Like its spiritual predecessor Returnal, Saros is a challenging game, but not an insurmountable one. Frankly, on the Dark Souls scale of difficulty, I personally find Saros to be less challenging (in a complementary way) than From Software’s games and the Souls games it has inspired. Starting Saros might be intimidating, but the reward of the experience is worth the effort. Below you will find some tips both to help you get started and even some to help you along as you start making good progress. I wish I had known these before I started the game, but now, with the aid of my hindsight, you can start with some great tools to survive Carcosa.
For Game Informer’s written and video review of Saros, follow the link.
Absorb Blue, Dodge Yellow, Counter Red
There are three different colored projectiles you have to worry about in Saros. Managing how to deal with these is arguably the primary gameplay mechanic. Knowing how to stay alive in the face of thousands of bullets flying at your face will actually serve you better than making sure you’re firing off your weapons. It will feel like chaos at first, but the headline of this tip is the simplest summary for how to succeed.
Hold down R1 to activate the shield when you’re about to get hit by blue projectiles, and make sure to release your shield as soon as it’s safe. You can absorb yellow projectiles with the shield, too, but it has its downsides, so it’s best to just always avoid them by dashing through them or jumping over them.
It will be some time before you start seeing red projectiles and receive the ability to counter them, but these cannot be dashed through. You must jump over them, or press R1 to essentially melee them away. Do not be scared of countering the red projectiles! The window to knock them back is big, and successfully doing so basically gets rid of all of them. Get the hang of countering them as soon as possible.
When in doubt, however, or if things are getting overwhelming, jump and dash. Better to stay alive and out of the way than to miss the window on absorbing blue projectiles or countering red ones.
The Smart Gun Is The Smart Choice
There are a lot of gun options in Saros and you will find what you like and what works for you over time. I suggest, however, early on (and later on, too, frankly) gravitating toward the Smart Gun options. The Smart Guns do a lot of the aiming so you don’t have to and you can just hold down the trigger while you concentrate on dodging projectiles and staying alive. There are stronger weapons that do more interesting things, but the Smart Gun will help you get your feet under you in the beginning.
Don’t Save Health Items
In Returnal, there was a somewhat helpful, albeit inconvenient, strategy where you could leave health items on the map and mop them up before heading to a boss. Picking up health items at full health also had a benefit in Returnal. In Saros, those kinds of strategies do not exist. Picking up a healing item at full health gives you Lucenite, which you need for permanent and impermanent upgrades. It may feel a little wasteful to pick up a health item when you don’t need it, but more Lucenite is good and, more importantly, progress in Saros is almost always a one-way trip. You rarely, if ever, can go backwards through a level.
Keep The Weapon You Like, Even If There Are Stronger Ones
It is tempting to automatically pick up the weapon with the bigger number. It probably does a little more damage. But, after you’ve spent some time learning the game and figuring out which weapons you like, it is often better to keep a weaker weapon that fits your playstyle than it is to take the incremental upgrade you’re not as comfortable with. The other advantage of not grabbing that slightly better but worse-feeling weapon is that by the time you do find the weapon you like later, it will be a lot stronger.
Hold L1 To Sprint Faster (Sometimes)
Arjun runs incredibly fast, and you will be constantly dashing out of danger with L1. But know that when all the enemies are defeated, and you’re just trying to get to the next point of interest, you can hold L1, and he will somehow run even faster. It also works as an indicator of whether or not you have defeated all the enemies if you don’t feel like looking for red dots on the mini map.
Chase The White Flag
There will often be two paths in front of you, indicated by blue and white flags on the mini-map, or in the HUD if you scan the surroundings by pressing down on the d-pad. The blue flag is the primary path. The white flag is the optional path. In general, it is always worth pursuing the optional path. Sure, you will fight optional enemies, but the rewards are basically always worth it; Anything to get more Lucenite.
You Should Probably Just Activate The Solar Eclipse
Often in Saros, you are forced to activate the solar eclipse to progress, but sometimes you can choose not to. In general, however, it is pretty much always worth it to go ahead and activate it. Enemies are a little tougher, and they don’t shoot as many blue projectiles at you, and the upgrades all come with downsides, but without the eclipse, certain paths are closed, and it’s not worth missing out on those potential upgrades.
