With the first half of 2026 having a bit more breathing room after Grand Theft Auto 6’s delay, it’s worth noting games like Housemarque’s Saros. While a clear successor to Returnal with even more rogue-like elements, there’s plenty new beyond the gameplay. A new post outlined the team’s reactions to the latest trailer, and how every “system, visual effect, and bullet pattern reflects our focus on pushing gameplay forward.”
First up is art director Simone Silvestri, who described the aesthetic as “a fusion of neoclassicism and Italian futurism.” So while traversing Carcosa and its constantly-changing environments, it’ll feel both “organic and hauntingly structured” with “sweeping shapes and alien geometry designed to draw players deeper” in.
Unlike Selene, Saros protagonist Arjun Devraj is more tuned towards combat, running with a Soltari Shield that can absorb bullets. This allows for “entirely new strategies,” says lead game designer Abebe Tinari, “Giving a secondary method for approaching the chaos, now with an upside of gaining strength and firepower.” Interestingly, it also influenced how Housemarque designed its bullet patterns, so expect that to play into encounters and even puzzles.
Quick question: What’s the most notable technical standout of Returnal? The lighting? The particles, especially given the countless number of bullets on-screen? The developer is expanding on all this with layered dynamic particle systems, reactive lighting, rigid-body particle simulation for its bullets (which have “never looked sharper or felt more dynamic,” says Tinari) and even more immersive environmental destruction. However, it’s also touting the return of its “tentacle technology.”
Mixing “hand-made animation with procedural systems” for “realism and unpredictability,” the technology extends to simulated limbs, cables, and much more. All of these boast realistic physics, but above all else, remember the tentacles.
Saros launches on March 20th, 2026, for PS5.
