IllusiveMan

After getting the platinum for both games the clear winner is Returnal, the best improvement in Saros, perhaps the only one, are gameplay modifiers so that everyone can enjoy the gameplay (I personally didn’t use them until I was done with the story).

• Overall weapons are VERY lacking in Saros with such little variety and some of them are plain useless.
• Biomes are nowhere near as diverse, most look exactly the same with some variations but nothing like biome 5 or 6 from Returnal that were completely different from the rest of the game.
• As a character Selene was way more intriguing and the mystery surrounding her story is much better handled than Arjun’s but that might have to do more with the pacing of the overall story, and speaking of that…
• Story is by far the biggest letdown for me as Returnal’s was okay and a bit too ambiguous but it had such an immersive dread atmosphere, with Saros they talked a lot about having a more structured narrative and more characters but they just fumbled it terribly, I still can’t get over how they built such an interesting world with Carcosa with lots of potential for lore and they didn’t elaborate on that but rather attempt to tell a soap-opera which is terribly paced, predictable and unsatisfying at the end.

I still liked it a lot since Housemarque’s gameplay is still unmatched but Returnal remains Housemarque’s peak and is still my favorite game this generation, I do hope their next game isn’t a roguelike so that they can tell a better story and handle progression a bit better (since it’s true after the third boss it turns quite easier compared to Returnal which had you learning until the very end).

Great game, however it’s the one I struggle to replay the most because of its pacing, the best is Among Thieves by a long shot, from start to finish it is the definition of what a ‘blockbuster’ game should be.

@Nei Agreed except on the story, Pragmata is way more relatable and emotional while also being intriguing and much better paced.

There comes a point in Saros’ story when I just stopped to process “is this really what the story is about?”, they built an awesome world in Carcosa and basically some Alien-movie setup with lots of lore potential but they chose to tell some random soap opera.

I honestly don’t even want to watch any trailer or anything about it whatsoever, I’m holding my hype until launch is imminent.

Is this even a question? It’s by far the worst decision taken by Sony as a whole, not only PlayStation.

My first reaction is: PlayStation has a preservation effort?

Maybe, just maybe, make all these games accessible to customers on current platforms?

Yes, I’m so tired of leaks and surprises getting ruined only for a guy on Twitter to have some days of engagement, instead of watching a Direct or State of Play and being surprised to see an announcement you now watch the stream expecting that announcement, and if it doesn’t happen then comes the disappointment, it’s a lose-lose for everyone except for the one guy getting the engagement.

@GDoggyJr Yes you can. Look them up at Amazon, Best Buy, GameStop or several other retailers.

@Balaam_ I do feel it’s definitely some Hermen Hulst influence, ever since he’s taken over they want to position Horizon as the main PlayStation franchise, it’s the only one that has gotten some entry almost every year this generation.

What’s worse is that we would already be having news about the final game in the main trilogy, which is all most of us care about, but that’s likely 5+ years away because Guerilla just had to have its live-service game…

Oof. No joke this might actually flop as hard as Concord…

@dskatter Yeah that’s basically the gist of the story, but I wouldn’t skip a Housemarque game because of a trash story, gameplay is sublime, perhaps the best it’s ever been and it’s way more accessible if you struggled with Returnal, it’s still a great game, just the story is an afterthought (that’s two in a row after playing both Crimson Desert and Saros lol).

Making those AI images is very absurd but the story description is what actually happens, after reaching the true ending yesterday the story is the only bad aspect of this game imo, it starts intriguing but it’s horribly paced and overall is unsatisfying that they have an amazing setup with the world of Carcosa and its lore, just to choose to tell that…

Returnal’s story was also my least favorite aspect of the game however it did a far better job creating a dread atmosphere and Selene’s journey is way more engaging than Arjun’s.

Even without having played it yet I’d give it to Pragmata because it actually tries to be something new.

Saros is a great game but after being obsessed all weekend with it and spent almost 30 hours playing I’ve got to say it’s a bit of a step down from Returnal, biomes were more diverse and level design was more engaging imo, gameplay is top notch but Returnal had more and better weapons, plus the story for Saros is straight up trash, what an amazing setup and potential lore just to tell that, however permanent upgrades are very welcome and by far the best improvement over Returnal and I hope it evolves so that their next game isn’t a roguelite.

I’m sure all 5 players of this are glad to hear it.

@AdamNovice Such a nonsense take, none of Capcom games look or play the same as each other, like seriously just play Requiem, Pragmata or MH Wilds, where do you see these games look the same? Where exactly are the same assets being reused? Hell even Requiem looks more distinct than Village compared to Ragnarok from God of War (2018) or Spider-Man 2 from the first game, or Yotei from Tsushima and so on…

I can’t believe the things people are willing to say like sh*tting on Capcom just to try making Sony look better in comparison, it’s absurd tbh.