Pick Based On The Detriment, Not The Upgrade
Speaking of all that, before you activate a solar eclipse, all the upgrades are fully positive. There is no reason not to grab them. It’s why you don’t have to hold down the triangle button to pick them up. After the solar eclipse, however, all the upgrades have attached downgrades. Here’s the thing, though – you will always run out of room for upgrades, so you can be very picky about what you take. Rather than looking at the upgrades, pick based on the detriment. For example, I never pick up anything that limits the refresh on my dash ability. It will never be worth it. Losing a little Lucenite when I take a hit, however? Or fall damage, something that is very easy to avoid by dashing right before you hit the ground? Or doing less damage while stationary in a game where you are constantly moving? I will barely notice those. Frankly, I don’t even look at the upgrade part of it anymore. Just weigh if the downgrade is worth it.
Use Power Weapons Before Picking Up Health
Getting hit by yellow projectiles poisons Arjun, in a sense. It essentially makes his health bar smaller. You can undo the poison, however, with power weapons. Power weapons are deployed by fully depressing the left trigger and firing the right trigger. Some function like a rocket launcher, some charge up, and some just need to be held down. Absorbing blue projectiles with the shield collects ammo for the power weapons.
Here’s the thing to know about using power weapons to undo poison – they do not need to connect with enemies. So, if you’re looking at a health item, but you are poisoned, fire off a few power weapon shots before picking it up. Don’t worry, those weapons get powered back up pretty quickly.
Use Your Rerolls, But Save Them For Later
From the beginning, you will always have a few rerolls (called Acolyte’s Wager) in your pocket before every run in Saros. You can use these to delete artifacts or try to get something different from a random upgrade drop. These rerolls refresh every run, so just use them. My suggestion is to use them right before the boss to try to get your favorite weapon.
Don’t Forget Melee
Arjun starts with a melee attack (Selene had to find an energy sword in Returnal), but in the midst of all the gunplay and bullets, it’s easy to forget it exists. The attack is strong, so don’t forget to punch a monster if it makes the mistake of getting too close. It is also required to get through red energy doors and remove red energy shields from enemies. Dashing in, punching, and dashing can be a good strategy. Don’t forget it’s an option.
Always Go Halcyon
Sometimes you will be given the choice between Halcyon and something else. I never know what the other thing is because it is basically always in your best interest to grab the Halcyon. These are a valuable currency for permanent upgrades, and there is a limited number of them in the larger game. In the late, late game, I have run out of things I can upgrade with my Lucenite, but I have plenty of Halcyon upgrades still available. I wish I had lots more.
Save Your Keys For Doors
You will find the occasional key in the world, and permanent upgrades allow you to start runs with keys, as well. The keys can be used to open doors or unlock yellow chests. In general, the yellow chest upgrades are always a bit underwhelming. The locked doors, however, tend to have a lot more and better stuff. My strategy was to always keep one key for a future door, and then any extra keys on those yellow chests. However, it’s best to save unlocking yellow chests for later in the levels, even if you do have keys.
Opt To Lose An Artifact
Once you defeat the second boss (congrats!), you will be able to elect some pros and cons for your runs in the Carcosan Modifier section of Primary’s menu. Picking these really pertains to your playstyle, but one you can definitely take advantage of on the “make game harder” side is Artifact Destruction, where you lose a random upgrade Artifact when you move to a new biome. You will always run out of room for Artifacts anyway, so losing a random one only gives you a chance to get something new. Frankly, it’s a good thing.
Don’t Worry About Saving Overdrive Too Much
The Overdrive attack (activated by pressing L3 and R3), unlocked about halfway through the game, is a powerful, limited-use attack that is great to use against bosses. It powers up based on how much damage you’re doing to enemies. The understandable temptation is to save and use it against the bosses, but you don’t have to be too judicious with it. It powers up fairly fast (and can power up even faster with permanent upgrades), so if you’re fighting a strong miniboss or are just getting overwhelmed with too many enemies, go ahead and use it. I am not saying use it immediately whenever it becomes available, but just know it will be back pretty quickly. Even at its lower levels, you should be able to use it twice during a boss fight.
Take Note Of When The Bosses Are Invincible
Pretty much all the bosses in Saros have phases, and they cannot take damage while switching phases. This is indicated primarily by them not taking damage when you shoot them, obviously, but also by a grate appearing over their health bar. Saros is a game that moves very, very fast, so it’s easy to miss that all the bullets you’re firing aren’t doing anything. The problem I ran into a few times is that I was firing off valuable power weapons or worse, the L3/R3 attack, and it was a complete waste. So, this is just a warning to be mindful. When the grate covers up their health bar, don’t use the big guns.