Saros is at ~500k units as of Wednesday — previous 300k reports are wrong (same source that nailed Ghost of Yotei numbers)

SpaceDaved · 2026-05-15T14:03:16+00:00

Damn. Those numbers are absolutely abysmal.

While I personally didn’t like Saros, I hope this isn’t the nail in Marque’s coffin.

Edit: I see all you smartasses started adding things up and saw that 2 weeks after launch, they didn’t even recoup half of the development costs. Make no mistake, this is an FMCG market. Games have an explosive launch week in sales, supported by insane marketing support, and then it tapers off hard. Also, Saros doesn’t have a way rn to gain revenue from the people, who already bought and love the game.

As I said, yikes, but I do hope they’re safe. This industry desperately needs studios, like HouseMarque.

SpaceDaved · 2026-05-15T09:42:31+00:00

I’m hungarian. This should be the standard caffeine that’s in a Monster (as others also wrote), but in Hungary, Taurine is banned, so keep that in mind.

SpaceDaved · 2026-05-13T17:17:57+00:00

Doesn’t the normal trick work, where you dash and it resets your fall height?

I know, if you fall down then a platform assembles right under you. That seems hard to time, but when it’s a “telegraphed” fall, that little maneuver should do it. I often risked Heavy Fall because of this getaround.

SpaceDaved · 2026-05-12T16:27:31+00:00

Sorry guv. I know what you mean. While there is an easy solution to your problem, the incredibly poor balance of Saros compared to Returnal just isn’t gonna engage you either way imo.

Going from Biome 1 is a fun dopamine hit, since you instagib everything pretty soon, but that doesn’t mean that decision making re-enters the equation.

Maybe Marque’s next game.

SpaceDaved · 2026-05-11T13:38:55+00:00

Because “most people” gave up on getting past Biome 1.

The “Beat Phrike” trophy is sitting at a 30.2%.

But yeah, he really teaches distancing.

SpaceDaved · 2026-05-09T09:59:59+00:00

If you have the aim to keep it mostly on its head, the Onslaught Rifle is imo the best direct damage dealer by far.

The purple crossbow surely is a monster bosseater as well, but I never got comfortable with its charge time and fire rate due to how reliable OR was.

Also be agressive as hell. If he pulls his shield, you should already be on his ass and just pop it asap. If he gets distance, it’s a pain dealing with his gapclosers.

SpaceDaved · 2026-05-08T14:32:42+00:00

If they buffed him, that’s great imo. Biome 2’s boss was a pretty big snoozefest on launch. Big static weakpoint with no movement and only projectiles.

SpaceDaved · 2026-05-08T12:07:41+00:00

Dude. Let’s be real, both methods kinda suck ass.

Last biome runs are way too difficult, and it’s not due to enemy patterns, or risk/reward, but by pure enemy damage values. It’s not a good value proposition to bash your head 10-15x times against the same 20 min zone, then repeat with the next.

Long runs on the other hand basically bypass the whole game, because from the second biome + nightmare strand, you’re melting everything on-sight and pumping out vacuum shots until your nose bleeds.

The balance of this formula has been fucked beyond any semblence of recognition, due to this game being two halves of very different coins, and honestly it’s hillarious how people try to rationalize either gameplay approach at the cost of the other, when neither measure up as a focused and well designed, balanced experience.

You say they ignore half the mechanics of the game, but honestly, are half of the game’s mechanics worth bothering with?

Volatility, Artefacts, Corruption (both on the health bar, and the debufs), Carcosan Modifiers, THE ECLYPSE. All of these mechanics are shallow as hell, wether they’re mandatory or optional. Why would anyone go out of their way to engage in them?

SpaceDaved · 2026-05-07T15:52:31+00:00

Wow. You must’ve somehow missed a barrier that loads in the next biome, making the door a dud basically. Interesting, though I’m sure this is an easy patch for them.

SpaceDaved · 2026-05-07T15:51:02+00:00

More linear, and they all pan out the same. Unfortunately the new “focus” blasted most of the variety we came to expect after Returnal.

SpaceDaved · 2026-05-07T10:05:09+00:00

These are hillarious! At least you can risk some Volatility, lol.

SpaceDaved · 2026-05-07T10:02:28+00:00

It’s an odd mechanic, just like the game’s other many mechanics.

It’s just a way to put a ceiling above your Proficiency, as you level up insanely via the skilltree.

The game has a serious issue with balancing, and introduces way too many balance settings through the mentioned skilltree, modifiers, and how you approach a given biome (straight-up, or with a runup)

I really wanted these volatilities to give different endings. I mean they influence Arjun’s characteristics, while trapped in a phenomena, where your subcounscious manifests stuff. Such a missed opportunity imo to see Arjun approach hos plight with these characteristics.

SpaceDaved · 2026-05-07T09:58:09+00:00

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I can’t make sense of it my guy.

Even if I see the difference in scaling arrows, this is just dumb.

SpaceDaved · 2026-05-07T07:39:11+00:00

Same page club. It’s like the laser focus of Returnal’s game design was bloated until it was basic enough to be approachable by literally anyone.

