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Saros | Review Thread

TheAtomicPile said:
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.
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The secret cabal of the git gud "slob" (slop?) army twisting arms and taking names again...when will they be held accountable, when lord, WHEN!?

illuminati GIF
 
DragoonKain said:
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.
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I hear what you're saying, but for me the sheer joy of the shooting in Returnal kept it fun. The difference maker was that due to there being a fairly limited number of enemy types, I really got to learn their behaviours and attack tells. So the environments being familiar was a positive in building my combat strategy.

Returnal's a lot more about not getting hit than shooting perfectly accurately, so it was more about learning how to use the room layouts to my advantage than worrying about traversing them.
 
Returnal seems uniquely made to make someone say, "I hate this". Just no appeal to the world, and the structure hates you.

I think the world could get me over, but this just seems like a red dust version.

Has anything been said that would convince a player in my situation?
 
Clear said:
I hear what you're saying, but for me the sheer joy of the shooting in Returnal kept it fun. The difference maker was that due to there being a fairly limited number of enemy types, I really got to learn their behaviours and attack tells. So the environments being familiar was a positive in building my combat strategy.

Returnal's a lot more about not getting hit than shooting perfectly accurately, so it was more about learning how to use the room layouts to my advantage than worrying about traversing them.
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I think it depends on what itch people like scratched when it comes to gaming. When I was younger it used to be overcoming combat challenges. I think those who crave getting that itch scratched love games like this. I'm not that way anymore. In fact, I actually prefer easier combat as I've gotten older in lieu of more exploration, puzzle challenges over combat challenges, and stuff like exploration progression. Getting a certain ability that allows you to reach new areas, etc.

But it depends on the game. I enjoy combat in God of War. I enjoy combat in basic shooters. I enjoy combat in JRPGs. I don't enjoy combat in Soulslikes though. In fact, I kinda hate it. Which is a big reason I don't play them much anymore. Returnal(and probably Saros) are of that difficult combat variety that I just don't enjoy anymore. In gaming these days I'd much rather overcome a super difficult platforming challenge in a game than a difficult fight. I find the former more satisfying. I play a lot of Metroidvanias and they're my favorite genre these days and a lot of them have difficult fights and as much as I love the genre, the bosses are like my least favorite thing about it. I just think difficult combat is tiresome anymore. The concept of fighting bosses, learning their patterns, fighting them again... getting better and better. I find that super tedious.

And Returnal is kind of all about that even outside of combat. It's about mastering levels, enemies, bosses through repetition and I just can't stand that stuff anymore. But I get why others love it.
 
DragoonKain said:
I think it depends on what itch people like scratched when it comes to gaming. When I was younger it used to be overcoming combat challenges. I think those who crave getting that itch scratched love games like this. I'm not that way anymore. In fact, I actually prefer easier combat as I've gotten older in lieu of more exploration, puzzle challenges over combat challenges, and stuff like exploration progression. Getting a certain ability that allows you to reach new areas, etc.

But it depends on the game. I enjoy combat in God of War. I enjoy combat in basic shooters. I enjoy combat in JRPGs. I don't enjoy combat in Soulslikes though. In fact, I kinda hate it. Which is a big reason I don't play them much anymore. Returnal(and probably Saros) are of that difficult combat variety that I just don't enjoy anymore. In gaming these days I'd much rather overcome a super difficult platforming challenge in a game than a difficult fight. I find the former more satisfying. I play a lot of Metroidvanias and they're my favorite genre these days and a lot of them have difficult fights and as much as I love the genre, the bosses are like my least favorite thing about it. I just think difficult combat is tiresome anymore. The concept of fighting bosses, learning their patterns, fighting them again... getting better and better. I find that super tedious.

And Returnal is kind of all about that even outside of combat. It's about mastering levels, enemies, bosses through repetition and I just can't stand that stuff anymore. But I get why others love it.
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For me I dont mind having difficult fight and in fact I highly enjoy them but my issue with games like these is roguelike mechanics.

When I face tough fight and lose I want to immediately redo that fight again and not go through entire game again just re-challenge that fight, to me thats just tidious.
 
How is the meta-progession in this one?

