It looks like Carcosa has managed to remain as challenging as it has been entertaining, with 13.13 million recorded player deaths versus 3.08 million boss deaths showing that the meanest ones in Arjun’s quest pack quite a punch. Of course, the grunts that stand between you and those terrors aren’t as fortunate, with 863 million of them felled for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

The Smart Rifle seems to have been a part of a lot of those victories, as it’s declared the most popular weapon in the game.

The numbers are huge, but we’re only mildly surprised as Saros has been quite an entertainer, building on its predecessor in all the right ways to let it score very high in our review. The fact that it’s meant to be more approachable than Returnal without sacrificing the challenge probably has something to do with its numbers, too.

While Krueger hasn’t revealed too many details about what the first project by Cosmic Division will be, he has confirmed that it will be a brand new IP that will focus on single-player gameplay and will come to PC and consoles. The title is slated to be “unapologetically gameplay first,” and its story will offer “strong emotional resonance”.

“I’m incredibly grateful to Housemarque for our shared journey, which has shaped the foundations for our new studio,” said the studio’s founder and CEO. “We’re proud of what we’ve achieved, but we’re not standing still. At Cosmic Division, we’re building on our strengths while finding a new edge through fresh themes, ideas and talent. We believe there is always room for games built on timeless values that trust the player and leave a lasting impact.”

This emphasis on offering a gameplay-first experience falls in line with many of the projects that Kreuger has worked on in the past. While some of Housemarque’s earlier projects, like Resogun, didn’t quite focus much on narrative, the developer found its groove in mixing up story and strong gameplay with its more recent outings like Returnal and Saros.

Interestingly, while Kreuger had left Housemarque in 2023, he managed to help shape the ultimate direction of this year’s Saros before his departure.

“We’re excited to push further into the experiences we love creating: intoxicating gameplay loops, audiovisual spectacle, and impactful stories that linger with players long after the credits have rolled,” Krueger continued. “We have our feet on the ground and solid foundations beneath us. Now our journey of cosmic wonder begins, as we venture towards the stars… and beyond.”

The last project Krueger shipped during his tenure at Housemarque was Returnal, which blended the studio’s penchant for bullet hell-style gameplay with the structure of a 3D roguelike shooter, as well as a mysterious story that seemingly revolved around protagonist Selene Vassos being stuck in a strange time loop.

Since Kreuger has a strong history of working on projects that focus quite a bit on throwing hundreds of projectiles towards the player that have to be dodged, along with excellent visuals that emphasize particle effects, it wouldn’t be too surprising to see Cosmic Division’s first project bearing more than a striking similarity to Returnal.

In the meantime, Housemarque released Saros just last month exclusively on PS5. The title stars Rahul Kohli in the role of protagonist Arjun Devraj, and offers several refinements over the gameplay introduced by Returnal. In our review, we gave Saros a score of 9 out of 10 thanks to its aesthetics, addictive gameplay, world-building, and the design of its boss fights. Our only complaints were the fact that its ending left us wanting more, and that Carcosa Modifiers could have used more depth.

“I had to catch a flight, and Housemarque wouldn’t have access to me for six months,” he explains. “And they needed the trailer. And in order for me to make my flight, I had to record on the other side of town in LA crazy early. And I’m stuck in traffic. And I was so worked up and angry at seven, eight in the morning. We recorded the teaser trailer. And that voice that came out was angrier, more intense than anything we’d done or explored previously. And Greg and I were immediately like… ‘wait, that’s him. That’s who we’ve been looking for’… being angry and not being good enough to hide it… that was where Arjun was really born.”

Director of the Finding Carcosa documentary series that chronicles the development of Saros, Paul J. Vogel, adds his own opinion on the unpredictable nature of storytelling. He noted that moments like these tended to add more to Kohli’s work despite being “completely unglamorous.”

“Rahul’s anecdote about finding the true voice of Arjun is the perfect summary of how sometimes the creative nature of storytelling can be unpredictable,” said Vogel. “It’s funny because it is so completely unglamorous. Stuck in traffic, already late for a recording session, and up against the clock for a departing flight. It shows how a character can come alive from research, rehearsal, and collaboration with your director… but sometimes all it really takes is one very bad commute.”

