Finnish developer Housemarque took something of a big swing with Returnal back in 2021. A roguelite bullet-hell shooter is an easy sell for an indie title, but bringing that genre into the AAA space was a gamble. Thankfully, it was a gamble that paid off, with Returnal’s sci-fi setting, tight gameplay, and high production value resonating with its audience, even if that audience was somewhat limited due to the game’s high difficulty bar. For Housemarque’s latest release, Saros, difficulty is still at its core, but so too is approachability and player agency in its gameplay.
Fresh off hitting credits with Saros, I had the amazing opportunity to sit down with Housemarque’s Creative Director, Gregory Louden, and Art Director Simone Silvestri. During our chat, the pair explained the team’s artistic vision behind Saros, the importance of the “come back stronger” ethos, and the challenges and opportunities of telling a dark sci-fi horror narrative within a roguelite structure.
WellPlayed: I wanted to start off by talking about the synergy between Saros’ gameplay and its narrative. Can you speak to the difficulties and opportunities that come with telling a story within a roguelike structure?
Gregory Louden: I’d say for us with Saros, obviously, we’re building on our success from Returnal. So, [with] Returnal, we had the sort of cycle structure and all of those elements. So I remember back on Returnal learning that, after working on so many linear narrative games, you almost had to let go. It’s okay that players get the story in different ways, and if anything, it makes it more special.
So, taking that experience and then coming to Saros, it was about wanting to take it to the next level. So how can we continue to push the narrative, and how can we have the narrative unlock and reward the gameplay?
So the way we looked at it is that our story is always optional. It’s something you opt into. But whenever there’s meaningful action for the player in gameplay, we usually have a meaningful story moment. So we try to make the story really synergise, to your word. So that way it feels like when you have the triumph of overcoming a boss or overcoming a meaningful gameplay moment, you then have the opposing narrative, which adds more momentum to the story and pulls you forward.
And then for the rogue structure, the shapeshifting world, it’s just about using that opportunity to really allow every story to be each player’s. So for you playing Saros, Simone or I, we would have gotten [a different experience]. The cool thing for me, working on this game for years, is every time I play, I get a little bit of a different story. I get the story chunks in a different order, which is something that only games can do, which is really exciting.
WP: Something that I really enjoyed is that character dialogue and journal entries are used to overtly tell the story, but I found in my playthrough that Carcosa’s visual design is just as important in conveying the plot. Can you walk me through the process of designing this alien world of Carcosa and how you leverage those design elements to show rather than tell to push the story forward?
Simone Silvestri: It was fundamental that we started from some thread when we started to design the world. When I joined, we went through the story with Greg, and it was such a cool narrative journey and such a cool, interesting mood and tone, and we wanted to make sure we complemented it.
Then we started developing the language around the narrative, around this shape-shifting world that is constantly being threatened by the Eclipse. And what does that mean for the civilisation on Carcosa? What does it mean to have this civilisation grow on this planet that is completely engrossed by this madness of the Eclipse? So, we started looking at that first. And we wanted to tell a story of transformation, [which we] called Twisted Enlightenment. And that’s how we shaped the whole architecture, the whole civilisation, which was about worship.
So, for example, we started with neoclassical, which is an architectural style that is made for temples and worship, and these big statues, all this mythology and mysticism, but it was very, very safe. So we added on top the Italian futurism, which gave it that nice alien, violent look with those very vertical, dynamic lines. And then that was when we realised, “ok, we have the power to shape something that can feel both beautiful and violent.” And so we made that into one of the art pillars for Carcosa, which is violent beauty. And that’s what we looked at every biome through those lenses, even the Ancient Depths, which is this machine madness that goes through the tunnels. The forms that it has are quite elegant, but the way that they are used is in a very violent way. They erupt from the walls, they go through the ceiling. And so we really wanted to have this idea of Carcosa [being] an untamed, beautiful place, but it’s also a very hungry, dangerous, haunting world. And I think we found the key there.
Everything needed to be beautiful, but it also needed to communicate a sense of violence. All of this started from the narrative that Greg had. To me, that was the main key that we inspired ourselves [with]. And just like the narrative, the world also needs to escalate. It becomes crazier and crazier as you go through the journey. And that’s also reflected in the power growth of the character. So it’s about pulling these three threads together and making them communicate the same thing at the end of the day. But yeah, that was our main key to developing Carcosa, the violent beauty and the Twisted Enlightenment. And through those two lenses, we shaped the whole art direction.
WP: You mentioned those early meetings that you had, speaking about the story of Saros. I think anyone who’s read The King in Yellow by Robert W. Chanders would probably recognise some themes within Saros. Can you take me through the original ideation phase for Saros’ story, and what influences the team drew from in those early days, but also as development continued?
GL: It started from us wanting to create another dark science fiction world. We wanted to explore cosmic horror once again, and what’s more cosmic than an eclipse? Obviously, we don’t want to go into what the Eclipse is and what the Eclipse isn’t, but nonetheless, it was this idea of wanting to go deeper into the mystery and create a world that really haunts you. We pulled from classic sci-fi. The King and Yellow was a starting point, but purely a starting point. Have you finished the game yet, Adam?
