Welcome to Urgent Fury

There’s an accepted understanding that the Housemarque name brings with it an expectation of exceptional action. Great gunplay. A superbly tuned gameplay intensity by way of ultra-refined and overlapping mechanics and systems. And in just over a month, PS5 players can experience that pedigree first hand again with the Finnish studio’s latest, as a rescue crew tries to discover the fate of a human colony gone dark at the far reaches of the cosmos. Saros is sci-fi action with a cosmic horror twist. Housemarque has shared a taste of what’s to come before in a scene-setting story trailer, and outlined the gameplay systems that’ll power your survival on the alien planet of Carcosa. We’ll play Enforcer Arjun, his combat prowess making him the perfect choice to scout out the terrain for the rescue crew. And we know on Carcosa, death is not the end. Arjun resurrects every time he falls, returning to the rescue crew’s home base to start his expedition anew. That resurrection is a common theme during our hands-on with a three hour slice of the game proper, which incorporates the game’s first two levels – the cliffside Shattered Rise and the claustrophobic Ancient Depths – and the brutal bosses that lie at their end. To go alongside that session, we chatted to creative director Gregory Louden and art director Simone Silvestri to dig deeper into the systems at play. Turning threats into opportunities Saros’ core mechanics are extensive yet easy to memorise, tied as they are to different resistances of DualSense controller’s adaptive triggers, as well as L1 and R1 bumper taps and holds. Soltari’s human-crafted tech covers your collectable handheld weapons such as Hand Cannons, Rifles and Shotguns. You’ll scavenge these as you explore, and while there are multiple variants, each with its own unique perk, they all have two fire types. Primary fire is mapped to a pull of R2, with an alt-fire mode unique to each weapon chosen through pulling L2 halfway down (a satisfying resistance in the adaptive trigger signifying activation), with a trigger of R2 to unleash. A menu pop-up when collecting weapons will detail their power level and perks. An early favorite is a Hand Cannon that boasts ricochet bullets, letting you bounce shots off the environment to strike out-of-sight enemies. The same tech covers a directional Dash on L1 (which negates most damage while performed), and a bubble-like Shield, the deployment of which is dependent on two things: R1 being held and there being enough power left to sustain it. Sustaining your Shield’s Power level (note the deliberate capitalization) brings us to the risk/reward symbiosis between Soltari tech and alien Carcosan weaponry which partially defines Saros’ playstyle. An early encounter with an alien artifact imbues Arjun’s arm with the ability to store and fire out Carocosan energy. This Power Weapon, as it’s named, is activated with a full pull of L2, and with the right aim, its blast can take down one or more smaller foes. But it requires energy. Energy that your Shield can pool by absorbing blue-colored enemy projectiles. And Housemarque’s beautiful bullet ballet is in full force in Saros, with hypnotic, deadly patterns firing your way with gusto. It means on Carcosa, charging towards danger is sometimes a smarter strategy than weaving out of its way. “We wanted to make projectiles opportunities,” explains Louden, describing it as a shift away from the “obstacle course” of the studio’s previous title Returnal to something more akin to “a playground”. It’s a term that perfectly captures the flow state that results as you play: always moving, always interacting. Continually switching between projectile dodges and absorption, using melee to burst enemy shields, a blast of the Power Weapon to down enemy groups… every fight is a constant juggle of split-second decisions to how best to counter threats and turn the tide to your advantage. Very intense, very fun. Each level’s conclusion boasts an epic boss clash. In true Housemarque fashion these contain multiple phases that’ll test your reaction times and aim. Embrace the eclipse as greater risk brings greater rewards You’ll become familiar with a multi-armed device discovered in every area of Carcosa that when interacted with, initiates an eclipse that’s biome-specific. Outside the first activation to showcase what results when an eclipse washes over the world, these world-changing events will be an optional choice while exploring the planet, and provided you find the device, can be triggered at any time. There’s an arresting visual shift to a level’s visual design as the corruption takes hold (which extends to the audioscape – worth sticking on a headset for!), and enemies now fire out additional projectile types – sickly yellow versions which if you’re struck by, lowers your max health ceiling. Increased risk? Certainly. But with it comes increased rewards, making it worth rolling the dice for a more dangerous world. Lucenite, Carcosa’s collectable currency dropped by downed enemies and which are key to unlocking permanent upgrades to better