Housemarque's New PS5 Game Will Be a Little Less Punishing Than Returnal | Push Square

pushsquare.com:

Returnal is comfortably one of the best PS5 games, but it wasn’t everyone’s cup of coffee.

Sci-fi roguelite action

Some fans didn’t like how punishing the roguelike was, as while there were tiny elements of progression, you were generally forced to start from scratch with each new run. While plenty of people loved this element of the game, others bounced off it, feeling they weren’t making any meaningful progress.

That’s where developer Housemarque’s new title will differ, however. According to creative director Gregory Louden on the PS Blog, the upcoming Saros – due out in 2026 – will feature “permanent resources and progression making every death valuable”.

He explained: “After every death you will face a changed world, but in Saros you will be able to choose and permanently upgrade your loadout from an evolving set of weapons and suit upgrades to ‘come back stronger’ to overcome the challenges you face on Carcosa.”

So, while we fully expect this game to offer Housemarque’s traditional flow of tough arcade gameplay, it seems that those looking for a sense of gradual progression will be rewarded here. This looks like it’s shaping up to be another potential award winner from one of Sony’s best studios.

Louden concluded: “We cannot wait to share more about our gameplay, art, audio, music, technology, story, how we push the PS5 console hardware, and more from everyone working on Saros. This is a dream project made by a dream team.”

We’re excited!

As the Editor of Push Square, Sammy has over 15 years of experience analysing the world of PlayStation, from PS3 through PS5 and everything in between. He’s an expert on PS Studios and industry matters, as well as sports games and simulators. He also enjoys RPGs when he has the time to dedicate to them, and is a bit of a gacha whale.

I quite liked returnable and this sounds interesting although I'd like housemarque to remaster some of their older titles.

So it's like… Sifu? Iirc that game did a similar thing where when you