4mo ago

When Housemarque's Saros comes out, do you think the industry will look back at Returnal as their Demon's Souls moment?

I think if Saros delivers, Housemarque will find themselves as the only player in a brand new genre of games, similar to what FromSoft established with the Souls games and the resulting Soulslike genre.

Prepare for the Returnal-likes.

7 comments

Returnal-likes? Returnal is just a rogue-like bullet hell game. It's a good game, don't get me wrong, but to say it's going to create an entirely new genre is a stretch considering it's not even really anything new
- Well Souls-like become a genre after Dark Souls, previously it was just a difficult Action RPG game.
  I haven't played Returnal yet though, does it introduce no newer mechanics (or a new take on existing mechanics) that can have it stand as it's own sub-genre?
  All it takes is few unique mechanics that other start using, and people calling it "Returnal-like" or something. But if it doesn't have anything unique like that, which other may copy, then I doubt it.
  
  The most unique mechanic I can think of is the adrenaline system which makes you stronger as you kill more enemies without getting hit. However a bullet hell or a rogue-like that rewards you for not getting hit doesn't feel nearly as innovative as both the bonfire system and the Souls games freedom of build options in my opinion
- What about the death mechanic? You mention the active play aspects… but the death-loop is another mechanic that could be exploited further, possibly by this new game. It’s not a unique aspect at this point but could be a defining feature if refined into the gameplay loop proper.
I have never seen anything like the parasites, malignancy, and many other "devil's bargains" the game forces you to take, managing advantages against handicaps while you play. Maybe that's a roguelike feature but it's new in AAA 3D shooters. The procedural generation of environments too is new and could be pushed further in Saros. Most of all it's just a very well made game, tightly tuned to deliver exciting gameplay that feels challenging the whole time, even on repeated plays.
- If you are familiar with Hades' "God mode" option, or just their persistent level up currency between runs, I think this is the approach they are taking with Saros. They want Returnal and any potential direct Returnal sequels to maintain their difficulty and challenge, but they mentioned in their briefing they you get more and more powerful each run in Saros. They must have internal metrics on this and they have to know that many people have never finished the game. Hell, I didn't for a long time and recently got up to just before beating Biome 6 myself (still trying to make the final push). I expect Saros to be difficult but also give players progression to ultimately finished the game compared to Returnal.

7 comments