WP: Yes, I rolled credits last night, so I’m very fresh on everything.
GL: Good timing. Ok, so as you’ve, [The King in Yellow] was just a starting point. It’s like a genesis point. And from there, we wanted to tell our own story. We wanted to have another character we could study. We wanted to have even more characters, going towards not just the solo journey, but actually having a crew, and what happens to a bunch of people when the Eclipse can get into your mind and pull out all the worst parts of you.
So it was this constant addition of layers that kept stacking and stacking. We pulled from anime. We pulled from novels. But I’d say our biggest reference, and when I joined Housemarque, it was the thing that was said to me: our biggest reference is always our own games. So we kind of started from Returnal, and we wanted to push it and elevate it, and take things to the next level for players. So we challenge ourselves as a team, but also challenge our players. Just when they think they know what a Housemarque game is, we push it higher and push it further.
WP: You mentioned the Eclipse there, and it’s a feature at the centre of everything in Saros. It changes the visuals, audio, and gameplay all at once. Walk me through this system from a conceptual level. What was the team setting out to achieve with the Eclipse, both from a mechanical and a storytelling perspective?
GL: Yeah, I’d say from the beginning, the keyword was escalation. We wanted to create something that would take the layer and essentially escalate the world, add more threat, add more danger, escalate the challenge, escalate the reward, escalate our characters, escalate the corruption.
It was the keyword that, working with Simone and working with the rest of the team, was like trying to drive a symphony towards a fever pitch where, as you said, the world becomes washed in the red light, and the music changes. We actually have a very dark electronic score, but then we have this drone metal that washes over [when the Eclipse is triggered].
How can we push our gameplay? It actually took us quite a while to really, in the end, realise that it’s the projectiles. We tried so many things, but in the end, the simplest thing is the thing that you use as a player. But I’d say it was just this drive of escalation. But Simone, do you want to jump in? How do you feel about the inception?
SS: It’s such a big element in the game, right? As an Art Director, the challenge is having a state switch in every single biome, and it always has to be fresh. And then you have to constantly change lighting, and you still want to tell a colour story, a colour journey throughout the game. That was quite a lot to think about.
But it was also super fun because it gave us a license to constantly flip the script on the player, right? You are in Shattered Reach, and you have this nice palette that is more welcoming; you almost have a blue sky, still intense, but it’s not too bad, right? And then as soon as you put the Eclipse on, we want to go extreme and here’s this bright orange light and then do the same in the underground, but differently.
One thing that we started thinking about early in the Ancient Depths was, “how do we change your perception of the world, not just with the audio and the visuals, but also with the way that you experience the world itself? And that’s why you’re walking through the bones of this mining operation, but then it comes alive, and things start moving. So it affects the way that you actually move through the level. So, in every biome, we tried to find a nice thing to change the way that you effectively have to navigate the level or add another threat or just bring the place to life.
It’s always hard to go very, very extreme because it means you need to restrain your artists from going there in the first place, right? And at Housemarque, we like extreme things. So it was a bit of a conversation we had about not going 100% because that’s reserved for the Eclipse. So we had to stay in that 80 to 90% weird and extreme, and then leave that gap for when we put the Eclipse on. But once we saw the first Eclipse come to life, which I think was the Ancient Depths, the first time that we actually saw it in action, that we would change the world, then everybody understood, like, “Ok, this is how we get to that extreme level.” Yeah, [it was a] really, really awesome challenge, and it offers so much creative space. So I’m very happy about it.
WP: The Eclipse was a bit of a thorn in my side because even when it was to the detriment of my run, I would always trigger it, given the opportunity, just to see how the world would react. Have you noticed, through playtesting, whether players go one way or the other when given the chance to bring about the Eclipse?
GL: I think that’s the thing with Saros. You can choose how you upgrade your path, but you can also choose how you approach the Eclipse. So I’d say it’s maybe 50-50. There are some people who avoid it, and only trigger it when they need to, and then others like you, Adam, who run into the fire.
With the Armour Matrix, it’s been really cool to see how players choose to adapt their experience. And then the [Carcosan] Modifiers on top of that, where there are players that start playing Saros, and they don’t want the Second Chance. [They] just want this pure, hardcore challenge experience. So it’s been really cool to have these more optional choices for players. You can have meaningful decisions because, in the end, we do it because we do want more replayability, we want more ways you can play. But I’d say it’s kind of 50-50. Personally, I only turn on the Eclipse when I need to, because I try to de-escalate the world a bit. Simone, are you right on the Eclipse?
SS: I try to turn it on as much as I can, but mostly because I need to review it.
One of my favourite user tests was this one guy who, in the span of the user test, understood that, “Oh, I can make a build that works better with corruption.” So he was using the corruption, which meant that he wanted to be in the Eclipse as much as possible because he was doing a lot more damage. I didn’t really use that playstyle before then. So, when I went back to the office, I was like, “ok, let me try this shit.” And it was actually riding that edge of having just enough life to survive, but you’re way more powerful because of all the things that you’re stacking with the corruption. And I think that that’s the awesome thing about it. We’re telling a story about corruption, and we’re telling a story about a character with many flaws. We wanted to say that, “yeah, there is corruption in power, but there’s also power in corruption.” And the best way to say that is through actual gameplay mechanics that give you that feel, because we never say it too explicitly, but it’s the actions you take that make you feel that way, right? So that was something that, when I was playing, I thought was really fun.