I played and beat Returnal, but felt like the progression was too slow/there weren't enough fun, rewarding unlocks that carry over between runs.

Games like Megabonk, BallXpit, and Mewgenics have fast and furious unlocks, and that's half the fun of rogue-lites to me.
 
Danjin44 said:
For me I dont mind having difficult fight and in fact I highly enjoy them but my issue with games like these is roguelike mechanics.

When I face tough fight and lose I want to immediately redo that fight again and not go through entire game again just re-challenge that fight, to me thats just tidious.
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I agree. If I'm going to do very difficult fights, for one I don't want to have to fight my way through an entire area again. Two, I like it how it is in other genres where you build up your character over the course of the game and feel like all your work has built you to a point where you can go toe to toe. Less about learning moves and repetition and more about ability and equipment accumulation.
 
Is it me or was the art direction better in Returnal? I liked the color palette more in it for starters, and the bullets looked better too, brighter... chunkier, whereas in Saros bullets look thinner and duller, that and most environments are brownish and very samey...
 
pixelation said:
Is it me or was the art direction better in Returnal? I liked the color palette more in it for starters, and the bullets looked better too, brighter... chunkier, whereas in Saros bullets look thinner and duller, that and most environments are brownish and very samey...
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Have you played the game? We've only seen a few biomes and there's more this time around. Returnal only had 6. I have seen lots of praise for the games art direction.
 
  • Does anyone have any specifics on how this game is more approachable e.g. difficulty?
  • Do you start back at the first biome if you die in latter biomes?
 
Joel Was Right said:
  • Does anyone have any specifics on how this game is more approachable e.g. difficulty?
  • Do you start back at the first biome if you die in latter biomes?
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Been trying to avoid reading too much in advance, but there is a biome select wheel (looked to have 6 segments) and you can apply modifiers to lower/raise difficulty, outside of general character progression making you stronger.

Seems like making the game more approachable/completable is a major focus but challenge is still there.
 
The artful mincer said:
Let me get this straight.

Restarting a run where you get different weapons, items and levels is " repetitive ".

Bashing your head against a boss for an hour isn't repetitive.

Got it
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Usually when you bash your head against boss, you learn its patterns and gets sense of progression. In returnal it's the same with bosses, but during Normal gameplay that sense of progression was virtually non existent (specially against elite enemies which seems to be there to just ruin your run ) for most players and that was the main issue, I hope they add Saros mode in returnal. I beat Elden ring bosses with only sword and shied and silk song ones without skills and tools but returnal is off putting.
 
Dr. Samuel Hayden said:
"struggles with sexual identity" what the fuck?
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I had Gemini look into this - IGN is the only outlet to mention it. Everyone else seems him as emotionally complex with some kind of secret past.

IGN is just assuming that since their entire worldview is about whom strangers want to bed, this game must be about whom the protagonist wants to bed.
 
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I'm seeing a lot of confusion about what this game is, if anyone is unsure I would recommend watching the skill up review. Outside of the core gameplay loop of shooting, dodging etc this seems very different than returnal. You can instantly travel between any biomes and the purpose of going back to old biomes is metroidvania style esque to access previously unreachable sections of the map to find permanent rewards and upgrades - not out of necessity. You can alter the difficulty, have a skill tree etc. Tbh I'm not sure what would classify this as a rogue lite anymore outside of map changing on death. I personally like these changes so the game is definitely going to be more accessible for people but returnal purists are gonna be pissed. The good thing is you can make still make it really hard for yourself and you will be rewarded for adding negative modifiers
 
Sketchball said:
I'm seeing a lot of confusion about what this game is, if anyone is unsure I would recommend watching the skill up review. Outside of the core gameplay loop of shooting, dodging etc this seems very different than returnal. You can instantly travel between any biomes and the purpose of going back to old biomes is metroidvania style esque to access previously unreachable sections of the map to find permanent rewards and upgrades - not out of necessity. You can alter the difficulty, have a skill tree etc. Tbh I'm not sure what would classify this as a rogue lite anymore outside of map changing on death. I personally like these changes so the game is definitely going to be more accessible for people but returnal purists are gonna be pissed. The good thing is you can make still make it really hard for yourself and you will be rewarded for adding negative modifiers
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I just like set difficulties. Thats why returnal was good. I know you can make saros easier and harder, but i dont like that part, still really excited to play it
 
Luipadre said:
I just like set difficulties. Thats why returnal was good. I know you can make saros easier and harder, but i dont like that part, still really excited to play it
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Yeah and that's totally cool to feel that way I was just trying to clear up confusion so people don't buy a game or totally write it off because of why they expect it will be.
 
