Sacred Symbols+, Episode 518 | Talking Saros With Housemarque (Patreon)

Please Note: To accommodate various showcase happenings, both Sacred Symbols and Defining Duke are delayed this week. Sacred Symbols will publish later tonight post-SGF (Friday evening), while Defining Duke will be publish post-Xbox Showcase (Sunday evening). Allow this interview to tide you over in the meantime; a separate Saros-related episode of Sacred+ will also go live tomorrow at the normal time. -ColinIt's me, Colin! Please welcome Housemarque's Gregory Louden and Mikael Haveri to Sacred Symbols+. Gregory is Creative Director of Saros (he was also the Cinematic and Narrive Director of Returnal), while Mikael is Housemarque's long-time brand and marketing manager (and an old friend of mine). As our audience well knows, I've been obsessed with Housemarque since I first played Super Stardust HD on PlayStation 3 nearly two decades ago, and I've found it fascinating (and sometimes a little scary) watching the team survive, thrive, and evolve into the Sony first party team they've since become. In our short 30 minute chat, we touch on as much as we can: The origins of Saros, Saros as a response to Returnal, keeping the 'arcade essence' of Housemarque intact in the third-person AAA space, and perhaps even a little taste of what the future might hold. (Oh, and a warning! While a vast majority of our chat is decidedly spoiler-free, there are a few acknowledgements and nods to Returnal and Saros alike that may be deemed spoilerish, depending on your disposition.)