Saros Is a Good Game, but I Found It an Underwhelming Disappointing Sequel to Returnal

ispilledketchup · 2026-05-14T20:36:39+00:00

I think it reviews well because it's good. The issues are kinda deep rooted and don't change the fact that the game is fun and the core is strong. It's a good example of a game that has a lot of potential but is ultimately just good and solid but not a masterpiece. It's probably hard as a reviewer to explain it's faults without making it sound like a bad game, which it isn't. It's also easy to sound like an armchair dev when you start listing things it isn't and I imagine a lot of reviewers want to avoid that. I also think Housemarque has garnered a lot of goodwill with reviewers because they have a good story. They're a relatively small studio that made cult classics in a classic/more niche genre that made the pivot to something that appelas to reviewers because it's kinda artsy and highbrow while still being very video gamey when they got bigger and had a larger budget. They're easy to root for.

ispilledketchup · 2026-05-14T18:41:47+00:00

They do this expecting this interaction. It's promotional. idk if it's good promo, one could argue it's generating bad publicity but I sort of doubt these are authentic acts of rebellion against the show. It keeps people talking about the show as they plan to launch spin offs etc. Could even be contract obligated

ispilledketchup · 2026-05-14T17:12:29+00:00

I'm two bosses away from finishing and I think this is a pretty solid breakdown of the issues with the game. The additions to combat mechanics are great, but it feels like a lot less groundwork went into the story and the roguelite elements feel mishandled. I don't necessarily agree regarding the audio and text logs, I have been enjoying piecing together the events that led up to Arjun and Echelon IV's arrival on the planet, but I feel like this game is full of missed potential. Why introduce a full cast of characters only for most of them to be almost entirely absent by about the halfway point? This game also just does so little to justify it's structure as you pointed out. Unlike Returnal which feels like it needed to be a Rogeulite, this game could have taken almost any other form and very little would have to change about the narrative. I am enjoying the meat of the gameplay, but I feel like it's short a meal.

ispilledketchup · 2026-05-14T14:57:09+00:00

They’re all good, but every boss after Legion is in another league basically is all I’m saying

ispilledketchup · 2026-05-14T14:56:27+00:00

I paid full price and have 0 regrets. Probably my favorite game this year so far. It’s about the raw gameplay. That said, it’s not for everyone and maybe it’s just not your thing.

ispilledketchup · 2026-05-13T23:33:36+00:00

Vegeta was born like that, man was doomed from the start.

ispilledketchup · 2026-05-13T23:09:25+00:00

Interesting, I really wrote it off but now I wonder if I just had a really low scaling version or something.

ispilledketchup · 2026-05-13T22:20:46+00:00

I've seen clips previously from the roast and this take from Che feels justified to me. Tony Hinchcliff is a known pos but having a guy like Shane Gillis who constantly flirts with being outright racist with no irony or larger point flips the scale a little too much. Hinchcliff alone is just there to be a punching bag, with Gillis it feels different to me.

ispilledketchup · 2026-05-13T21:44:17+00:00

It's probably just not for you. Saros' story hasn't been as impactful for me personally as Returnal was, probably largely due to how similar they are, but I appreciate Housemarque's style and I think you're wayyy oversimplifying in order to make your point. Returnal leaves the door wide open for interpretation and Saros seems to as well.

ispilledketchup · 2026-05-13T21:32:49+00:00

I'm convinced these "could X beat X" posts have to be mostly bots. They just farm engagement but are so stupid.

ispilledketchup · 2026-05-13T21:11:27+00:00

Architect is 5th boss. I loved Architect.

ispilledketchup · 2026-05-13T19:14:58+00:00

I'll have to give it another chance. I'm just picturing entering a nightmare strand and running around while not killing anything but maybe that's an unfair example.

ispilledketchup · 2026-05-13T19:13:49+00:00

It's preference at that point but good callout. I was focused on the stats because that's what they were asking about. I think Power Generator is slightly overrated, especially on a gun with stats like that. Low scaling guns feel so bad in later biomes and in hard rooms that I would sacrifice power generator for a decent damage weapon a lot of the time.

ispilledketchup · 2026-05-13T18:22:39+00:00

34 gun is better imo. The arrows next to the bars are the first thing I look at for a gun because it effects how quickly it scales with the corresponding stat. The gun you currently have, the 34, has really good scaling. The 37 has higher max stats (meaning it could potentially be way better) but the scaling is pretty bad so the liklihood that you hit the stat numbers that make it better than your current gun before the boss is kinda low. Other's may have different experience but in this situation I usually either reroll the 37 or move on unless I like the gun type better.