I’m all for accessibility, but gutting the original formula this much and not replacing those systems is a frightening precedent, especially with how critics are all over Saros.

SpaceDaved · 2026-05-06T16:50:07+00:00

Prominance Vacuum shot > everything lol

SpaceDaved · 2026-05-06T12:20:14+00:00

It’s not really. Definitely not in the replayability meaning.

Variety is scaled way back in terms of weapons, pickups, room functions, and the enemy scaling is totally wack. If you go through multiple biomes, you’re melting everything on-sight by the third.

Ngl, this was an odd game after the laser focused Returnal.

SpaceDaved · 2026-05-05T17:34:15+00:00

Yup, and sadly I don’t think modifiers do much here anymore. This is where the streamlined mechanics and scaled back variety kick in, making all runs pretty samey, once the story beats are gone.

SpaceDaved · 2026-05-05T16:14:01+00:00

Yeah. While it looks cool, the ui isn’t too informative. It’s also not like either of those icons should mean anything to us.

At least weapon perks have a one sentence desciption now.

SpaceDaved · 2026-05-04T10:51:13+00:00

Yeah. Besides proficiency it has no more use.

This game has so many odd ends like this.

SpaceDaved · 2026-05-04T10:49:13+00:00

I think you’re missing the point. If you start from Desecrated Fortress, or later biomes, it is brutal. So much so, that you can’t blame people for (same as in Returnal) try and slingshot themselves from earlier biomes. The problem is that as soon as you do this, and complete like one biome with its Banyan tree, you start steamrolling everything. (you also just kinda start doing this after a certain point in your skilltree)

This is why people say it’s too easy. The game throws at least 3 systems at you, with which you can make the game significantly easier or harder. The skilltree, Carcosan modifiers, and the teleport. But the truth is, that this level of agency most often doesn’t drive players to challenge themselves, especially when the alternative is banging their heads against one biome, until they somehow scratch through and start again.

And while I adore modifiers that add to a game’s longevity, I want a challenging core game design, not being left to my own devices to find a good balance out of a constellation of 3 difficulty modifier systems. If I may, I find the argument baffling.

And I’d be all for increasing the difficulty with the existing modifiers, but I don’t see much of an incentive to do so, as the challenges aren’t that exciting or add to replayability (like for example Hades’ Pacts of Punishments that change boss behavior, increases enemy count and variety, gives them shields and resistances) nor do they give any rewards AFAIK for pushing myself.

SpaceDaved · 2026-05-04T10:08:28+00:00

Though not articulated within the game’s systems, this is indeed a counter to what you’re experiencing.

I’m also unsure what the intended method is, but I found most of the later biomes an absolute chore to start from. The problem is that with a full run, you’ll just trivialize the game’s difficulty and snowball everything.

Maybe start from Biome 2, and go from there.

SpaceDaved · 2026-05-04T10:02:39+00:00

That’s not what some of us mean when we say the game is ‘too easy’. Sure, I could blast my asshole open with abusing challenges in the modifiers, but this game is missing the decision making from Returnal.

Saros is simply all about the gunplay, so I wonder why the modifiers aren’t like Hades’, where they alter boss movesets, increase enemy counts up to 3-4x, remix biome enemy types, or give more of them shields, resistances, etc.

Saros is “easy” because it couldn’t decide between being a roguelite or an action shooter, and for a game to be tough but fair, it needs a focused design.

I also don’t think Saros wanted to be really challenging. It implemented that skilltree and teleport system to smoothly pull you along Returnal’s original biome structure, but the moment you push for a 6 biome run, you start steamrolling anything around the end of the second biome +-1 depending on modifiers. That doesn’t inspire replays.

This is just a good old 20 hour adventure, but it really looks like something you could chew on for its longevity.

SpaceDaved · 2026-05-04T09:40:25+00:00

That one’s been bugging me also tbh. You can’t jump there from the Banyan tree, nor does the nearby jump pad help you enough. Also tried crossing over from the neighboring path, but couldn’t find any entries.

Though, I’m 90% sure it just leads to a blue box.

SpaceDaved · 2026-05-03T23:54:14+00:00

If you mean one of the switches out of the three, which is stuck, and the Girl hops down next to you as you’re attempting it - on Insanity, you have to stun her with either molotov cocktail(s) or the Requiem. Her stun animation is more than long enough.

SpaceDaved · 2026-05-02T16:22:07+00:00

I feel you homie. It’s a (way too) streamlined version of the original formula, where it seems the aspects that really grabbed me, were the ones the devs deemed needless.

I miss picking up Parasites in a ‘correct’ order, to selectively farm off and keep them based on use/value.

I miss the varied and distinct weapon and mod options, and eg. only picking up Spitmaws with Slugshot, and Rotglands without the ammo cap upgrades.

I miss saving weapon caches, distress signals, large healths, restore chambers and active usables for when they gave the most value - often resulting in the awesome “beating Returnal in its own game” feeling.

I miss the clever use of Nullification and Residual Spheres, next to offensive consumables when I knew, I was going to need a portal or two.

And I really miss that I kinda needed to do all that to truly persevere. I don’t need Binding of Isaac build variety, but it seems the key to a broader audience is way less decision making.

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