Even though it was the first big party PS5 exclusive of the year so far, one reader is disappointed saros and how it compares to the predecessor Return.
Those in the know all agree that Returnal is the best franchise on the PlayStation 5. Even though it looks like it could be a PlayStation 4 game, it’s definitely my favorite game of the generation, with amazing action and a fantastic atmosphere and story. So, obviously, I was looking forward to Saros, which isn’t a sequel plot-wise, but it is in every other way.
Naturally, I pre-ordered it, and at first it seemed as good as I’d hoped. The action is very similar to Returnal, but I found that in itself a little disappointing. I wouldn’t necessarily say it was better by any means. The shield is an interesting addition, but it feels a little underused a lot of the time, and I prefer the way you upgrade weapons in Returnal.
Action wise it’s good though. You could argue that it’s either slightly worse or slightly better, but for me the rest of the game is a huge step down.
The most obvious problem is the story and characters, which are very straightforward compared to Returnal. In Returnal you never knew if anything you were seeing or doing was real. In Saros though there is some sort of mystery, but it’s pretty clear what happened and for most of the game you’re just playing a generic tough guy looking for his wife.
Things get more involved towards the end, but it comes too late for you to really care and most of it I already guessed anyway. The game has the same kind of Lovecraftian influence as Returnal, but everything is much more on the nose and nowhere near as interesting. It still has an atmosphere to it, but it’s not borderline survival horror like Returnal, only because it’s not much of a mystery as to what’s going on.
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Another problem is that the world design doesn’t vary nearly as much as you’d like between areas. Most of it is the same dull gray world and ruins everywhere and while the graphics are good, especially the underground areas, they’re all just slight variations of the same thing, unlike Returnal which seemed to have a lot more variety.
To me, the overall problem seems to be that the story and setting are too literal. What’s going on is never really a question, and the motivations of the characters (none of whom are likable) are also very apparent. Lovecraft is all about fear of the unknown, but the mystery in Saros isn’t quite as good as, for some reason, they try to ground things a bit too much, instead of going with Reutrnal’s more surreal approach.
Saros is not a disaster or anything, but it is a disappointment. It’s worse than Returnal in almost every way, except maybe the graphics, when I was hoping it would improve and become an undisputed classic. Instead, it was just slightly overshadowed pragmaticwhich I didn’t expect and I’m not sure many people realized it came out.
As for what went wrong, I think part of the problem was trying to make the game more mainstream. As far as making it easier, I think it all went well, although now it seems a little too obvious that each level is just a direction from the boss. But I think making the story more clear and straightforward was part of the same thing as making it more accessible.
Another problem is that the director changed, in fact he left and went to set up his own company, which I think explains a lot. The end result is that instead of getting potentially the best game of the generation, we ended up with a game that is… pretty good. Not exactly the end of the world, but I was hoping for more.
From reader Keller
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