WP: The Eclipse does boost difficulty, with more projectiles and more things to manage. Difficulty is very much still a pillar in Saros, as it was in Returnal, and I died a lot. That said, it’s noticeably more approachable than Returnal. What made this pivot point so important to the team, and how do you balance that approachability while still staying true to the challenge that players expect from Housemarque?
GL: Yeah, I’d say like our goal was to build something that’s challenging, yes, but also rewarding and motivating. From the start of the project, the tagline “Come back stronger” was a active creative decision we made that, where we wanted to take the challenge from Returnal and not dilute it, but then allow even more players to approach it, to your word, and actually jump in, because we really believe we’re onto something special with the type of games we’re building right now at Housemarque. So it was about opening the door for more players, allowing them to overcome the friction in their way. And as mentioned, using the Armour Matrix, even a small thing like the Second Chance in Returnal, it was always amazing whenever you’ve got the Astronaut Figurine, the fact that we could just give that to all players and let them really get back into the action. And last but not least, the Modifiers.
It was about taking what we feel is a really special action game that everyone will really love, because there’s nothing else like it, and then just adding these more approachable layers. So if you want more hardcore, you can have it. If you don’t, you can have it. But it’s an action game for more people. That’s kind of the plan.
WP: You can’t talk about difficulty without talking about boss fights. There’s definitely a skill check to the boss fights in Saros, but there’s also this insane audiovisual spectacle. How does the team go about designing and perfecting these encounters? And where does the art team start? Are you creating a boss for a biome, or a biome for a boss?
SS: So for me, as you said, the journey through a biome can be hard. We have systems that help with that now, but we wanted the bosses to be a reward. You’ve made your journey all the way there. So this combination, this escalation of the gameplay, needs to be something that, “Oh, this journey was all worth it because now I get to fight this person, this guy, this thing.”
And it’s spectacular in its expression. And to me, when I think about bosses, they always need to be, again, an escalation and a combination of everything that you’ve learned through the biome. Sometimes we might want to just surprise you with something completely different, but most of the time it should be tied to the place that they’re in, because that means that we’re telling a story through the biome, and that’s the final act. That’s the answer to the questions that you’ve found during the biome.
So we always looked at it like a reward, an audiovisual challenge, but a reward to the player. And we are gameplay first. So it always starts from the gameplay. What is the archetype of this boss? What is it meant to do? “Oh, it’s a flying boss.” Okay, let’s make a fucking dragon or something, right? “It’s in the sea.” Ok, let’s make a gigantic thing, and you’ll find it on top of a ship. There is a lot of inspiration that comes just from that first archetype. And then we really want to look at the gameplay and understand the phases and understand what kind of pressure we are putting on. And from there, then we shape how the boss looks, we shape how the arena looks, and we just make sure that we can deliver something that is spectacular, but also something that doesn’t get in the way, because it’s too flashy. We already have flashy gameplay.
So there’s always a balance there. “Can you put everything on fire?” I’m like, well, maybe just the boss should be on fire. So definitely gameplay first, but when it comes to bosses, we also want to be the spectacle as a close second, I would say.
GL: I’d say quickly just one more thing with bosses that there’s so much about flow. We really want to lock you into the experience. You’re going through a biome, making meaningful decisions. Do you pick up this corrupted weapon? Do you take this artifact? Do you swap your weapon? Do you change your power weapon? But with a boss, we do so many things to lock you in. We turn the music up. We focus the gameplay down. We really try to pull you into this world. Yeah, I’m really proud of the bosses. And I think there’s even more story depth in them. So I can’t wait to get players to really maybe understand what they are.
WP: I have two rapid-fire questions to finish us off with. Greg, this one’s directed at you. Among your expanded voice cast, you’ve got an Aussie in there. Jerome is unmistakably Australian. Was that a directive from on high? Was that written into the contract that there had to be an Australian in the game? And did that come from you?
GL: It was not written in the contract, but I thought it would be special to have an Aussie voice and some camaraderie. So yeah, that’s Ben Prendergast, an amazing Australian actor.
And it was such a cool voiceover session to work with him. He just asked, “What do you want?” And I said, “We want authenticity, this game’s about authenticity. So just be you, Ben.” And that’s Ben. Great actor, really cool guy. And really nice to have an Aussie from the beginning.
WP: To round us out, I have to throw a cheeky question in. Returnal’s post-launch content included a co-op mode and the Tower of Sisyphus. Are there any post-launch plans for Saros you can share?
GL: We’re only talking about Saros at launch today.
WP: Completely understandable. I knew that was going to be the answer, but you have to ask.
Congratulations, the game is fantastic. I can’t wait to get back into it and keep playing.
GL: Thanks, Adam. Glad you enjoyed it.
SS: Thank you so much.
Saros releases on PS5 on April 30.