Providing more details on his first day in for performance capture work, Kohli noted that “I hated it.” He went on to talk about the experience of wearing the motion capture suit and how it made him wish that he’d “gone to the gym.”

“It takes an hour or two before you stop feeling silly. That’s the strange thing,” he continued. “It starts tech-heavy – calibrating your fingers. And then once you’ve done that, it felt like an empty stage with actors and a director, and a script. Most actors are comfortable with doing a lot with very little. From day one in a rehearsal space, you are working without props, without stage furniture. Everything else, [the tech], has just gone.”

Ultimately, advice from fellow voice actor Troy Baker helped Kohli out in this regard. “He said it was the purest form of acting you’ll ever do. And he was right. I’m not playing to the camera… it’s about me and [the other actors].”

Saros is available on PS5 and has seen an incredibly positive reception. For more, check out our review. Also, take a look at why Housemarque made the title more approachable than its previous outing, Returnal.

Well, the developers have just dropped a new patch for the game, with some balancing changes and other noteworthy additions. You’re going to see a reduction in the amount of juice the Power Generator perk puts out, while damage scaling on the Powered Dash Artifact is sure to improve its utility. There’s also more accuracy on bouncing bullets, while the UI is getting a few tweaks and toggles to make it more readable and intuitive. There are also a few minor performance fixes – check out the full list below if you want to see more, although it’s shorter than you would think.

Saros might be the more approachable title among Housemarque’s lineup of titles. However, its niche nature has us questioning whether it can lead to long-term security for the studio. You can check out our thoughts on that here. In the meantime, stay tuned for more patches and further improvements that will hopefully help Saros inch ever closer to perfection than it already is.

Patch 01.004.000

Gameplay & Balance

• Improved the accuracy of bullet bounces
• Lowered the amount of Power gained from the Power Generator weapon trait
• Added damage scaling to the Powered Dash artifact and updated the visuals

World & Level Design

• Fixed collision and geometry issues in multiple biomes

Audio

• General minor bug fixes and improvements

UI / Accessibility

• Colour settings:
  – New colour categories
  – Added preview images
  – Settings for HUD Power Indicator
  – Added colour matching for Armor Integrity Gauge Corruption
• Fixed issues regarding ammo, weapon charge bar and boss invulnerability indicator
• Fixed Second Chance visibility when using Carcosan Modifiers

Technical & Performance

Optimization

• Adjusted reflection quality

Cinematics

• Prologue and Eclipse Device sequence improvements
• Optimizations to Depth of Field

This SAROS guide is everything you need to know about getting the best ending to the game.

Initial Story Completion

You will have to complete the game just once, with no other requirements with regards to Cycle completion or perfection. Simply wrap up the final biome, Yellow Shore, and its final enemy, and watch the ending followed by the credits.

Post-Ending Continuation

Once you find yourself back in the Passage, you will be explicitly directed to various objectives and watch multiple cutscenes. Next, proceed to make your way through the Yellow Shore to face the enemy yet again.

Battle the enemy right up until you have to strike the deathblow.

At this point, you will be presented with the choice of taking him down outright or letting him live. The former option just rehashes the first ending all over again.

Instead, ignore the enemy and walk into the portal in order to see the second, or true ending to the game.

That is everything there is to know about unlocking the alternate ending to SAROS.

Not to belabor a point after doing just that, but after playing Saros, I do. Housemarque’s latest game is a bullet-hell third-person shooter with excessive cosmic horror-inspired sights and sounds. Third-highest rated game of the year on Opencritic – you’ve probably heard of it. I’ve gone back to it several times, even after finishing my review, to gather more information for our tips and tricks, and every time, I’m still left astounded by the controls, responsiveness, gunplay, and the sheer number of new sections that keep popping up during new runs.

Which is funny because I had those exact thoughts with Returnal back in 2021. You know what else I thought at the time? There’s no way this gets a sequel, and that was without knowing any sales numbers (and keep in mind that it was also one of the more highly rated games of that year). Ironic as it sounds, here we are almost five years later, and it indeed got a sequel – one that’s bigger, better, and more intense in all the right ways. And yet, there’s concern over the future.

