We were able to speak with Housemarque‘s Gregory Louden, Creative Director and Matti Häkli, Associate Design Director, Game Design, about SAROS. After wrapping up the story and reaching the true ending, we had some questions and decided it was time to get to the bottom of things.
In an interview with Console Creatures, Housemarque offers insight into the inspirations for SAROS, how the studio balanced progression through the skill tree, and the fun builds the developers used during their playthroughs.
It’s an enlightening look into the minds behind one of PlayStation’s newest games, and we are thankful for the chance to speak with such a great team.
Console Creatures: How did the inspiration from Robert W. Chambers’s The King in Yellow first take shape? Was it always the plan to shape the game’s themes around the Yellow King and to tie this very cosmic-horror narrative to very real human struggles?
Gregory Louden: The King in Yellow came from our desire to reach the deepest origins of cosmic horror. We explored Lovecraft in Returnal, and wanted a new means to explore cosmic horror in SAROS. We decided to use The King in Yellow right at the beginning of the game’s production. We found it had many deep layers that let players get lost in our story.
Console Creatures: There seem to be very deliberate gates in place to prevent players from breaking the game from a power standpoint. Whether it’s gating off progression in the skill tree or having caps within the modifier system, one of the core things that stood out to me about Saros is how many gameplay hooks, systems, or features seem to be a reactionary improvement from Returnal. How much of the audience’s reception of its predecessor influenced what’s available in SAROS?
Matti Häkli: We certainly listened to the feedback and deconstructed Returnal to understand better the areas we wanted to improve and where we wanted to go next. However, I wouldn’t characterize these changes as ‘reactionary’ improvements; rather, they are an evolution of the game’s DNA. We knew we had something special with Returnal. Our impetus was to understand better how we could enable even more players to experience the flow-state gameplay at the core of both Returnal and SAROS.
This (the impetus) is part of why SAROS is its own title rather than Returnal 2. We wanted both games to stand on their own, taking slightly different approaches to bullet ballet and to facilitating that flow state for the player.
Console Creatures: Sheridan Bouchard was an obvious standout supporting character due to the fact that she’s played by Jane Perry. Does her inclusion rule out any possible universal ties between Returnal and SAROS?
Gregory Louden: Jane Perry is a fantastic actor and person. So once again, we wanted to work with her on our new game. In SAROS, she plays an all-new character.
Console Creatures: How do you balance storytelling elements while not inherently spelling out the situation?
Gregory Louden: It is a fine balance between wanting to create something that is mysterious but also wanting to create something that is understandable. There’s a fine line between mystery and confusion so for us it took a lot of iteration in order to find the balance of mystery that we wanted to create for our players. SAROS is about piecing together the story, and it’s a story that challenges you the same way our gameplay challenges you.
Console Creatures: When planning your story beats, how do you assemble them when dealing with a roguelike structure?
Gregory Louden: When designing a story with rogue-like elements, you need to let go of linear storytelling. So we write all of the individual parts of the story and the elements we’d like to reveal to you, biome by biome, but the way it is pieced together by every player is unique. For example, you can find an audio log in one specific run that another player would find in a very different time in their experience in that biome. We love this type of storytelling, and it means every player’s journey in SAROS is different
Console Creatures: What is it about cosmic horror that you find so appealing? Is there something you would love to tackle one day that fits into the category?
Gregory Louden: We enjoy exploring cosmic horror because it is about the feeling of insignificance in the face of something from the dark, vast beyond. It is a style of storytelling and horror that is deeply mysterious and haunting, which aligns with the goal of the story we wanted to tell for our players.
Console Creatures: What films, television shows, and musical artists help inspire you when developing a pitch or when developing a game? Is there a specific mindset you enter when developing concepts?
Gregory Louden: We are inspired by everything when we create our games at Housemarque. We love classic science fiction, we love classic horror and thrillers, but for us, it’s about creating something unique for players that draws on all of these inspirations and, ideally, creates a whole new dark science fiction world for them to get lost in.
Console Creatures: Tell us some of your favourite weapon builds and artifacts! Anything you’d like to pass along to our readers as they explore biomes?
Matti Häkli: I love the shotguns and the strategy around stagger buildup. Combined with parry and other late-game upgrades, and artifacts that enhance melee kills, the aggressive gameplay with shotguns and stagger brings that high-risk, high-reward strategy that makes the game so fun!
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
