Gaming

Saros review: Returnal’s difficulty is back and better than ever

Although, it loses the memorable storywriting.

Published

April 24, 2026

Luigi Leonardo

In 2012, Housemarque worked on the Angry Birds Trilogy compilation, the quintessential experience of throwing things at a wall and seeing which one will break it. In 2021, the studio developed Returnal, once again a quintessential experience of frustratingly throwing things at a wall. Now, in 2026, the studio is back with Saros, an experience with more of the same but with more flair and the accessibility to more easily break down those walls.

Turn back time over and over again

Like Returnal, Saros is a roguelike shooter. Players start every run from almost-scratch, earning Lucenite along the way. Upon death or winning the run, Arjun Devraj, the playable character, returns to the starting hub and spends his earned Lucenite to unlock meaningful (and permanent!) upgrades for the next run.

Along the way, Devraj finds an armory of available weapons and powerups that subsist through a single run, adding enough variability to ensure that no two runs are completely the same. Coupled with tangible upgrades, Saros creates an ever-changing experience but ensures that you feel stronger with every consecutive run.

It’s also a visually stunning game with designs that border on Lovecraftian. Enemies are so well designed that it’s impossible not to stop and stare at how detailed the monsters are.

A smoother, hypnotic fight

Saros plays like butter. Normally, shooters played on a controller are too finicky for me, but Saros just works. The game features a good number of auto-aiming weapons that help you focus on dodging projectiles. Even the native aim assist on non-automatic weapons is useful enough for making shots.

There’s also Power Weapons, or high-damage attacks that use consumable Power. There are a handful, and all of them are powerful enough to help win a difficult battle.

Fighting, then, is simply fluid. It didn’t take long for me to breeze through runs without focusing on muscle control. This makes for an easier game overall. Whereas Returnal has players beating their heads against the wall for hours, Saros is more accessible. It wants you to win. It wants you to get stronger.

As mentioned, each permanent upgrade is palpable. Devraj does get stronger. You can feel it when you rush past the starting area in no time. There are caps, but each cap is unlocked when you first beat a boss.

That said, the game still offers a challenge. Often, bosses take a few runs to master. Sometimes, you’ll get bodied by a surprise barrage from behind.

Variability that eventually runs out

The key to making a great roguelike rests on how different every run is. Some even have game-breaking combinations with ultra-rare pickups that wreck all of the game’s challenges.

At the start (especially before everything is unlocked), Saros does feature enough variability that invites you to discover everything that the game has to offer.

However, it does become clear that this variability has a limit. Once I had everything unlocked, I was defaulting to only a few combinations: a smart rifle (with auto-aim) with powerups that improve health and Lucenite drops. Plus, since I already had rerolls unlocked, I could just reset every drop until I got what I wanted. Experimentation doesn’t seem like a major draw for players; instead, it’s more about discovering the combination that works for you and grinding until you find it in every run.

Additionally, the map doesn’t really change. Though there are miniscule changes, none of which alters the experience that much. Each room features different terrain, but they’re all essentially identical to one another: fight the horde that spawns in and collect the reward afterwards.

Despite being treated as a major change to the map, even the self-imposed eclipse mode (from which the game derives its title) doesn’t add much besides the corruption status effect. At first, there’s a sense of dread going into the eclipse, as the game says that enemies are more powerful and unpredictable, but it will eventually teach you that eclipses are just part of the level design. There is zero tradeoff.

Every run has a lingering sense of sameness to it. This should be appealing to some, especially since it helps make the game more accessible. However, this approach will naturally run into a wall, particularly after you spend 2.5 hours on a run only to die on the final boss.

What story?

Saros is an exercise in Lovecraftian worldbuilding. Like all stories of the same bent, the game’s plot focuses more on the insanity of its world, rather than its characters.

The game does not say much about the story besides the bare brushstrokes. Devraj is part of the Echelon IV expedition to the planet of Carcosa. While his main mission is to find the past expeditions, he has a secret motivation to find Nitya, a member of Echelon III and his lover.

Similar to The King in Yellow by Robert W. Chambers, the game features allusions to madness because of “the Yellow”. Both previous expeditions and members of his own team succumb to the madness. However, the game never gives players enough time with any of these characters, so when they reveal themselves as victims of the same religious insanity, it’s never treated with the gravitas it deserves. People die, but you’ll barely miss them.