Back in December 2023, that unfortunate Insomniac Games ransomware leak revealed some rather interesting figures about PlayStation’s many IPs. It pretty much confirmed that Bloodborne sold millions, and there was no excuse not to remake or remaster it (and boy, does that come full circle later on). It also proved that Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart was profitable, but nowhere near the same vicinity as the Marvel’s Spider-Man series – who could have guessed? And then, for those who bothered checking, was the little detail that Returnal had shipped over a million units as of February 2022 and sold through about 866,000 units.

Naturally, we don’t know the latest figures, and the likelihood of Sony sharing them is about as high as Fairgame$ not getting cancelled. But it reinforces, without a shadow of a doubt, that as beloved as Returnal was, it’s a niche game by triple-A standards.

Snap back to the present day with Saros, which is far more triple-A facing by comparison. There’s a heavier story focus with more cinematic cutscenes. Quality of life features like suspending a run or fast traveling back to The Passage after clearing a biome offered more freedom for how long you wanted to keep playing. Even the difficulty, a major aspect of Returnal that many considered an obstacle to a wider audience, was much more freeform.

Now, you could easily decide whether you wanted to deal loads more damage, make it so that enemies barely tickled you, negate any of the Corruption or bad effects from Artifacts – heck, for all its horror, Saros felt like a day at the spa compared to Returnal tossing you into the deep end. And while having this kind of customizable difficulty is great, especially for bullet hell fiends like me who want something far more challenging, it’s hard not to think that this was done because of how niche Returnal ended up being.

You don’t have to take my word for it, though. Creative director Gregory Louden and associate design director Matti Häkli told Polygon in a recent interview that they wanted to “enable more people to enjoy these games.” It’s not seeking to reduce the challenge or introduce arbitrary difficulty modes that players may not fully agree on. You set the challenge, you dictate the difficulty, and you decide whether to sink or swim. And I can appreciate that.

The question is: Will that translate to sales? If we assume the current reports that Returnal ultimately sold two million copies are correct, then all in all, it’s not a bad milestone, especially since the shooter retailed for $70. A new IP that’s as niche as can be, that too with a difficulty level which automatically limits its potential audience – all in all, pretty good for an independent developer.

But in 2026, Housemarque is in a different boat altogether. Saros is a far bigger game with more biomes and more money spent on a larger cast, not to mention those shiny cinematics. Assuming it’s been in the works since 2022, a year after Returnal’s launch, that’s a pretty significant amount of development costs. Unfortunately, it’s not a question about breaking even or turning a profit, but whether this will appease the executives at Sony, especially since they own the studio. The same PlayStation Studios which saw numerous layoffs and cancellations in recent years, mostly for its live service initiative, but still. If it can get rid of a prestige studio like Bluepoint, then who’s to say it won’t turn to Housemarque next?

Of course, one shouldn’t assume the worst immediately. We don’t know precisely how much Saros cost to make, how much it’s sold and, more importantly, what Sony’s expectations are. After backing away from its live service push and recommitting to high-profile single-player games, both to players and shareholders, having something like this that’s so acclaimed is a point in its favor. Not just for the current generation but for the future as well, as it builds up a marquee line-up of PlayStation console exclusives (especially if rumors about first-party single-player games no longer launching on PC end up true).

There’s also that whole discussion about how it couldn’t find any projects suitable for Bluepoint, thus leading to its closure, but I digress. It’s important that Sony had enough confidence in Saros to release it – and lend a decent amount of marketing, though nowhere near as much as its bigger titles – but that doesn’t guarantee any kind of security for the future.

And that’s really the crux of the matter and why it can be so frustrating to be a fan of any game these days. As good as something is, as beloved as it is, the industry is on such shaky ground that it may not be successful. And even if it is successful, there’s no guarantee that the studio will escape layoffs. And even if it isn’t shuttered, it could very well exist in limbo, trying its best to hang on and fruitlessly pitching projects that either aren’t approved or end up cancelled mid-development.

