With Saros, Housemarque makes a case for doing next-gen gaming differently

Often people are loathe to care too much about appearance. We have little aphorisms that prevent this – books and their origins, beauty being skin deep, product styles, things like that. Vanity is a risk. If one puts too much effort into the appearance of something, then the work can be considered meaningless. But in the world of big budget video games? That’s how you win.

Visual fidelity is video game to perfection: the way the mountain is carefully designed, the way the snow is, the way the player raises his hands to touch the wall as the player approaches it. This quest can be futile, as evidenced by the pressure from Rockstar Games to revive the testicles of horses in response to the heat wave in the 2018’s Red Dead Redemption 2. It also has very little to do with anything the player does. This is where Housemarque differs from its peers.

The Finnish developer is the odd one out on the PlayStation Studios team. Acquired by Sony in 2021, the shop became known for its games like Super Stardust HD and Resoguntwin-stick shooters are shoot-’em-ups that use modern weapons to make their shells look like space, complete with firecrackers and lasers that are presented with enthusiasm but in the service of games in the tradition of Asteroids or The protector. It would have been nice if it didn’t look so sharp, but it’s nice that they did it.

saro, new studio gameit works the same way. Like Returning, Homemarque’s 2021 PlayStation Studios debutand other high-quality games that are also considered from Sony’s partners like God of War or In the front. It has an eye for interesting genre fiction and an interesting presentation but without the quest for reality that can define the game’s dialogue.

“For me, seeing reality is not fun to follow,” he says saro great artist Simone Silvestri. “saro it’s a polished, visually appealing game that makes sure we can turn the world on to the crazy games we have. The level of detail we want is very deliberate, very controlled, so that we can create game canvases. I think that’s why we get the chance to love the tools as much as we do. “

In sarothe actor takes on the role of Arjun Devraj (played by actor Rahul Kohli), a member of a team sent to the planet Carcosa to investigate the disappearance of mining colonists sent to harvest a mysterious mineral called Lucenite. Something happened to them, and something is happening to Arjun, and it’s in this confusing situation itself. saro they start. If the player wants to know any of these, he must first learn how to play Housemarque’s game as a game.

It is the same method as Returningan alternate universe where AAA video games are less interested in cinematic reality and more interested in climbing the ladder, racing for incredible sports equipment. Between the two games, Housemarque puts another way to be “one-next” and push the brand forward, not to follow in search of an image but to use the whole cow of the game, so to speak.

“The number one priority of our game is our game,” he says saro director and co-writer Gregory Louden. “We will have a special story time for you, but it will be very rewarding. You will be the owner, so I will not give it away for free. We will also make our videos on questions. The game is the answer. So often the videos are about setting things up or giving you questions to ask, and through the game, you answer them.”

In Returning and sarocomputer power is not only used to create details, but to fill the screen with orbs of different colors, to use heavy moments at the same time as a way to emphasize the cycle of death and rebirth of each game, to multiply the player with the fastest creatures, and to give them weapons that contradict science and provide unique haptic responses. The area is full of plants that are constantly moving, sometimes waiting to trap the player, to have a psychological or cosmic fear. Showing every inner hell of the actor – a middle aged woman and an Indian man Returning and sarorespectively, all the strangest things in the world of video games – they are locked inside.

This is also Housemarque’s philosophy: Visual honesty has little to do with the depth that many games so boldly pursue through the use of art. “Immersion doesn’t come from reality,” says Silvestri. “It comes from the credibility of the sensations and how you feel in the moment.”

This fits Louden’s goal of telling kinetic stories that don’t start with cutscene-style video game music. Housemarque’s PlayStation Studios-era games aim to make you think about the characters you create by playing as them, but the pitfall of being an “original” studio (as Housemarque describes itself) is that players can only think about the game, not its meaning. saro and Returning Each has several ways to deal with this, each asking the player to make a satanic trade while moving over and over again. ReturningA small test includes a virus, which can attach itself to the protagonist Selene and give the profit that came with the game’s sales. saro they do this with upgrades that suffer from “Corruptions,” mysterious problems that damage everything in the game.

The player doesn’t have to think too much about any of this, but the movement is compelling, the Mobius line of drama and character that gives the “ballet shell” that Housemarque has drawn emotional depth.

Louden said: “We’re creating someone you can see and learn from. “Not just one person: We have a lot of people (in saro) and many competing goals, all trying to find their way forward. Most of them are leaving something behind to come to this strange world. They know it’s hate when they go there. They know they are leaving the past behind, but they are all going there for a new future. What happens if the future is not the way you want it to be?”

saro‘ dealing with a sinister future that is different from what is expected is a suitable metaphor for the studio. Housemarque remains the benchmark among AAA manufacturers, and rightly so saro it gives permission to more acceptable experiences ReturningIt’s very difficult, still an odd duck between its sister studios and their emphasis on video games. Different is nice, but in the high-end, expensive realm of blockbuster video games, it’s scary.

These are games that not only need to sell themselves, they need to sell the console they are on. This makes it dangerous to be responsible. Because people judge a book by its cover.