I wrote off Returnal because I dislike 90% of rougelikes but I finally gave it a try last week and I was surprised by how much I was enjoying it. Cleared all 3 biomes in the first act in a single 3 hour run which was very satisfying. I thought I had broken the game because of how OP I had gotten lol needless to say Saros went from not even being on my radar to almost being a day 1 purchase. Still on the fence as im not sure its a game I might stick with after the first few hours so in that sense its hard to justify the $70 price.
 
Been looking at his game with interest and was tempted to get it to stream on my Portal, but holy moly, £70 is too much for any game to me, I really could not justify that amount of money.

Glad it is getting great reviews of course, but I will skipping it until way later on whether it gets ported to PC or has a big enough discount.
 
Sketchball said:
I'm seeing a lot of confusion about what this game is, if anyone is unsure I would recommend watching the skill up review. Outside of the core gameplay loop of shooting, dodging etc this seems very different than returnal. You can instantly travel between any biomes and the purpose of going back to old biomes is metroidvania style esque to access previously unreachable sections of the map to find permanent rewards and upgrades - not out of necessity. You can alter the difficulty, have a skill tree etc. Tbh I'm not sure what would classify this as a rogue lite anymore outside of map changing on death. I personally like these changes so the game is definitely going to be more accessible for people but returnal purists are gonna be pissed. The good thing is you can make still make it really hard for yourself and you will be rewarded for adding negative modifiers
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I'm getting mixed signals by the marketing on this game.
It's like they want Returnal fans to buy it, whilst also appealing to more casual players.

I'm still having to search on forums and YouTube to actually determine how accessible this game is. The developers have tip toed around this and confused the messaging.

I was burnt by Returnal as I wasn't even aware that it was a roguelike game to begin with. I'm sure I wasn't the only one.
 
Joel Was Right said:
I'm getting mixed signals by the marketing on this game.
It's like they want Returnal fans to buy it, whilst also appealing to more casual players.

I'm still having to search on forums and YouTube to actually determine how accessible this game is. The developers have tip toed around this and confused the messaging.

I was burnt by Returnal as I wasn't even aware that it was a roguelike game to begin with. I'm sure I wasn't the only one.
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you can literally turn on all the positive modifiers and can turn off the balance meter so you can basically play it on super easy difficulty, but the challenge and struggle is what made returnal special. I dont really like their modifier approach here, i like set difficulties, but the more people buy and play these games the better
 
Luipadre said:
you can literally turn on all the positive modifiers and can turn off the balance meter so you can basically play it on super easy difficulty, but the challenge and struggle is what made returnal special. I dont really like their modifier approach here, i like set difficulties, but the more people buy and play these games the better
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Is there a video walkthrough that actually expands on this? I've seen it referneced, but not sure how this works.

Do these modifers become available only after you die?
Are there limits? Or rather do you unlock more modifers as you die?

From what I gather, you can modify individual aspects e.g. health etc, to an extent....but there is no clarification as to how far this can go etc.
 
Joel Was Right said:
Is there a video walkthrough that actually expands on this? I've seen it referneced, but not sure how this works.

Do these modifers become available only after you die?
Are there limits? Or rather do you unlock more modifers as you die?

From what I gather, you can modify individual aspects e.g. health etc, to an extent....but there is no clarification as to how far this can go etc.
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There is a carcosan modifier. You have to balance it with negative and positive modifiers before your run, but there is an option in the games menu that lets you ignore the balance meter so you can do only positive modifiers without choosing negative ones to keep it balanced. This is the only pic that i found. It only shows 1 positive modifier and you cant see the rest. I dont know what they are, but my point is, you can make this game very easy

u2eb2gwpd9jg1.png
 
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