Housemarque's roguelike shooter Saros has received a new two-and-a-half-hour free trial, the developer announced on its official X account. However, the trial is exclusively available to PlayStation Plus Premium subscribers, the highest and most expensive tier of Sony's monthly subscription service.
While access to game trials is a listed benefit of the Premium subscription, the limited availability of Saros' trial has drawn attention given the game's reported sales performance. Analysts have expressed concern that Saros may struggle to break even. As the follow-up to the critically acclaimed Returnal, Saros shares a similar roguelike shooter genre, but its launch sales momentum has reportedly been slower than its 2021 predecessor.
Despite a larger PlayStation 5 installed base compared to the PlayStation 4 era, Saros' performance is seen as disappointing by some. Factors such as the game's price point of £70/$70 and the overall cost of PS5 consoles are likely contributing. Additionally, global economic conditions have led players to become more selective with their spending.
Housemarque has indicated it is not overly concerned about the slow start, noting in a recent interview that Returnal also experienced a gradual build in popularity. "This is just the start of the discussion and conversation with the gaming community," a developer stated. "If you have played Saros, you know that there are a lot of things that we can do and tweak and add. We hope that we can keep on doing that for a while."
In a review for Eurogamer, Rick Lane described Saros as "a tremendous action experience [whose] ambitious narrative gets lost in the fireworks."