Housemarque's new Lovecraft-in-neon sci-fi shooter, Saros, raises a pertinent question about games that center on repetition finding themselves trapped in their own thematic loops. This new title proves to be strikingly reminiscent of the developer's previous Lovecraft-inspired shooter, Returnal. While this isn't entirely a negative aspect, given Returnal's critical acclaim, it suggests a development philosophy focused more on subtle refinements than on groundbreaking innovation. This is somewhat ironic considering that a primary theme within Saros itself is the seductive, all-consuming power of ambition.

Saros diverges from the alien impulses that drive its characters into madness, opting instead for a comfortable progression rather than a descent into gleeful excess. The game presents an original story, distinct from Housemarque's prior works, commencing shortly after the space colonization ship Echelon IV arrives on the hostile alien planet Carcosa. This world is teeming with dangerous extraterrestrial life and harbors its own unique resource, a miracle mineral named Lucenite.

The name Echelon IV hints at previous attempts at human exploitation of Carcosa. Indeed, the ship's crew are elite troubleshooters dispatched because the preceding three colonization endeavors went silent amid reports of mysterious, malevolent events occurring during the planet's frequent, unpredictable eclipses. Predictably, it isn't long before the crew of Echelon IV begins to experience these same terrifying phenomena.

This collection of space-horror tropes forms one of Saros's initial challenges, particularly in its first half: a 'paint-by-numbers' approach to its character roster and the unfolding narrative of otherworldly insanity that engulfs them. Returnal effectively circumvented some of these issues by emphasizing isolation, with the protagonist's voice often being the sole human sound for extended periods. Saros, however, lacks this focused approach and struggles with crafting compelling dialogue between its human characters. Players will spend their initial hours navigating a series of archetypal characters, each succumbing to madness in highly predictable ways.

This predictability extends to the player character, Arjun Devraj, portrayed with a minimal yet sufficient level of charisma and impressive motion capture by Rahul Kohli. Without delving into spoilers, Devraj's motivations for coming to Carcosa and the specific ways the planet's madness infects him are largely what one might anticipate from the outset.

Saros's narrative significantly strengthens in its latter half, where it sharpens its satirical edge and delves more deeply into its literary inspirations, moving beyond superficial references to authors like Robert Chambers. Even as it builds towards a more engaging climax, roughly 25 hours into gameplay, the game never entirely sheds a fundamental sense of sci-fi predictability. Despite shinier bullets and stranger monsters, the core story elements often feel like something players have encountered before.