@get2sammyb I think the problem is that when they revealed the game and with the first trailers it definitely gave more Uncharted-action vibes than Hitman’s which understandably created an expectation for many of us to be more action-based and why it personally caught my eye, but now that people are actively playing it turns out the core gameplay is Hitman 4 with more cutscenes and some action-pieces spread throughout, at least that what most first impressions are saying, and while it does sound like a good game, perhaps even great, it does temper my excitement as I don’t enjoy the Hitman games at all.

Btw, amazing job with the editing of this article, I would love more themed previews and reviews!

@Fiendish-Beaver My same thoughts, I’ve tried several times to get into Hitman games but always end up bored, was hoping for this to be more action-based, perhaps even more like Uncharted, but it looks exactly as another Hitman with more cutscenes.

Also I didn’t like that in the latest trailer they straight up warned us that the launch game isn’t complete as they said “as you know with I/O interactive launch is only the beginning”, my counterpoint being why would I spend $70 on the “beginning” instead of waiting a few months for the complete game and it being 50% off?

They literally said nothing lmao, we’re back at where we started, it seems we’ll only get more conclusive answers from the community and active testing but still no official explanation whatsoever.

And I really don’t get why every time there’s some PS bad or controversial news you avoid posting it, you rather update the same article 5 times knowing fully well there’s less engagement than making a new article, so my question for the staff is why you are willing to gloat over other company’s failures and issues like posting 3 articles about Xbox exclusives’ dilemma (just one example) but you refuse to post articles regarding Sony’s own controversies?
I understand there’s bias but staff at Nintendo Life and Pure Xbox doesn’t behave like this.

$79.99 standard edition plus a $99.99 Deluxe Digital edition with 48hr early-access.

Have no proof, yet no doubts.

@Oram77 Sure, and you don’t find it even a bit upsetting or weird that we’ve gone almost a week without any word from Sony while speculation runs wilder? How long are you willing to give them a pass of “just wait”? Yes the explanation of the latest update is likely but why haven’t they stated so days ago? Just exceptionally bad communication.

And if you’re curious I was saying they should be posting follow-up articles for this issue instead of endlessly updating this one and posting 3 different times about Xbox’ dilemmas on a PS site, was that angry?

@Oram77 “Not defending them” and yet all your comments here read as an excuse, you seem to be more angry at people worried this might be intentional than with Sony for either doing this and/or not explaining anything about it, the fact we’ve gone days already speculating about this without a single statement is already bad enough, even if it was a simple bug they should squash any speculation as soon as possible instead of letting all this fear-mongering wildly spread online, their prolonged silence honestly can read as them testing the waters to see if they can get away with it, not saying that’s what happening but it’s definitely the situation they’re projecting.

Day one, played it on PS3 around halfway through then I got my PS4 and had to restart my save and never finished it, now it’s the time.

Xbox had a fatal wound out of this, yet I’m already reading many trying to defend Sony here, seriously what will it take for y’all to realize you don’t owe blind loyalty to any brand?

@Clytorial_Impact Meanwhile they’re scolding players for not being not interested in the Horizon spin-off lmao

I’ll never understand why they couldn’t release this as a contained multiplayer mode for TLOU Part 2 or even Part 1 Remake, it just didn’t have to be a live service, the previous factions mode from the first game was solid with a very good gameplay loop, they only needed to build on top of that, same way Sucker Puch has done with Legends in both Ghost of Tsushima & Yotei.

Where’s this article when Sony “flip-flop” with PC ports? Did you also get “tired” when Sony stopped PC ports? Or is it only valid now for Sony to change strategy?

Seriously this kind of inflammatory content is becoming exhausting, yes we’re all a bunch of PS players or fans, but this site lately seems like a cult where Sony is always right and everyone else is wrong, just look at what you posted the other day calling out players for not being interested in the Horizon live-service BS, you’re getting increasingly out of touch.

@Oram77 I would very much like to see Sony being as “desperate” as Microsoft, it’s called being competitive which MS forgot about the last decade or so, even if you’re only a PlayStation user it benefits us all to have more competition.

Critics for movies specifically are meaningless, just look at Emilia Perez, a heavy contender for the Oscar and winner of countless awards last year when the movie is absolute and irremediably trash with a nonsensical plot and laughable performances that couldn’t even speak in the portrayed language but were nominated for awards…

@UltimateOtaku91 They won't reverse it, this backlash is already accounted for and they've made clear they're not looking into expanding the PS5 user base anymore, or at least that is no longer the priority, but rather squeezing dry the existing user base.

@get2sammyb Yeah I really like how the game library is now just a click away and the games Home Screen now only shows games.
If we could customize the order for tabs it’d be perfect.

@naruball Wow, giving up your facial biometrics and identity to a corporation just to be able to brag “I’m an NPC in this game” lmfao…

@Nightcrawler71 Yes! It has cross saves with every other platform, however trophies will not unlock from a transferred save.

Time to get all those other endings, but my canon ending is still with Panam’s.

