I particularly highlighted the game’s story because, in the end, that’s what captured and held my attention. There’s no need to go read Robert W. Chambers, or familiarize yourself with the Mahabharata, or dig up game logs every time a character utters a strange word or cryptic detail. But you should, and the story rewards that responsive attention like few others in the medium. It even contains my favorite self-referential comment on proc-gen roguelite design: “Carcosa keeps changing his mind.”
I would be happy for anyone who is hesitant to Back find your place in saros. I’d also like the game to have increasingly difficult or riskier mechanical surprises, as controversial as those two requests might be. But more than anything, I can’t wait to find out what others think of her story, to hear who she inspires, and even who she possibly angers. With its stunning alien environments and stylish action gameplay, saros is an event-level PS5 exclusive that further elevates the Housemarque nameimploring all those who come to Carcosa.
saros
8/10
- Released
- April 30, 2026
- ESRB
- Teen / Blood, Language, Mildly suggestive themes, Violence
- Developer(s)
- Maisonmarque
- Editor(s)
- Sony Interactive Entertainment
- Engine
- Owner
- Number of players
- A player
Advantages and disadvantages
- A haunting alien planet filled with magnificent views and impeccable art design
- A provocative and sophisticated sci-fi mystery that rewards attention and investment
- Great controls, fun gunsmithing, and stunning boss encounters
- An accessible challenge with built-in adjustment is a unique roguelite approach
- Outside of Returnal, there are few games like this, and Saros stands out from the pack.
- Even with varying difficulty, the challenge curve bottoms out early on
- Limited end-game content to explore beyond the story
- Less variation in proc generation level design
- A safer, more accessible riff on Returnal, Saros’ gameplay comes off as less gutsy and distinct.
