Saros is blowing up with a 90 OpenCritic score. It's bigger, badder, and less punishing than Returnal. Here's why Reddit is losing its mind over this PS5 game.
It’s 3 AM, my eyes are bleeding from a shader bug that refuses to die, and suddenly my feed is blowing up with Saros review scores. Bro, Housemarque just dropped a 90+ OpenCritic nuke on us, proving they are still the absolute chads of the PS5 era.
TL;DR for those who skip patch notes: Saros is a third-person bullet-hell roguelite, hitting PS5 on April 30, 2026. Out of 61 critics, 93% are telling you to buy this immediately.
Basically, this is Returnal 2.0. The core gameplay loop—frantic dodging, chaotic weapon builds, and sweaty boss fights—is fully intact. But Housemarque actually listened to the players who rage-quit the first game. They implemented permanent progression systems and difficulty modifiers (Eclipses). It respects your time way more. You don't lose literally everything when a random mob one-shots you. It’s tough, but it’s fair.
The only real nerf? The narrative. Outlets like IGN and Eurogamer noted that the story is as tangled as legacy spaghetti code. It interrupts the pacing when you just want to keep blasting aliens.
Jump into the r/Games thread and it’s a pure hype train. A user named OptimismEnjoyer nailed it: "Wasn't expecting 90-94 range... this just sealed it given it's exactly what I asked for: Bigger Returnal."
The other half of the thread is just traumatized noobs asking if it’s as punishing as its predecessor. A reviewer chilling in the comments confirmed it’s much more accessible. You still need to git gud, but the permanent upgrades act as a solid safety net. No more playing for 3 hours only to end up back at the ship with zero progress.
From a dev perspective, Saros is a masterclass in iteration. Housemarque didn’t scrap their engine or chase some dumb live-service trend. They took a solid MVP (Returnal), profiled the bottlenecks (player frustration, lack of persistent rewards), and pushed a massive QoL update wrapped in a new coat of paint. It’s like updating your vps stack—you don't burn down the server, you just optimize the queries.
Overall, Saros looks like an absolute banger and a heavy GOTY contender. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go pre-order this bad boy and mentally prepare to get my ass kicked. GG.
Source: Reddit - Saros Review Thread
