Saros developer doesn't think Returnal 'was that hard of a game', but admits that the team 'did pay a lot more attention to the onboarding experience' for its spiritual successor

• Housemarque paid attention to refining Saros' onboarding experience
• Mitja Roskaric, associate design director, admits that Returnal took a while to get the hang of
• The team has also made sure the game's movement is rewarding

Housemarque has said it paid more attention to refining Saros' combat and the game's onboarding experience, admitting that its predecessor, Returnal, took a while to learn how to play.

Speaking to IGN as part of the outlet's preview, Mitja Roskaric, associate design director at Housemarque, explained how the team developed the game's so-called "bullet ballet" battle system by making the constant need for the player to move around rewarding.

"We made sure that movement is rewarded, movement is incentivised," said Roskaric.

Unlike Returnal, Saros will stand apart from the game's roguelike mechanics and instead have permanent progression systems. The third-person combat will also require players to be quick on their feet, parrying, and dodging the attacks of enormous boss fights with perfect timing to stay alive, while also blasting them with their weapon.

Roskaric believes Returnal wasn't that difficult, but admitted that getting familiar with the game's controls took players a while, so Housemarque paid more attention to Saros' learning stage in more ways than one.

"I don't think Returnal was that hard of a game, but it took a while to learn how to play it properly,” Roskaric said. “So we did pay a lot more attention to the onboarding experience. We wanted to make sure that we teach the player how to play the game properly, not just with the text on the screen, but also by designing the spaces and encounters and other challenges with that in mind.”

Dying in the game is also part of the learning curve, and players are sure to do just that.

Creative director Gregory Louden explained earlier this year that Saros' permanent resources and progression "make every death valuable".

"After every death you will face a changed world, but in Saros you will be able to choose and permanently upgrade your loadout from an evolving set of weapons and suit upgrades to 'come back stronger' to overcome the challenges you face on Carcosa," Louden said.

Saros launches on PlayStation 5 on April 30.

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