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Saros | Review Thread

Wish I liked roguelikes because the gameplay in this looks rock solid, but I can't stand them. Tried several times over to get into Returnal and just couldn't. Loved how the game played, but I hate roguelikes. Losing progression immediately takes the fun out of games for me and doing same-y areas over again just isn't for me. I realize roguelikes are a different kind of progression, but the kind that isn't for me.

A game like this without rogue elements would be right up my alley, but alas. I'm sure this game is going to be a GOTY contender for most people though.
 
DragoonKain said:
Wish I liked roguelikes because the gameplay in this looks rock solid, but I can't stand them. Tried several times over to get into Returnal and just couldn't. Loved how the game played, but I hate roguelikes. Losing progression immediately takes the fun out of games for me and doing same-y areas over again just isn't for me. I realize roguelikes are a different kind of progression, but the kind that isn't for me.

A game like this without rogue elements would be right up my alley, but alas. I'm sure this game is going to be a GOTY contender for most people though.
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I really don't get this complaint.

You basically like the gameplay but you don't like playing it? Back in my day you lost actual progression if you didn't hit a manual save in a singleplayer games. With roguelikes you at least unlock new shit that makes subsequent easier.

Also, you do realize so many modern roguelikes (or rather, roguelites) have the option of letting you start back where you quit/died right? Like they literally let you unlock shorcuts so you can get back to where you were faster than ever.
 
DragoonKain said:
Wish I liked roguelikes because the gameplay in this looks rock solid, but I can't stand them. Tried several times over to get into Returnal and just couldn't. Loved how the game played, but I hate roguelikes. Losing progression immediately takes the fun out of games for me and doing same-y areas over again just isn't for me. I realize roguelikes are a different kind of progression, but the kind that isn't for me.
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With Saros, once you've unlocked a biome, you can just fast travel there from the game hub and don't have to start from the first biome. I had this issue with Returnal too. Having to start from the first biome again was annoying but it seems they've fixed it somewhat.
 
Clear said:
Just because you weren't receptive to it, doesn't mean it wasn't there.

There's a lot of detail and intricacy to the lore in Returnal which you don't need to discover to simply get through the game. Not to mention the huge amount of supplementary stuff in the DLC which further fleshes out the narrative.

To be honest I found stuff that I haven't seen remarked upon anywhere else, but then again I doubt everyone was checking the logs in the Hyperion regularly throughout the game as they change based on progress. Evolving over time as Selene's memory and self awareness grows.

The great thing about Returnal is that its not just a fantastic shooter, its also the best psychological horror game since SH2. Which is why I rate it so highly.
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I think me and you are on the same page. It didn't NEED to stuff all that shit in your face and even the surface layer of her own purgatory is great on it's own and gets better if you decide to dig. But they were smart enough to not demand it out of the player.
 
What's this "struggles with sexual identity" thing? Please tell me they did not shoehorn woke politics in this. Apart from that it looks fantastic.
 
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FalconPunch said:
With Saros, once you've unlocked a biome, you can just fast travel there from the game hub and don't have to start from the first biome. I had this issue with Returnal too. Having to start from the first biome again was annoying but it seems they've fixed it somewhat.
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Returnal let you fast travel to biomes though once you unlocked that particular biomes traversal maneuver, though?
 
Fbh said:
So do we like or dislike this scale?
Because it seems to carry a negative connotation, but every time it doesn't get applied the response is mostly anger and whining.

The IGN review doesn't read like "shit sux". It's more like "good but no great".
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We dont like it but we've been subconsciously trained to think in terms of it.

Good but not great would've been a 6 if 5 was an average game. 7 would be a great, solid game. 8 something amazing and unique. 9 a masterpiece. 10 a timeless one.

4 something below average. 3 a game that apparently can be played, barely. 2 something special in very bad ways. 1 is utterly broken and dysfuntional. 0 its straight up unplayable.
 
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Baemono said:
Because pretty much all publishers don't publish a game if it's not in an acceptable state, so you have the technical aspect covered. A 2 is a game that won't even launch or crash all the time, while being terrible.
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If thats a 2, what is a 0 like? Does a 1 melts your console and a 0 burns down your house and kills ypur dog?
 