survive its dangers, increase in value during eclipses. And while activating your Power Weapon cleanses you of corruption, once the eclipse is called you will have the ability to find corrupted versions of weaponry and artifacts, which have unique properties and perks active for the duration of an eclipse. And while undiscovered during our own hands-on, Housemarque alludes to tools also unique to an eclipse world-state that will aid your exploration. One ability that’s not tied to the eclipse, but will deepen your fight-first approach to combat is parrying, allowing you to knock back certain high-powered projectiles to their originator. This is unlocked through Arjun’s Armor Matrix, an upgrade tree tinkered with back at the rescue crew’s base camp. It’s worth straying off the path In Saros, a level’s layout will alter every time you return to it. “We have handcrafted levels, handcrafted art, handcrafted design, handcrafted combat encounters, and then we kind of connect them in a procedural matter,” says Silvestri. And each configuration is meticulously crafted by the studio. “We play our game a lot, and we keep playtesting to ensure that we have a really great flow across the experience.” Every level has a golden path, a direct line to your main objective (tap down on D-Pad to scan the world and you’ll see a literal gold flag icon pinpointing your key objective’s general location). But levels are also pocketed with side paths. At the end of most lies rewards, though puzzles that require fast reflexes or having the right tool stand between you and your claim. A horror ensemble Sometimes you’ll stumble upon the remnants of colony camps with logs that’ll help you piece together what happened to those you’re here to rescue. The colony’s fate, and the nature of Carcosa, is a mystery you need to solve, but not alone. While Returnal excelled with solitary dread and a slow burn story, Saros proves group dynamics are as perfect a canvas to explore the horror genre and give an urgent propulsion to the story from its opening moments. “We immediately knew we wanted more viewpoints,” says Louden of the importance of this not being a solo excursion. Crew relationships and individual motivations are fleshed out gradually as you return to the Passage, or as members radio in as you explore. But even from the off, you realise that companionship brings an increasing edge of uneasiness, not comfort. Be it from the crew, individually grappling with the sheer complexity of the operation and growing uneasy of Arjun due to his experiences, or the unsettling stoicism of Primary, the huge black box of a Soltari AI that when not unlocking upgrades on Arjun’s Armor Matrix, speaks on behalf of the company and its profit-focused operations on the planet. “It creates this pressure cooker of an experience, with multiple perspectives.” Saros launches April 30 on PS5. Find out more about the game’s enemy design, how to create a beautiful bullet ballet pattern, and much more, in an extended interview with Housemarque on PlayStation Podcast, dropping this Friday. View the full article

Hi everyone, I’m excited to share how we’ve enhanced Directive 8020 for PlayStation 5 Pro, and how these upgrades help deepen the tension, clarity, and emotional impact at the heart of the game. Play Video From the very beginning, Directive 8020 was built around cinematic storytelling, player choice, and atmosphere you can feel onboard the deadly mission to Tau Ceti f. Hunted by an alien organism capable of mimicking its prey, the crew of the Cassiopeia must outwit their pursuers to make it home alive. Sharper visuals powered by PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution One of the most noticeable enhancements comes from PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution (PSSR), Sony’s AI-driven upscaling technology. PSSR intelligently enhances image detail and clarity frame by frame, allowing environments, character models, and subtle environmental storytelling to appear crisp and well-defined. The metallic corridors of the Cassiopeia, the frost forming across a freezing medical lab, the distortion in a reflective visor, all of these details benefit from the added sharpness. Discover cinematic fidelity with PlayStation 5 Pro Directive 8020 is a cinematic narrative experience at its core. With the additional rendering power available, we’re able to present scenes with enhanced visual fidelity that supports the emotional weight of each moment. Character performances, subtle facial animations, and environmental detail all contribute to immersion. When you’re trying to decide who to trust, especially when two identical faces are staring back at you, those visual nuances matter. Face your fears with advanced ray tracing Lighting is one of the most powerful storytelling tools in horror. With advanced ray tracing, light behaves more realistically, bouncing naturally through corridors, reflecting off metallic surfaces, and casting shadows that feel grounded in physical space. Emergency strobes flare against bulkheads. Firelight flickers dynamically across a character’s face. Ice