Housemarque, the development studio behind upcoming PS5 exclusive Saros, has released a new video that goes over some of the ways it differs from its predecessor, Returnal.
The main thing the team focuses on here is the ways in which Saros is a more approachable experience overall:
In Returnal, while there are some permanent things like certain equipment and weapon traits, you do not upgrade Selene between runs; it's a proper roguelike that starts you at pretty much ground zero each time.
Saros is very different in this regard. The video starts off by showing a little of the upgrade tree, where you'll spend an in-game resource called Lucenite to unlock various permanent buffs and abilities.
However, Housemarque stresses that the game will still be challenging to play. "The whole goal with the permanent progression isn't to trivialise the game, it's just offering more agency," says Matti Hälki, associate design director.
Another way players are given more control over difficulty is with Saros' Carcosan Modifiers system.
Here, players are able to select various bonuses that can make certain aspects of the game significantly easier. However, you must balance these modifiers with another set that make the game more challenging.
It's a way to give you options to mitigate parts that you find particularly difficult while maintaining the intended level of challenge.
For example, you could choose to deal increased damage, or make it easier to perform a perfect reload. If you activate these, you'll have to also choose a couple of negative mods, such as reducing how much Lucenite you retain, or making Corruption build up more quickly.
It sounds like you'll have a lot of ways to tinker with these things to find a mix that works for you. "We have pretty drastic options there; you can even disable many of the permanent unlocks, so you can really make the game more difficult," Hälki says.
It's also noted that, unlike Returnal, you will be able to instantly go back to biomes you've already reached.
We really liked Housemarque's previous game, but can definitely understand why its harsh difficulty and lack of tangible in-game progression might put some off. It sounds like Saros is making a lot of efforts to smooth things out without sacrificing the intense, arcadey action.