The same, unfortunately, goes for Devraj himself. Despite the world descending into cosmic horror around him, he stoically continues his mission to find Nitya. He doesn’t seem too affected by death. And, as such, he doesn’t really have a lot of qualities to latch on to, as a player who should be invested in the development of their playable character.

It’s atypical for a first-party PlayStation game to prioritize world-building over character writing. Most of the platform’s titles have incredibly memorable characters, but Saros just doesn’t. That said, the world-building is phenomenal; I just don’t want to spend hours reading through journal entries to find out what’s wrong with this world.

Is Saros your GameMatch?

If you found Returnal too difficult, Saros is a lot more approachable. It didn’t take me long to reach the game’s latter parts. If anything, the difficulty is finding two hours to go on an extended run. With the substantial progression system, it feels meaningful to restart and go again. Fans of roguelikes will easily Swipe Right on this game.

However, if you’re looking for a meaningful story to sink your teeth into, the game heavily prefers environmental storytelling. Prepare to spend hours just poring over lore. Even then, you won’t really get a sense of which characters to root for. For that, it’s a Swipe Left.

Gaming

Valve unveils price of the Steam Frame

The VR headset starts at US$ 1,059.

Published

September 15, 2026

Luigi Leonardo

The trifecta is complete. Almost a year after announcing their new hardware, Valve has finally unveiled the price tag of the Steam Frame, complementing the Steam Machine and Steam Controller revealed a few months ago.

Whereas the Steam Machine is a console of its own, the Steam Frame is a traditional VR headset with a pair of controllers for both hands. Unfortunately, despite being in a different segment, the headset is not immune to the rising prices of technology. The Steam Frame will start at US$ 1,059 for a 256GB model and can go up to US$ 1,299 for the 1TB model. On the plus side, each box will come Half-Life: Alyx packaged along with the headset.

Here’s a more detailed rundown of what you’re getting. The Steam Frame will ship with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset, paired with 16GB of RAM. Each eye comes with a 2160 x 2160 LCD screen, putting out images at up t0 a 144Hz experimental refresh rate. As mentioned above, the headset will start with 256GB of storage but can go up to 2TB. It will come packaged with SteamOS 3 and a rechargeable 21.6Wh battery.

This might be a hard buy for some. The industry currently has more affordable options, for one. Also, virtual reality isn’t the most thriving segment of gaming today.

If you’re still decided on buying one, however, Valve is using its lottery system. Interested customers can sign up from now until September 17. The company will then randomize the purchasing order. Those who draw the first ones in the lottery can get a purchase email as soon as September 18. Meanwhile, anyone who registers after September 17 will automatically be put at the back of the queue.

Gaming

BlizzCon 2026 announces World of Warcraft: Forever and Diablo V

StarCraft, Overwatch, Hearthstone, and more also get news

Published

September 14, 2026

GadgetMatch

Blizzard Entertainment kicked off BlizzCon 2026 with a packed Opening Ceremony featuring new games, major expansions, updates, and other announcements across its biggest franchises.

Blizzard Entertainment President Johanna Faries opened the event at the Anaheim Convention Center, celebrating the community behind the company’s games and the teams that bring its worlds to life.

World of Warcraft: Forever and Diablo V

The biggest announcement was World of Warcraft: Forever, a new World of Warcraft experience launching November 5 AEDT, with its beta beginning September 18 AEST. The new experience will feature three zones, more than 1,000 quests, nine dungeons, two raids, and a new Skyborne race.

Blizzard also officially announced Diablo V, marking the next era of the franchise. The game is set to launch in North America in Spring 2029, with Sanctuary having fallen and Diablo having won.

StarCraft is also returning with a new story-driven, open-world shooter. The game is currently planned for a Spring 2030 release in North America.

Beyond games, Blizzard revealed that an animated series set in the Diablo universe is in development with Netflix. The company says this is only the beginning of its plans to expand its universes beyond gaming.

