All articles tagged with #saros
Empire's mid‑year ranking of 2026's best games spotlights Resident Evil Requiem at No. 1, supported by Saros, Forza Horizon 6, 007 First Light, and Mixtape in the top five, with other notable picks like Pragmata, Cairn, Pokémon Pokopia, Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight, and MIO: Memories In Orbit, underscoring a year that blends cinema-inspired storytelling with bold, varied gameplay.
Housemarque says Saros’ slower initial sales aren’t a failure and that the team will continue patching and listening to players to build momentum over time. It draws a parallel with FromSoftware’s long-building fanbase and emphasizes educating the market about its niche bullet ballet roguelikes to grow a loyal audience for each release, while acknowledging a crowded launch window and the need to avoid becoming a support studio or facing bankruptcy.
Housemarque indicates its next PS5 game could be smaller in scope than Saros, suggesting the studio may explore lighter projects while staying aligned with PlayStation as a first-party partner.
Housemarque plans to keep its punishing “bullet ballet” formula in Saros and Returnal, aiming to educate the market that tough Soulslike games can be mainstream hits, drawing inspiration from FromSoftware’s journey and signaling ongoing updates (like new trophies and photo mode) as word-of-mouth grows.
Sony is reportedly ending PC releases for its biggest first-party, single-player PS5 games, starting with Ghost of Yōtei and Saros; PlayStation chief Hermen Hulst told staff that future single-player narrative titles will be PlayStation-exclusive, a shift away from recent PC ports like Horizon Zero Dawn and God of War.
Sony and Housemarque released the first Saros making-of video, revealing that Rahul Kohli tapped into an angrier, more intense Arjun after a rushed LA commute to meet a teaser deadline, with extensive performance-capture footage and behind-the-scenes insights.
Rahul Kohli reveals that Arjun Devraj’s angry voice for Saros sprang from a real-life rush: recording in LA traffic before an early flight, which gave the character its ferocity. The moment is featured in the Finding Carcosa: Becoming Arjun behind-the-scenes doc, with director Paul J. Vogel noting how the creative process can be unpredictable. The piece underscores Saros’ critical acclaim but slower sales relative to Returnal.
Analysts estimate Sony’s PS5 exclusive Saros sold just over 300,000 copies in its first two weeks, slightly behind Returnal, despite a more approachable design and upgrades. The bigger PS5 install base and stiff competition from back catalogs and new hits appear to be dampening momentum, though Saros shows a higher completion rate among top players. Sony has not released updated figures for other first‑party titles, raising questions about how to grow the platform’s audience amid rising development costs.
Luke Plunkett argues that coverage and reader obsession with a singleplayer game's sales and analysts’ outlook are irrelevant to players, insisting fans should judge Saros by their own enjoyment, not by investor chatter or long‑term financial forecasts surrounding Housemarque and PlayStation two weeks after release.
Saros, Housemarque’s PS5 exclusive, has earned rave reviews but is selling slower than Returnal, with analyst estimates around 300,000 copies sold in the first two weeks against a reported $76 million development budget. The exclusive strategy may still boost PS5 hardware sales, aided by a large share of players who previously owned Returnal (about 79%), and more than 20% having finished the game; PC release timing remains uncertain, complicating hopes of immediate recoupment.
Saros has sold roughly 300,000 copies and earned over $22 million, with about a third of revenue coming from a 48-hour early-access window for deluxe edition buyers. Analysts warn the game may struggle to break even on its reported $76 million development budget, despite a larger PS5 installed base and strong engagement metrics. The launch appears front-loaded, but longer-term performance on PC (as seen with Returnal) could help Saros if Sony maintains its PC releases strategy.
Push Square’s poll shows mixed opinions on Saros: it refines the core gameplay, streamlines progression, and adds a more story‑driven, accessible approach, but many players miss Returnal’s atmosphere and challenging, mysterious edge, leaving the question of which Housemarque game is the better sequel hotly debated.
A Kotaku tips guide lays out the best Saros modifiers to ease runs: raise Protections (Damage and Armor) to a comfortable level for quick enemy kills, use Overlord Restoration for a boss rewind, and Weapon Symmetry to nudge drops toward your current weapon; if you can handle risk, toggle Trials such as Corruption Enhancement, Growth Incapacitator, Proficiency Inflation, Shield Reduction, and Halcyon Removal to fine-tune difficulty, with caveats about trade-offs and higher balance changes.
Push Square debunks fake Saros spoilers circulating online, noting AI-generated images and a leaked backstory are not reflected in the PS5 game. The real plot centers on Arjun searching for his wife Nitya on Carcosa, with lore revealing past events and systemic corruption, and two endings: one where Arjun defeats the King, becomes King, and takes Nitya’s hand; another where he defeats the King but lets go, with Nitya moving on with Kiira.
Saros for PS5 has a 1.3 GB update to version 1.004.000, delivering balance tweaks to a weapon trait and artefact, fixes to collisions, and a major UI/accessibility overhaul with new color categories and preview images, plus general bug fixes and performance improvements across gameplay, world design, audio, and cinematics.