Thanks toinvitation, Iattended the offline demo event for "Saros Cycle" on April 8th.asanother "space horror+bullet hell shooter+Roguelike exploration" game. Since the announcement of "Saros Cycle," I have hadhigh expectations for it.
Personally, I believe,Housemarque is probably the studio among game developers that best,tointerprets the narrative aesthetics of the sci-fi classic "Solaris".which isA narrative structure of "arriving in an alien land, only to look inward"—Struggling to survive in the oppressive, cold atmosphere of space in the early stages, the process involves clearing the fog and interrogating oneself, ultimately facing the judgment of one's sins. To put it bluntly, the "Solaris aesthetic" can be understood as a "Silent Hill" mechanism, where the planet reads the characters' deep memories and materializes them into physical projections.
Additionally, besides"External sci-fi exploration, internal psychologicalanalysis" dimensions, another characteristic of Housemarque games is their love for mythological metaphors. For instance, in "Returnal," the protagonist is named Selene, her mother is Theia, and her ship is Helios, corresponding to the Moon Goddess, Moon Titan, and Sun God in Greek mythology, respectively. These names symbolize the protagonist's family relationships and serve as important clues for deciphering its fragmented narrative.
In "Saros Cycle," Housemarque seems to be employing similar tactics. For instance, the eight-armed Asura in the promotional video strongly resembles features of Vishnu and Shiva from Indian mythology. Correspondingly, the male protagonist'sThe name "Yajing" (Arjun), also resembles the divine hero from the Indian epic "Mahabharata"Yajingna(Arjuna)very similar, plus the face model actor is also of Indian descent, so I reasonably suspect: "Saros Cycle" contains numerous Hindu metaphors.
In the ancient Indian epicIn the "Mahabharata",Yajingna(Arjuna)is a core character, equivalent to Odysseus in "The Odyssey." He is renowned for his exquisite archery skills and mastery of celestial weapons, which fits Yajing's tough image in the game, being proficient with firearms and quickly mastering alien weapons. If this isn't an over-interpretation, there's a scene in the original "Mahabharata" where Yajing dresses in women's clothing and dances, and I hope the official release will include metaphors for this.
Moreover, the game stage of "Saros Cycle""Planet Carcosa"—The name Carcosa also has its origins. In horror literature, it is often described as having a dark starry sky, bordering an endless lake, and two black suns overhead. It is depicted as a mysterious, desolate lost city filled with indescribable entities. Fans of Cthulhu Mythos have probably already recognized that this name comes from "The King in Yellow."
So, I can understand it this way: Carcosa is an abandoned ruin of an alien civilization destroyed by madness, the infinite loop of Roguelike gameplay symbolizes the cycle of life and death in Hinduism, and the process of shooting and exploring gradually digs into the character's psyche. Thus, a signature Housemarque feast is prepared in the same manner. Its narrative and gameplay fit together self-consistently, especially for players who enjoy this system, piecing together the fragments of the story,Uncovering the truth shrouded in layers of fog is alsoone of the key pleasures of Housemarque games.
Of course, since I only played for three hours during the offline demo, the above thoughts are mostly my personal conjectures. The only confirmed story detail now is that the protagonist, Yajing, works for"Sodari" Interstellar Corporation. This company once sentThree colonial teams were sent to Planet Carcosa, but all subsequently went silent. Therefore, the company dispatched a fourth expedition team, represented by Yajing, to investigate and conduct search and rescue on this planet. During this process, certain events must have occurred. From the dialogues, I could sense that the team did not get along well, with a sense of paranoia and madness spreading among its members.
Of course, another major benefit of fragmented narrative is that even if players completely fail to understand the plot,Even if players are not interested in the narrative at all, the interactive experience of the core gameplay is self-consistent and unaffected. AndHousemarque's "space horror + bullet hell shooter + Roguelike exploration" gameplay has no substitute,The hardcore experience is close to arcade games.
To translate, it means"very challenging."
Avoiding dense bullet patterns already requires intense concentration, yet the level design is filled with high platforms and abysses, causing me to frequently fall off cliffs while spamming dodge—although the game's punishment isn't strict enough to cause immediate death, the necessary health loss was still annoying. It took me quite some time to adapt to the interaction rhythm of "Saros Cycle."