For Warcraft III Reforged, the new Forsaken Kingdom campaign is available today. It marks the Warcraft RTS series’ first new storyline in more than 23 years and explores the fall of Lordaeron and the origins of the Undercity. The accompanying 3.0 update also brings graphical improvements and a revamped World Editor.

Heroes of the Storm is adding Xal’atath as its newest Hero. She arrives in the Nexus on September 29 AEST, with her PTR release scheduled for September 15 AEST.

Existing games updates

Meanwhile, Diablo IV is preparing for its next major content drop. Season of Hell’s Legacy begins September 16 AEST and celebrates the franchise’s 30-year history with the return of the Prime Evils and Deckard Cain, alongside themed rewards and gear.

The legendary Amazon class will also arrive in the first half of 2027 as part of Diablo IV’s first class pack. The Diablo IV: Age of Hatred Collection is additionally coming to Nintendo Switch 2 on September 16 AEST with cross-platform play and cross-progression.

For World of Warcraft, Blizzard teased the next major update for Midnight. Eclipse (12.2) will see Xal’atath move closer to her goal of claiming Azeroth’s Worldsoul. Blizzard also offered another look at The Last Titan, the next expansion in the Worldsoul Saga and a major culmination of more than two decades of Warcraft storytelling. More information is coming early next year.

Overwatch is getting a major update with Season 5. The season introduces new Support Hero Doctrine, reworks for Sombra and Roadhog, and the new Watchpoint: Grimsvötn map. It will also conclude The Reign of Talon, Overwatch’s first year-long narrative arc.

LE SSERAFIM & YOASABI

BlizzCon also featured performances from YOASOBI and LE SSERAFIM. YOASOBI will perform during the first-ever esports halftime show at BlizzCon, while LE SSERAFIM will return to the Main Stage to close the weekend. A new LE SSERAFIM in-game collaboration is available now, with another Overwatch Spotlight scheduled for February 2027.

Finally, Hearthstone is getting its first new class in more than six years. The Monk arrives in 2027, while the upcoming Reign of the Black Empire expansion takes players back to the earliest age of Azeroth. It introduces the Assemble keyword, which combines two cards into a new one. Battlegrounds is also adding Aberrations as a new minion type.

BlizzCon 2026 is now underway, with Blizzard promising more announcements and details throughout the weekend.

Gaming

Just Dance: Decades of Hits to launch on October 13

All-new Just Dance experience that brings every generation together

Published

September 12, 2026

GadgetMatch

Just Dance: Decades of Hits will launch on modern consoles on October 13, Ubisoft has announced.

This will offer fans of the franchise a new experience across eras of music. The game will be available on PlayStation5 , Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch on the launch date.

Nintendo Switch 2 users, meanwhile, will be able to enjoy the title by November 10, 2026.

Just Dance: Decades of Hits brings together every generation to one dance floor with 25 iconic songs across six different decades:

Mamma Mia by ABBA
Uptown Girl by Billy Joel
It’s Tricky by Run-DMC
No Scrubs by TLC
Wannabe by Spice Girls
Bye Bye Bye by *NSYNC
Feel Good Inc. by Gorillaz
Turn Down for What by DJ Snake and Lil Jon
Danza Kuduro by Don Omar feat. Lucenzo
Manchild by Sabrina Carpenter
NUEVAYoL by Bad Bunny
And more!

Bringing every generation together

Songs, visuals, and an all-new Adventure Mode are all designed to immerse players in the spirit that made each decade unforgettable.

From the funky ’70s disco floors and the electrifying ’80s rock scene to the glossy 2000s pop and beyond, travel through time and share the joy of rediscovering iconic moments with friends and family.

In Adventure Mode, follow Lyra, Dr. Gigavolt’s daughter, in a playful journey through time to rescue her father.

Explore the decades through six themed worlds, enjoy fun mini activities, and unlock exclusive rewards.

For unpredictable, chaotic fun where the rules change every round, players can jump into Party Mode. Or they can get moving with the Workout Mode, which tracks calories burned with each dance.

Up to six players can dance locally in the game, with no extra accessories needed.

In addition those who own Just Dance: Decades of Hits as well as Just Dance 2023-2026 editions will be able access all their songs in one place on the same console without having to switch games or separate menus.

This also includes songs from purchased Music Packs and songs available through an active Just Dance+ subscription.