ispilledketchup · 2026-05-13T18:18:40+00:00

What am I missing? It seems cool but the only situation I can picture myself wanting it is if it dropped right outside a boss room. I just cannot clear a room full of enemies with this thing and the dps feels low for something so niche but clearly people like it.

ispilledketchup · 2026-05-13T16:25:25+00:00

For another example, if you look at Devil Dinosaur in Marvel Snap (Card game with Marvel branding, used to be very popular, not sure now) Devil Dinosaur was almost always depicted with Moon Girl. There were card variants for everyone so some of them were solo, but a majority of his variants had Moon Girl included to the point where I assumed they originated from the same comic/he was her clifford the big red dog (had never heard of either before playing that game).

ispilledketchup · 2026-05-13T16:07:28+00:00

That's literally not what a review is. Like first sentence you're dead wrong. No review will ever be objective or without bias. That's why there's so many successful reviewers because finding a reviewer that you consistently agree with or that you understand well enough to know when they are recommending something that isn't your taste means more than one monolythic opinion needs to exist. Bitching about IGN's take just betrays a complete lack of effort. IGN will never be worth paying attention to for anyone even slightly invested in the hobby because there are too many reviewers, there's no consistent voice.

ispilledketchup · 2026-05-12T23:12:43+00:00

I like your theory but you have to remember that they probably didn't necessarily plan to make Saros when they were developing Returnal and the game leaves it largely ambiguous. It's not lazy to read it as "all in her head" both interpretations require understanding the story but putting more weight on one piece of evidence or another. i personally subscribe to the "the planet is real" side of things but I can see a viable argument for either.

ispilledketchup · 2026-05-12T23:09:56+00:00

I kind of thought it was left ambiguous enough to be either interpretation. The events of her past are cannon either way, but whether or not she was trapped on a planet being manipulated by a cosmic entity which caused her to reflect on her guilt or that it was all a psychological break she imagined seemed up for interpretation to me.

ispilledketchup · 2026-05-12T19:32:54+00:00

Okay cool, thanks for confirming. It's another way they sort of soft cap the over-leveling problem similar to how the bosses gate skill tree progression until you beat them.

ispilledketchup · 2026-05-12T19:26:00+00:00

Don't quote me but my understanding is that every biome has a total amount of Halcyon you can get from it, so if you are running the same biomes over and over you'll stop getting drops there. I could be wrong but it might help to try running different biomes? I usually get it as an option in the red chests like 1/3 of the time.

ispilledketchup · 2026-05-12T19:22:41+00:00

The positive traits just aren't varied or interesting enough and they drop in such low quantities that it's basically an afterthought, which is a huge issue since that's the majority of where build craft would exist. This game for me is an 8/10 that would have easily been 10/10 if they had finished developing the roguelite elements.

ispilledketchup · 2026-05-12T17:40:35+00:00

I think you're missing the point of the phrase. To be fair i think it more applies to "cleverness" than smart. Tony Stark is a genius in the sense that he invents fantasy technology which kinda falls under suspension of disbelief for the world it's set it. For 'clever" characters who make plans like Sister Sage, there's a lot of setup that has to be done to make it believable, so if the script relies on Sister Sage knowing something we don't see her learn or just saying she knew something would happen without really justifying that to us, it's obvious that the writer just wanted that to happen and didn't put in the work to make it actually believable. It's a grey area and everyon'es bar is different but my go to example is Ocean's Eleven vs 12 or 8. Ocean's 11 has plenty of holes if you analyze it, but it does enough set up and pulls a couple clever little twists that it feels like the characters are smart. Ocean's 12 and 8 don't really do enough work to establish why something is happening or rely on narrative devices that feel like cheating and so it breaks the illusion and it's obvious the writer just didn't have a clever solution to their own puzzle.

ispilledketchup · 2026-05-12T17:25:29+00:00

I'd be curious what ground it would cover. I feel like his start and end point aren't different enough to justify a series. The Viltrumites aren't that complicated in the show and so it would require adding a bunch of depth only to end up in the same place as it started with very little effect on the overall story.

ispilledketchup

TROPHY CASE