Reflecting now, the reason for the suffering is that the design philosophy of "Saros Cycle" has changed compared to "Returnal." "Returnal" encourages dodging, but the core gameplay of "Saros Cycle" does not encourage evasive maneuvers. Instead, it encourages me to charge into the bullet patterns, converting resources between offense and defense by countering based on color cues amidst the enemy's bullet hell.
Specifically, in the gameEarly in the game, Yajing discovers an alien relic that grants his arm the ability to store and firethe ability to harness the energy of "Planet Carcosa." In terms of gameplay, this means we can hold down the R1 shoulder button on the controller for all blue bullet patterns fired by enemies,activate the shield to"absorb." After absorption, shield energy accumulates, which not only blocks bullet patterns but can also be fired as an energy bomb once sufficiently charged, causing high-damage explosions.
In other words, "Saros Cycle" does not follow the traditional shooter approach of using cover and kiting. It is more similar to the style of "DOOM: The Dark Ages," requiring us to constantly observe color cues from enemy attacks and think about how to counter threats. For example, the battle shown below is typical,The BOSS's attacks leave almost no room for evasion, but if you activate your shield and move into the blue area, that attack will charge Yajing's energy.
This tense survival bullet-hell interaction feels as satisfying as a tough guy tearing through an encirclement.
However, having a shield doesn't mean Yajing cantopcharging headfirst through hail of bullets.Because, in "Saros Cycle," there exists a mechanic called"Eclipse" mechanic,It is inevitably triggered in the first two levels I played. After an Eclipse, the entire environmental ecology changes—For example, swamp waters become scalding to players after an Eclipse begins, enemies become more aggressive, and they fire yellow bullet patterns. Even if blocked by a shield, getting hit reduces the maximum health bar.
Combined with the aforementioned cliff terrain and grass terrain that restricts dodging and movement upon stepping, my controls eventually became akin to those of veteran "Monster Hunter" or "Armored Core" playersthat kind ofC-hand grip, and if I don't master various techniques proficiently, a single mistake could lead to instant death.
The good news is, to match the more high-pressure rhythm, "Saros Cycle" borrows manyclassic Roguelike game designs. Therefore, compared to "Returnal," "Saros Cycle" has a more pronounced meta-progression curve. Enemies defeated by Yajing drop Light Ore, which is retained for the next run, allowing players to upgrade in the main base area. Besides increasing attributes like max health and max energy, mid-game unlocksNew mechanics like "Second Life".
It wasn't until later, while organizing materials, that I discovered it also has a heat mechanism similar to "Hades," allowing players to customize game difficulty. We can increase risk for greater rewards, or lower enemy strength for a smoother playthrough, making completion easier.
Additionally, "Saros Cycle" introduces a level selection mechanism. In other words, we don't need to start from the beginning every time we die and restart, as is common in most Roguelike games. Instead, we can choose to continue from specific levels, providing great convenience for farming resources or playing in fragmented time slots.
Looking back, although the game provides many conveniences, the reason "Saros Cycle" still felt difficult during my demo playthrough,may lie inthe Roguelike gameplay in Housemarque games,quite cult-like.
Whether in "Returnal" or "Saros Cycle," the depth of traditional Roguelike build customization is limited. This means thatHousemarque did not emphasize luck factors, which means the negative feedback I received upon failing in the game felt real, making it hard to console myself by blaming it on bad luck for that run.
However, what it offers in return, besides demanding hardcore operational skills, is intricately linked levels—it's evident that the levels in "Saros Cycle" are primarily hand-crafted, with Roguelike elements randomly connecting these challenging segments. Furthermore, it incorporates some Metroidvania design elements; doors in certain random branching paths cannot be opened early on. Only after obtaining specific items later in the game can I use new tools to open these doors, entering to collect resources and story fragments.
Particularly worthy of praise is the game's concise yet sci-fi styledUI, providing me with a precise 3D navigation map in the bottom right corner. Personally, I struggle with multi-layered立体 designs in games; most games with multi-layer maps give me a poor experience, and I easily get lost after taking a few steps. However, both "Returnal" and "Saros Cycle" provide clear hints, always allowing me to proceed with confidencesmooth exploration paths and map details. To some extent, this gaming experience is less like a Roguelike game and closer to the design philosophy of box-garden (hakoniwa) games.