So while Saros is great, and there’s much cause for celebration, especially for PS5 players who desperately want something new to play, there are always going to be concerns about the future. Maybe time is a flat circle, and I’m just going through the same motions as with Returnal, only being proven wrong when the inevitable follow-up is announced, happy that Housemarque has another chance to showcase its single-player prowess. But if the games industry has proven anything in recent years, it’s that nothing is forever, and you only get so many chances before your luck inevitably runs out.

Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.

Discussing the difficulty of Saros when compared to Returnal, Louden noted that many players just outright weren’t able to finish the latter game. This meant that the studio would have to give players more tools to take on the challenges in Saros in their own way.

“We knew we created something special, and we knew that everyone loved Returnal, but people did tell us, ‘I wanted to love Returnal, but I just couldn’t get forward,’” said Louden. “So we wanted to allow players to confront the challenge in their own way. That was the idea of rewarding the progress. It was the idea of adding the modifiers. But something I’m really proud of, Matti and our amazing design team, is these modifiers don’t just make the game more approachable. It makes it way more brutal, which I think is super cool.”

He went on to discuss the major difficulty spike that pops up in Returnal when players reach its second biome – the Crimson Wastes. Bringing up the fact that players would praise Returnal after reaching its second biome, Louden made note of the fact that the same players would then likely get blocked by the difficulty spike.

“What we did find is once people got through the second biome, they loved the game,” Louden said. “They say it’s one of the best PlayStation 5 games for them. How can we share this experience, and how can we get even more people to love what we’re building? And then the dream for us is once they love Saros, they go back through 30 years of Housemarque history and jump into Returnal and Nex Machina and Matterfall and Resogun and Alienation and Dead Nation. We have a rich history, so it’s just about wanting to get even more people to understand the Housemarque experience.”

For Häkli, the reasoning behind making Saros more approachable than Returnal was simple – he wanted to make sure that more people could enjoy the title. He also reaffirmed that Saros isn’t quite that much easier than Returnal. Rather, it is simply more approachable since players have more room to experiment with weapon types and their own movesets.

“I wanted to enable more people to enjoy these games,” Häkli said. “I knew that Returnal was brutal, so that was the impetus to start building something that is more approachable, but not necessarily making it easier. Just figuring out ways of giving players more room and time to learn the ropes and understand the mechanics, because everything is really circling around the flow state. Internalizing the inputs, understanding what’s going on, having the confidence that I can do this.”

“When it clicks, it’s something unlike any other game,” Häkli continued. “And I just want to make sure that more people will experience that rather than leave it for a very small niche that only the hardcore players will understand.”

Saros is available on PS5. For more details, check out our review.

Dashing in Mid-Air While Shielding

When you’re not shielding, dashing or jumping over projectiles, you’ll often end up having to do all three. For instance, the enemies in the Ancient Depths, which disperse waves of blue projectiles that you need to jump over yellow bullets to absorb if you’re not willing to take on Corruption, though there are some benefits to it that we’ll go over in a bit.

Perk Effects and Their Duration

Not all weapon perks are simply about different kinds of damage. Some can have specific requirements, like weapon damage directly generating Power. Others are less obvious, and it can often be easy to miss their effects in combat. So pay attention to the upper left of your screen – a small icon will indicate their activation and how long it lasts, allowing you to take advantage of it at the best times.

Attribute Volatility

As you rapidly approach the endgame, you’ll start to notice something called Attribute Volatility on different Artifacts. These let you break the cap on different stats, thus allowing something like, say, Integrity to go much higher than intended. There are drawbacks, however. Breaking the cap on Integrity means that you can’t see enemy health, so when fighting a enemy, their HP bar is just grey (until it’s fully depleted and removed). Be especially careful of Drive Volatility, since that will cause all Lucenite to be lost if you die. No exceptions.

Parry Energy and Aiming

Parrying is more than just a defensive mechanism, meant to swat away Nova or red-colored projectiles. It’s also an offensive tool, as the energy from a parry travels in a straight line towards your target, obliterating them through red shields. However, it can be aimed with the reticle, so if a enemy launches red projectiles at you, simply aim directly at them to send the parry energy their way. It may not deal the most damage, but it’s excellent for building up stagger, even on Elites.

