Should You Pre-Order Saros?

Quick Specs

What It Is

Saros is Housemarque's spiritual successor to 2021's Returnal — a third-person bullet-hell roguelike built around lead Soltari Enforcer Arjun Devraj (voiced by Rahul Kohli) hunting answers on the shape-shifting planet Carcosa. The big mechanical evolution from Returnal is permanent progression: every death gives you upgrades and weapons that carry forward, so each run feels like real growth instead of grinding from zero.

Run length is also tightened. Where Returnal's runs could spiral past an hour with mounting anxiety, Saros aims for ~30-minute chunks with shortcuts back to base after each boss. Housemarque calls this design "reducing helplessness while keeping danger."

Pre-Release Signals

Critics who've played 3+ hours have been emphatic. GamesRadar called it a triumph for PS5 and a GOTY contender. Push Square's preview noted multiple outlets postponing other 2026 releases (including Hades II) to play Saros at launch. Multiple hands-on impressions used the words "magnum opus" and "eclipse Returnal."

On PS5 Pro specifically, Housemarque is leveraging the latest PSSR upscaler, increased base render resolution, and dual-action adaptive triggers. The studio has historically been one of the best DualSense implementers in the business — Returnal's haptics are still benchmark-tier — and they say Saros pushes that further.

The Case For and Against

Price & Pre-Order Strategy

At $69.99, Saros is at the top of the PS5 first-party price tier. Returnal launched at the same price and dropped to ~$40 within six months, so the value math says: if you're not 100% sure, wait until summer. If you are sure, the day-one experience is the play — Housemarque games are best when you go in cold.

One important note: the review embargo lifts April 24, just six days before release. Sony embargoing this close usually signals confidence in the game. If you want maximum certainty, wait six days, read the verdicts, then buy.

The Bottom Line

Saros is positioned to be one of the year's defining PS5 exclusives. The studio's track record (Returnal, Resogun, Nex Machina) is unblemished, and every preview has come back glowing. If you're the right kind of player — patient, masochistic, hungry for tight design — pre-order. Everyone else: wait six days for reviews, then decide.