Score is fair, which makes the Crimson Desert one even more nonsense.

I actually like it as it clears up the home page to only show games and gives a quicker access to the game library, if the upper tabs were customizable it’d be perfect.

What a dystopian s*** to drop on a random Tuesday…

@wildcat_kickz It’s always the gooners who mask their fetishes as “art preservation”.

I started it like 2 years ago, still haven’t finished it 🤣

@TrollOfWar Their bet is that by selling you a subsidized console they will profit from all the games you buy on the PS Store, taking a 30% cut from all third-party games and all MTX within free-to-play games while also taking 100% from first-party sales, plus all the revenue from selling PS+ (keeping it mandatory to play online and cloud saves), and hardware add-ons such as the Portal or some headset, in the long-term that user they got to buy a PS5 by keeping Wolverine exclusive is way more profitable than selling those games to a PC user in which Valve takes a 30% cut.

They’re pulling out from PC simply because it didn’t fulfill their expectations, most games didn’t even sell 10% of what they sold on console, their frankly naive expectations were that people after getting a taste of Sony’s games on PC they’d go all the way to buy a PS5 (said by themselves multiple times in quarterly meetings) but clearly the PC audience doesn’t work like that, they don’t even want to use other launchers other than Steam let alone spend $600 on another hardware.

Source on that because reading it back it really was incredibly dumb and naive:
https://www.gamesradar.com/platforms/playstation/playstations-ceo-drastically-underestimates-the-steam-crowds-patience-thinks-pc-gamers-will-buy-a-ps5-for-exclusive-sequels/

@nessisonett Revenue from PC ports was minuscule compared to their console business, sales are not good by any stretch even on the biggest franchises, in the long-term it would hurt their platform as the idea of “why get a console if it’ll eventually make its way to PC” was already taking place, for their bottom line it’s not worth to trade sales on PC to losing users on their platform.

However I do agree it’s very aggressive how Sony is pricing everything, it’s the only platform that doesn’t distribute digital games outside of the PS Store, that’s a huge competitive disadvantage that gets dismissed here every time as it doesn’t allow competitive prices for their digital games which have gotten noticeably more expensive, last gen a Uncharted 4 was $10 a couple of years after launch, nowadays, Returnal for example only drops to $30 5 years after launch, PS+ has prohibitive pricing since the 2023 price hike and haven’t paid for it since, consoles are almost impossible to recommend at the new MSRP.
So I do agree that the barrier of entry for Sony’s first-party games is getting ridiculously high and unsustainable for +300M budgets, but PC has proven to not be the solution to these problems.

@Balaam_ What trash multiplayer content are you even talking about? All they said is that they’ll look into DLC or MP mode depending on the player’s response.
You really are running out of “arguments” to hate on the game lmao

Of course Crimson Desert, after 80 hours it’s already on my list for GOTY, no matter how many shallow 6/10 reviews say otherwise it’s such a great game.

@AdamNovice Closing game studios but spending millions on a machine learning company, modern Sony in a nutshell 🤦🏻‍♂️

@Perturbator The downfall definitely started back then in 2013, then in 2016 they started doing PC releases but consoles kept selling (albeit not as much as PS4/PS5), but finally last year releasing Forza and Gears plus announcing Halo for PlayStation was the final nail in the coffin.

Before PS6 there’s no way even with the GTA 6 boost, people really overestimate how many are willing to spend at the very least $600 on a console + $80 GTA 6 + $80/100 yearly if they want to play GTA online.

The only way is that after PS6 launches they keep the PS5 as a cheaper entry point since most if not all games will be cross-gen for a long while, but if they do so PS6 will never take off and they’ve made it clear priority isn’t selling more console but rather squeeze dry players who already got it.

@Fiendish-Beaver That lineup is actually crazy, many won’t like to hear it but if Xbox kept those exclusives they would be in a very competitive position for this year and perhaps Sony wouldn’t have dared to raise prices as much, but alas we’re not on that timeline…

@get2sammyb That’s exactly my take since the very beginning, why did it had to be a live-service?
They could’ve released a multiplayer mode such as Factions from the first game or more recently the ‘Legends’ from Ghost of Tsushima and Yotei and we would’ve been fine with it.
Even better imo to not have a predatory battle pass and all what comes with being a live-service, but they rather torched the entire thing than it not being a live-service, which again highlights how terribly they’ve managed their studios.

Everyone involved in these decisions should’ve been out of PlayStation by yesterday (looking at you Hermen).

Played it day one on Xbox, even paid for early-access and it’s the biggest disappointment I’ve had with a game so far, I even took almost 2 months to finish it at just 30 hours as it was such a snorefest, this was like the worst aspects of any Bethesda game all-in-one but without any of the good.

Port-begging much? I honestly would want MS to follow Sony’s footsteps and go back to having exclusives, as the recent price hike have shown we desperately NEED more competition in the console market and without exclusives it’s impossible to compete.