{"id":49558,"date":"2026-05-04T02:43:35","date_gmt":"2026-05-03T18:43:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=49558"},"modified":"2026-05-04T02:43:35","modified_gmt":"2026-05-03T18:43:35","slug":"saros-and-pragmata-show-that-video-game-ass-video-games-are-back","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=49558","title":{"rendered":"Saros and Pragmata show that video-game-ass video games are back"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Patch Notes <\/strong>is a weekly newsletter bringing you the best of Polygon, sent on Fridays and published on the site on Sundays. You can subscribe here.<\/em><\/p>\n

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I’m probably about to fall into a classic trap of culture journalism \u2014 misidentifying a random coincidence as a trend \u2014 but bear with me, because I really do think there’s something to it. Honest!<\/p>\n

This week sees the release of Saros<\/em>, Housemarque’s new PlayStation 5 exclusive. Like its predecessor Returnal<\/em>, it’s an action game defined by a roguelike-style run structure and by sinister horror vibes. In other words, it couldn’t be more 2026 if it tried.<\/p>\n

And yet: Saros<\/em> is also a sci-fi game in which a dude runs around shooting a laser gun. There’s something timeless and comfortingly old-school about it. That’s even more true of the previous big release on PS5 (and Xbox, and everything else), which arrived two weeks ago: Capcom’s Pragmata<\/em>.<\/p>\n

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\"Devraj\n <\/picture>Image: Housemarque\/Sony Interactive Entertainment<\/small><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Pragmata<\/em>, despite a storyline involving an AI takeover, doesn’t feel as influenced by current trends as Saros<\/em>, partly because it was developed over a long time and partly because it recalls \u2014 intentionally, I think \u2014 the risk-taking Capcom Five era of the early 2000s. It has some original twists, but at its heart it’s a refreshingly straightforward, evil-robots-and-moon-bases, dude-shooting-a-laser-gun game.<\/p>\n

The sci-fi shooter has been a cornerstone of video gaming throughout the entire life of the medium. You can argue that it is the originating genre of video games, dating all the way back to 1962’s Spacewar!<\/em> But these games have been scarce recently, especially in the single-player realm. Halo, the great sci-fi shooter juggernaut of the 21st century, is a spent force \u2014 for now, at least.<\/p>\n

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\"This\n <\/picture>Graphic: Marloes Valentina Stella\/Polygon | Source image: Capcom via Polygon<\/small><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Can we infer anything from the sudden arrival of two relatively high-profile, big-budget, single-player sci-fi shooters on the scene? Well, yes, of course we can if we want to, but should we? Debatable. There’s not much evidence that other publishers are about to jump on this bandwagon (although rumors of a Starfox revival at Nintendo are interesting). Pragmata has sold well enough that Capcom is hinting it has a future as a franchise, but the jury’s still out on Saros<\/em>.<\/p>\n

But the juxtaposition of these two games \u2014 both handsome to look at, both exciting to play \u2014 does give us an opportunity to revel in a gaming aesthetic that was once ubiquitous to the point of boredom, and now has an almost rarefied authenticity.<\/p>\n

Saros<\/em> has a very Sony cinematic sheen but it also conjures swirling storms of plasma fire straight from the 2D bullet-hell shmups of yore. Housemarque is summoning the spirit of the hardest of hardcore games: titles like Treasure’s Ikaruga<\/em> that are spoken of with reverence and fear by those who really<\/em> know.<\/p>\n

Pragmata<\/em>, with its lonely spaceman adopting an android child, has elements of 2010s dadcore. But its hard futurism, gleaming surfaces, mechanical enemies, and intentionally repetitive save-point structure aren’t interested in any humanising narrative or cinematic continuity. They acknowledge and celebrate the machine-like qualities of video games.<\/p>\n

It’s thrilling to be presented with two big, bold video games that aren’t afraid to be video games \u2014 that actively and unapologetically seek to channel the rawest, oldest, most undiluted spirit of the form. Pew and, indeed, pew.<\/p>\n

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\"Devraj<\/p>\n

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\t\t\tSaros sands down Returnal’s challenging formula into a power fantasy<\/p>\n<\/h5>\n

Giovanni Colantonio thinks Saros is too easy. That’s nice for him<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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\"Diana<\/p>\n

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\t\t\tPragmata isn’t a dad game, it’s a warning<\/p>\n<\/h5>\n

Josh Broadwell warns us not to get too sentimental about Diana<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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\"saros-tips-header\"<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t10 Saros beginner’s tips to help you conquer Carcosa<\/p>\n<\/h5>\n

Ford James is here to help people who aren’t Gio<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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\"Devraj<\/p>\n

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\t\t\tHousemarque says Saros is easier because no one could beat Returnal<\/p>\n<\/h5>\n

The developers tell Giovanni Colantonio exactly how many people didn’t finish their last game<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\n Also this:
\n <\/h2>\n
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\"A<\/p>\n

\n
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\t\t\tValve didn’t try to ‘reinvent the wheel’ with the Steam Controller, but it did anyway<\/p>\n<\/h5>\n

Giovanni Colantonio goes deep with the designers of the near-perfect new gamepad<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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\"A<\/p>\n

\n
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\t\t\tWhy 007 First Light completely upends the character of James Bond<\/p>\n<\/h5>\n

Oli Welsh politely asks IO Interactive what they hell they are doing with the legendary spy<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

\n

\"Michael<\/p>\n

\n
\n

\t\t\t7 movie roles Michael Jackson wanted to play (but thankfully didn\u2019t)<\/p>\n<\/h5>\n

Brian VanHooker has proof that there are timelines far, far worse than this one<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

\n

\"dungeons<\/p>\n

\n
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\t\t\tLet’s all go to this D&D summer camp<\/p>\n<\/h5>\n

Corey Plante learns about Dungeons & Cabins, a blend of festival, adult summer camp, and LARP with some fun twists<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

\n

\"Michonne<\/p>\n

\n
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\t\t\tThe Walking Dead\u2019s legacy is getting sliced into 160,000 pieces \u2014 literally<\/p>\n<\/h5>\n

Tasha Robinson talks to a company specializing in the tiniest memorabilia you can imagine<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n


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Read Full Article At Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Patch Notes is a weekly newsletter bringing you the best of Polygon, sent on Fridays and published on the site on Sundays. You can subscribe…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":49559,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[321,17153,12597,616,1256,21942],"class_list":["post-49558","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tech-gadgets-reviews","tag-games","tag-pragmata","tag-saros","tag-show","tag-video","tag-videogameass","wpcat-32-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49558","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=49558"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49558\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/49559"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=49558"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=49558"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=49558"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}