According to creative director Gregory Louden in an IGN interview, Saros will be significantly “kinder” to players than Returnal. It will introduce several new features while maintaining the game’s challenge. According to the developers, the game will include the option to suspend a run and will feature multiple save slots.
“I think the lesson we learned from Returnal was that people really loved what we created, and we were going on the right track,” he said. “But I think the feedback we did get is that more players wanted to love Returnal; they wanted to get further. So for us, it was about providing that ability. So it means we don’t dilute the challenge; there’s still a very challenging game there, but there is also the ability to kind of modify the challenge.”
“One thing I thought personally is having multiple save slots. So with Returnal, I always had to clear my saves to start over. Now we have a couple of them available from the get-go, so I can have multiple runs of the game at the same time. It was very, very critical for us. I know lives are busy, right? So being able to drop the controller and resume the game at any point, it’s very critical to this experience,” said associate design director Mitja Roskaric.
Saros is set to launch on April 30 for PlayStation 5.
The game’s details:
The Passage Has You
The Passage is a Carcosan temple with a vast history for you to discover and serves as the game’s central hub. In the Passage you can speak with other Echelon IV crew, explore more world building, and find a mysterious banyan tree. It’s also where, using our come back stronger mechanics, you can upgrade yourself using collected Lucenite and Halycon from your eclipse cycles on Carcosa.
Armor Matrix Upgrades Your Play Style
Upgrading is done via Echelon IV’s Primary unit, a Soltari AI that allows you to adjust your Enforcer Armor via the Armor Matrix. By using your collected resources you can upgrade your armor to suit your playstyle. Do you want to upgrade maximum armor integrity so you can take more damage? Do you want to make Lucenite gain faster so you collect more per cycle? Or upgrade your armor’s power capacity to have longer shield usage? Key additions like our Second Chance system are also unlocked as you progress through the Armour Matrix.
World Dial Teleportation Allows Fast Travel
Primary also allows you to teleport directly to any previously unlocked biome, making our cycles more digestible. Marathon runs are possible, but you can also now teleport directly to your last biome start. On death your collected main and power weapons will be kept, so if you found a great Soltari shotgun, or Carcosan weaponry on death, you will start with it once again.
Carcosan Modifiers Change Your Experience
With Carcosan modifiers you can adjust your experience to make Saros more challenging or more forgiving. Carcosan Modifiers come in two types: Protection Modifiers reduce challenge by doing things like decreasing incoming damage, making it easier to reload your weapon, or extending the time you can use your Shield. By contrast, Trial Modifiers make the game more challenging by making Hostiles more aggressive, your weapon’s power degrade over time, or even removing your Second Chance ability entirely.
The combination of Modifiers you choose is entirely up to you, but crucially Protections and Trials must be kept in balance to ensure a consistent challenge level.
Eclipse Escalation
In Saros the eclipse corrupts the weapons, artifacts, world and people’s minds. Arjun must push through the eclipse to find answers, but with every attempt it adds corruption to Carcosa. The eclipse also changes certain biomes properties. In the Blighted Marsh, which you’ll see in the above trailer, how the marsh water comes alive and burns players when the eclipse is activated. Hostiles will also shoot yellow corrupted projectiles which reduce your max armor integrity unless cleansed using your power weapon.
The sound of the world also becomes corrupted during eclipse, with the music by Sam Slater distorting with layers of drone guitars that resonate across our world. Our team on Saros have created a spectacular eclipse experience which I cannot wait for you to play.