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Great reviews, but will hold off on this one. Something about the gameplay just doesn't interest me and I've got too many other games to play right now. The identity stuff is expected. All western games shove that in these days.
 
Branded said:
I really don't get this complaint.

You basically like the gameplay but you don't like playing it? Back in my day you lost actual progression if you didn't hit a manual save in a singleplayer games. With roguelikes you at least unlock new shit that makes subsequent easier.

Also, you do realize so many modern roguelikes (or rather, roguelites) have the option of letting you start back where you quit/died right? Like they literally let you unlock shorcuts so you can get back to where you were faster than ever.
Click to expand...
Don't know what to tell you dude. I played Returnal and didn't enjoy my time with it. Not really much else to say. I didn't technically enjoy the gameplay from that perspective. I enjoyed the way the character moved and the way the combat felt, but gameplay factors in a lot more than that. Game just wasn't for me. I played it enough to know how it works, I gave it several hours over multiple tries and I had no desire to keep playing it. I've tried various roguelikes and lites over the years and I haven't enjoyed any of them.
 
DragoonKain said:
Don't know what to tell you dude. I played Returnal and didn't enjoy my time with it. Not really much else to say. I didn't technically enjoy the gameplay from that perspective. I enjoyed the way the character moved and the way the combat felt, but gameplay factors in a lot more than that. Game just wasn't for me. I played it enough to know how it works, I gave it several hours over multiple tries and I had no desire to keep playing it. I've tried various roguelikes and lites over the years and I haven't enjoyed any of them.
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Fair enough I suppose.

I don't really get the alternative. We've already had tons of 'standard' games that were just point A to B affairs (which can be great). With this genre you get to build a character to your heart's content and break the game in the process. It's fun.
 
Edmund said:
Misread your name for Braindead after seeing some of your posts.
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Sad Guy GIF
 
Branded said:
Fair enough I suppose.

I don't really get the alternative. We've already had tons of 'standard' games that were just point A to B affairs (which can be great). With this genre you get to build a character to your heart's content and break the game in the process. It's fun.
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I have a very low tolerance for repetition, so any game that requires you to do "runs" is usually not my cup of tea. Couldn't get into the puzzle roguelike game Blue Prince because of it either. And puzzle games are a top 3 genre for me. I absolutely adore them. But I'm playing it like "I have already been in these fucking rooms, this is boring and annoying and repetitive" and that's just how I react to games that require you to do runs I guess.

Me never replaying games probably ties into the same part of my brain psychologically. After I beat a game I'm done with it permanently. Have tried replaying games in the past, I can't stomach doing the same stuff again.
 
DragoonKain said:
Wish I liked roguelikes because the gameplay in this looks rock solid, but I can't stand them. Tried several times over to get into Returnal and just couldn't. Loved how the game played, but I hate roguelikes. Losing progression immediately takes the fun out of games for me and doing same-y areas over again just isn't for me. I realize roguelikes are a different kind of progression, but the kind that isn't for me.

A game like this without rogue elements would be right up my alley, but alas. I'm sure this game is going to be a GOTY contender for most people though.
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+1 my words exactly... Unfortunately 😞

Also there's a kind of randomness and unpredictability that ruins all the fun for me.
 
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DragoonKain said:
Wish I liked roguelikes because the gameplay in this looks rock solid, but I can't stand them. Tried several times over to get into Returnal and just couldn't. Loved how the game played, but I hate roguelikes. Losing progression immediately takes the fun out of games for me and doing same-y areas over again just isn't for me. I realize roguelikes are a different kind of progression, but the kind that isn't for me.

A game like this without rogue elements would be right up my alley, but alas. I'm sure this game is going to be a GOTY contender for most people though.
Click to expand...

Same. Not my taste. And as most people over the internet love tell us how good Returnal was, the sales was a disaster.

Lets see how this change.
 
IGN's staff has been on a critically tough review streak lately.

Is this some rebrand attempt to seem more like EDGE? I'm not against a review being extra tough/harsh on a game, but they need to make sure that the reasoning is strong and valid.