Overdrive

Your Ultimate, and what an Ultimate it is. Overdrive is built up over time and unleashes a powerful area of effects attack that can outright kill Elites and heavily damage enemies. You’re invincible while casting it, and best of all, any enemies slain by it will drop Aether, making for a good snap response when overwhelmed. But it can be even better with upgrades (many requiring Halcyon) that can increase its damage, blast radius and even build up from damage dealt.

Turning Corruption into Damage Resistance

Contrary to what Coldplay says, yellow isn’t the nicest color on Carcosa, especially when you’re taking on too much Corruption. The risk vs reward aspect is obvious, especially after taking the upgrade that lets you absorb yellow projectiles to feed your Power weapon. However, if you find an Artifact that increases damage resistance based on the amount of Corruption, then it can become a valuable tool for survival. Just don’t go overboard with it – you can’t die from Corruption, but no amount of damage resistance will save you at 1 HP.

Shield Upgrades

Whether you’re adamant on tanking damage through Corruption or not, scope out the Armor Matrix for upgrades to your Soltari shield, including those that reduce the damage taken from it. Parries reducing Corruption is also recommended, especially in later enemy fights when you’re facing a barrage of different colors.

Quick Shield Activation

The Soltari shield is tied to your melee button, and it won’t take long for you to realize that you can activate it at the last second to absorb projectiles. With such low activation time, it isn’t difficult to absorb waves of blue projectiles, unleash a Power shot at a enemy, and then immediately absorb the next wave. Such windows for absorption become even tighter in future enemy fights, so learn to juggle between activating your shield and then quickly transitioning to damage.

Staggers and Executions

At first glance, pistols and shotguns aren’t all they’re cracked up to be; the former is held back by low ammo and constant reloading, while the latter lacks range (even though incendiary rounds can be good). However, they are good at building stagger, especially with perks like Cover Fire. Once you obtain an upgrade to your melee attack, which allows for teleporting to enemies after they’ve been staggered, you can initiate gory kills, complete with health regen if you increase the chances of Aether dropping.

Weapon Stats Scale to Attributes

Attributes don’t just dictate your overall health, shield or Lucenite gain – they can also influence the scaling of weapon stats. This can be checked whenever you’re picking up a new weapon, so if you want to spec into a higher clip size or damage accumulation, it may help in build planning, especially when looking at which Artifacts to prioritize.

Weak Points and Turning Off Auto Hit

Auto Hit can be great if you want to focus on dodging projectiles while ensuring consistent damage. But there are benefits to turning it off, which vary on a weapon-to-weapon basis. All enemies have a blue weak spot, which takes more damage from direct hits, and there’s no better method than with weapons that turn off Auto Hit. Prioritize as per your preference, but if you want to up your damage potential, then it’s worth a shot.

When to Reduce Lucenite Gain

The Carcosan Modifiers allow for highly customizing the level of difficulty that you want out of Saros. Picking higher damage dealt and reduced damage taken is always ideal, but with how many points they cost, it can be difficult to balance the appropriate Trials. Well, if you’ve hit a wall with your current upgrades, which usually happens because you need to kill a enemy, go ahead and enable reduced Lucenite gained when returning to The Passage. This cuts back on the amount of Lucenite earned from a cycle, but it’s worth so much as a Trial that it offers enough wiggle room for protection modifiers.

Unlimited Protection Modifiers

If you don’t want to bother with the whole balancing act whatsoever, good news: You can enable all protection modifiers without any consequence. Just go to the settings under gameplay and enable Unlimited Protection Modifiers. Is it essentially Easy Mode? Yes, but for those who simply want to get on with the story and surpass a super difficult enemy, it’s always an option.

Choosing Your Favorite Weapon

Returning to The Passage – be it through death or teleportation – will result in Arjun keeping his current weapon. It won’t have all the unlocked perks for balancing reasons, but if you enable the Weapon Symmetry protection modifier, then the next found weapon is more likely to be similar to the current one. Wait for a better version to pop up with the desired perks and then resume slaughtering at a leisurely pace.