As a driving force for exploration, the previously mentioned Light Ore resources are representative. Because, although theoretically there exists a direct path tothe golden route to BOSS rooms, but fighting more enemies yields more meta-progression resources, making me willing to take more detours.Moreover, Light Ore alsotied to the character's level within the run, meaning we only gain higher levels and faceBOSS fights to have higher levels and margin for error.
Of course, weapons are also the core reward of Roguelike exploration. So, in the final part, I want to discussGunplay experience.
Regarding this, my first impression is that, due to adaptation forDualSense controller haptic feedback, includingheavy pistols, rifles, shotguns,energy weapons, etc.,game'sThe gunplay feels quite excellent. However, due to console exclusivity requiringconsiderPlayStation 5players'scontroller operation habits, "Saros Cycle" provides powerful aim assist,堪称full-auto aim assistshooting.Therefore, I believe its shooting experience leans more towards the action aspect, allowing me to focus on the offensive and defensive interactions with bullet patterns without worrying about accuracy, simply unleashing bullets.
This shooting logic actually reminds me of bullet-hell games like Contra, Psikyo titles, orthe Touhou Project series. It emphasizes the cycle of positioning, dodging, activating shields, and counterattacking. To make this cycle smoother, Saros Cycle does not provide manual reloading. Instead, when bullets run out, a music-game-like "reload slider" appears on screen. When the reload slider reaches a specific area, pressing the fire button completes a "quick reload," allowing me to transition more smoothly into the next offensive-defensive cycle. I believe this "fast reload" acts like a metronome, accompanied by drum-like sound effects, giving me the thrill of dancing through a barrage of bullets.
Additionally, all weapons actually have two firing modes: one is Primary Fire, and the other is Secondary Fire. Primary Fire is the standard mode with aim assist mentioned above. Secondary Fire better embodies the roguelike elements, with typically random modifiers. A typical example is"Precision Shooting," where we can completely forego aim assist for manual control, exchanging it for greater bullet damage., as well asnavigation tracking, charged shots, bullet ricochet, and other modifiers. How we choose among them during a run tests our understanding of the levels.
For example, in the first level'sboss, an alien plant, has a period of invincibility during each combat phase. At this time, I must first destroy its exposed buds to remove the invincibility. So once I get a weapon with "Secondary Fire"asthat causes bullets to ricochet, thisthe boss's difficulty will be greatly reduced.
Finally, themost uniqueGunplaydesign lies in the fact that activating secondary mode isn't done via a specific button, but requires lightly pressing the L2 left trigger for aiming. In other words, it fully utilizes theDualSenseadaptive triggers of the controller, elevating tactile feedback to an interactive dimension. Although I often worry about applying too much force and triggering accidental inputs in high-pressure situations, the tactile feedback from the trigger resistance indeed gives me a sensation akin to holding a real gun, making this haptic interaction quite interesting.
In summary,Saros Cycle gave me3 hoursdemo impressions, it is a highly challenging game. Its unique bullet-hell interaction logic requires us to constantly keep an eye on threats from all directions, promptly devise countermeasures, and turn those threats into our own weapons. The difficulty curve isn't exactly smooth, but you can feel the system continuously guiding player growth and learning. Once I adapted to the game's rhythm, the enemies' bullets became drumbeats for my dance moves, complementing the magnificent style of the heavy metal soundtrack, which was especially exhilarating. If Saros Cycle had a multiplayer mode like Returnal, the difficulty wouldn't be much of an issue.
As for the narrative, one point to add is that the protagonist, Yajiong, experiences inexplicable visions after each death. Strictly speaking, I'm not particularly fond of such frequent forced narrative insertions, but considering they wrote the script for Returnal, I have even higher expectations:Housemarque will use those mythological metaphors, what kind of story will they tell?
After all, an interpretation like "Indian tough guy battles Cthulhu"... sounds like it has the narrative depth typical of Housemarque.