I say this because whoever wrote and scored that Mouse P.I. review spent more time writing about wanting it to be a completely different game with different features rather than simply judging what is directly in front of him.

They don't understand that just going in a 'tryhard' direction with no substance to match will still make them the butt of everyone's jokes.
 
so no lumen nor nanite for this game? Very strange, its basically running UE4 feature set + their own home baked particle system. Suprise they are not using TSR on PS5. The visual has a very clear visual upgrade from returnal
 
Puscifer said:
I think me and you are on the same page. It didn't NEED to stuff all that shit in your face and even the surface layer of her own purgatory is great on it's own and gets better if you decide to dig. But they were smart enough to not demand it out of the player.
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Most gamers will have NO idea what Returnal was about. They think shooter that's tough. Man, Returnal is a masterclass of game design and nobody can take that away from me. Also, the music is amazing.
 
Poppyseed said:
Most gamers will have NO idea what Returnal was about. They think shooter that's tough. Man, Returnal is a masterclass of game design and nobody can take that away from me. Also, the music is amazing.
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I really hope Saros will have something similar to the tower climb before the 4th boss in Returnal. That shit still gives me goosebumps
 
neocycle said:
It will sell well. There is a god-mode "accessibility" setting. It's Returnal for babies.
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I didn't think this should be re-iterated, but apparently it does.

Just because a game has accessibility settings or whatnot, does not mean you are to forced to use them. Hell, this game offers you the possibility to make it even harder, if you are so inclined.
 
I want to like this type of game. Bought Returnal on sale and managed to get to the 4th biome after what felt like 50 attempts. I could have probably kept going but I just couldn't bring myself to put another 50 attempts to finish the game. Because it didn't have much in the way of permanent upgrades, it felt like a normal A to B game without the ability to save. It just felt like dying half way through a Metroid game just to start form the beginning. This one looks to have fixed that at least.
 
viveks86 said:
Bigger. More biomes and bigger biomes. Seem to be somewhere in the range of 10-20 hours to beat.
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Really? i only saw 5 radials on the biome selection menu in the videos. Great to hear. Wonder if they gonna do some post launch support content, like the towers in returnal
 
Forth said:
Have they stated how many biomes there are?
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Yet to see a review that gives a number. I wonder if that's part of the embargo. There seems to be a hint here (spoiler warning):



Luipadre said:
Really? i only saw 5 radials on the biome selection menu in the videos. Great to hear. Wonder if they gonna do some post launch support content, like the towers in returnal
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See above. There seems to be 9
 
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Good on IGN for putting up what appears to be an honest review and not caving to the git gud slob army with the uniform 9/10 review they all expected for the latest trend-chasing roguelite.
 
DragoonKain said:
Don't know what to tell you dude. I played Returnal and didn't enjoy my time with it. Not really much else to say. I didn't technically enjoy the gameplay from that perspective. I enjoyed the way the character moved and the way the combat felt, but gameplay factors in a lot more than that. Game just wasn't for me. I played it enough to know how it works, I gave it several hours over multiple tries and I had no desire to keep playing it. I've tried various roguelikes and lites over the years and I haven't enjoyed any of them.
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I felt exactly like you dude about rogue anything and Ive tried a ton of them. I didn't even like Hades.

You know what finally clicked and I've been enjoying immensely?

EokmtesJwYxtYsij.jpg


$7.50 on Steam currently and it's a $30 title. There's a few other fans here too. Underrated gem fo' sho.
 
Chuck Berry said:
I felt exactly like you dude about rogue anything and Ive tried a ton of them. I didn't even like Hades.

You know what finally clicked and I've been enjoying immensely?

EokmtesJwYxtYsij.jpg


$7.50 on Steam currently and it's a $30 title. There's a few other fans here too. Underrated gem fo' sho.
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Also like 3 dollars right now on Nintendo eShop!
 
My Google News algorithm recommended me a single Saros review today. As a huge HM fan, I clicked out and was absolutely shocked to read Saros is a flop.

Then I click this thread later in the day and realize the one review Google gave me, out of the 50 others available, was IGN. lmao. What a relief.

Now I have to figure out how to perma block IGN from my algorithm.
 
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