Optional Eclipse

The Eclipse is a game-changing effect, transforming Carcosa and resulting in more corrupting projectiles. And while it’s mandatory for the first few biomes, or depending on the story, you don’t always have to enable it. If you’re just looking for a stroll by the coast, feel free to ignore the outstretched hands, although you’ll miss out on Corrupted weapons and Artifacts (which are worth pursuing despite the latter’s negative effects).

This guide is a listing of the best weapons and all four power weapons to be found in SAROS.

Best Handcannon

Ricochet Handcannon

Shattered Rise

While all three Handcannons become available in the very first biome, the Ricochet Handcannon stands out for its penetration and, as the name implies, its ability to ricochet rounds off of the environment. Whether in primary or alternate fire mode, it will shred through clumped enemies quickly.

Best Rifle

Smart Rifle

Shattered Rise

One of three rifles in the game, the Smart Rifle’s alternate fire mode can home in on targets, which is a blessing when combined with its high rate of fire.

Best Shotgun

Annihilator Shotgun

Ancient Depths

The primary fire mode has a standard horizontal spread pattern. The real draw is the alternate fire launcher that fires a grenade which detonates on impact and has a significant area of effect.

Best Crossbow

Bifurcator Crossbow

Shattered Descent

This crossbow has a perfect combination of the fire modes from the other two crossbows. The primary fire mode can be charged to stack bolts over time, and then released as a spreading volley that can home by either letting go of R2 or dashing.

The alternate fire mode is a simple single shot that then splits up on impact with a weakpoint, into additional projectiles that can home in.

Best Chakram

Ripsaw Chakram

Acolyte’s Heaven

R2 fires projectiles that bury themselves in targets, which can then do increased tick damage through the use of alternate fire.

All Power Weapons

Prominence

Shattered Rise

Hold down L2 and press R2 to fire a staggering area-of-effect explosive round.

Dispiritor

Ancient Depths

This weapon does tick damage and can be continually redirected at several targets. Targets eliminated by this weapons then spawn a short-lived projectile spewing turret.

Nova Lance

Desecrated Fortress

Hold down both L2 and R2 for a charged penetrating shot that only fires on release.

Illumine

Cathedral

Fire a charged-up lock-on beam that does persistent damage based on Power availability.

Those are some of the best weapons as well as all four of the power weapons in SAROS.

This SAROS guide is all about where you can go about finding all the Halcyon you could possibly need.

Red Containers

Containers are the primary source of Halcyon on your runs, offered as one of the two choices when you open them. Even so, they are not a guaranteed choice, and you may need to grind for several Cycles to amass enough Halcyon. Whenever the opportunity does arise, Halcyon is the recommended choice, no matter what the other reward is, as it has more permanent utility.

Alphas/Enemies

Both mini-enemies and enemies have a Halcyon drop chance, but once again, this is not guaranteed. With sufficient firepower at your disposal, you can potentially attempt to farm Alphas quickly and painlessly for Halcyon.

Nightmare Gates/Strands

The seven Nightmare Strands present an additional challenge, which in turn offer you better rewards including Halcyon. The Strands primarily serve to recharge your Second Chance, one of the upgrades you will be spending Halcyon on, in the Armor Matrix. Second Chance lets you recover from a losing Cycle, and is one of the first upgrades you should aim for when the opportunity arises.

Bear in mind that the Halcyon available in a given biome has a predetermined maximum, which you can observe for yourself via the World Dial. Be sure to keep track of this, so as to avoid wasting time searching every nook and cranny of a biome where you have already exhausted the limited Halcyon supply. 

Collecting just 70 Halcyon will unlock the ‘Eclipse’s Gift’ trophy/achievement. The sum total of Halcyon across the biomes is over 160, so this is easily achievable.

When spending Halcyon, be sure to prioritize reducing penalties for dying, and Second Chance. These upgrades will greatly improve the gameplay experience during Cycles.

Those are all the ways to get Halcyon quickly and efficiently in SAROS.