refracts light in a way that feels cold and unforgiving. Realistic lighting heightens tension in every corridor. You’re never quite sure what’s hiding just beyond the glow. Dynamic shadows reveal, and conceal, the threat Shadows aren’t just visual dressing in Directive 8020. They’re part of the language of fear. Dynamic shadow detail adds depth and movement to scenes, making environments feel less static and more unpredictable. A shifting silhouette might be nothing… or it might be an alien hunter watching. The added richness in shadow rendering enhances atmosphere in subtle but powerful ways, reinforcing the unease that runs through the entire experience. Smooth performance where every decision counts Performance isn’t just about numbers on a spec sheet, it’s about emotional timing. Directive 8020 is built around split-second decisions that permanently shape your story. When Anders is freezing in a failing medical lab and Mitchel is trapped in an inferno elsewhere on the ship, you don’t have time to deliberate forever. Your instinct takes over. Or when you’re faced with two identical versions of the same crew member, both claiming to be real, who do you trust? Smooth, consistent performance ensures those moments land exactly as intended. Inputs feel immediate. Camera movement remains fluid. Cinematic transitions hold their impact. The tension builds naturally, without technical friction pulling you out of it. In a choice-driven narrative game, responsiveness is part of storytelling. Designed with PlayStation 5 in mind Beyond visual enhancements, Directive 8020 was designed to make full use of PlayStation 5 features, particularly the DualSense controller. Especially due to the Supermassive legacy from Until Dawn in those tense “Don’t Move” moments from the PlayStation 3. We wanted interactions to feel instinctive in Directive 8020: You’ll instinctively reach for your flashlight in a pitch-black corridor. You’ll scan a room before entering a hatch. You’ll grab the wedge tool at the last possible second. All without taking your eyes off the danger around you. Haptic feedback puts the fear in your hands during choices and while using tools. The DualSense’s audio output crackles as a way for distant characters to communicate to you from across the vast ship through the messenger tool. Our goal was simple: make the controller your tool for survival and fully immerse you in the world, to keep you on the edge of your seat. Step aboard We’re incredibly proud of how Directive 8020 plays and feels on PlayStation 5 Pro. The enhancements refine the cinematic presentation, elevate lighting and shadow detail, and ensure smooth performance in the moments that matter most. If you’re ready to confront what’s waiting in the dark abyss of space, you can pre-order now on PlayStation 5 before Directive 8020 launches May 12. We can’t wait for you to board the Cassiopeia and face the choices that define your story. View the full article

PlayStation Store’s Spring Sale begins tomorrow, Wednesday, March 25. For a limited time* you can enjoy deep discounts of up to 75% on a vast range of games that include iconic blockbusters, acclaimed classics, and more. *PlayStation Store Spring Sale promotion runs from Wednesday, March 25 at 00:00 AM PDT/BST/JST and finishes Wednesday April 22 at 11:59 PM PDT/BST/JST**. Each title may have different sale periods. Please refer to the information in the title details page. **The promotion’s start and finish time may differ in certain regions. Game selection may differ by region. View the full article

I’m Jesse Passoja from Korpi Games, lead designer on Virtual Hunter. Virtual reality is a lightning rod for all the things that make simulation games like ours click with the genre’s audience: Slower-paced, highly immersive experiences with a great range of freedom. However, the hunting genre was almost completely missing from VR when we started working on Virtual Hunter. Play Video We put all of our passion and knowledge from the past decades into the design to deliver the best game in the genre, and I’m honored to be able to give the PlayStation community some insight into what to expect when Virtual Hunter launches for PlayStation VR2 on May 27. I’ll also include some insight from Jaakko Asikainen, CTO over at VRKiwi, with whom we have the pleasure of working with as we deliver the game for this community. The PS VR2 version has been requested for years and, with his team, we gathered feedback from players so we could make the best use of things like the adaptive triggers, foveated rendering, and headset haptics while delivering the best port we can. Building the hunt from the ground up We focused on delivering a hunting experience in VR that players have wanted and more with Virtual Hunter. From realistic hunting mechanics and true-to-life weapon ballistics all the way to the massive open-world with day/night cycle and dynamic weather filled with animals meticulously designed to mimic their real-life counterparts. Core to the impact of these different systems intersecting and complementing each other is total player freedom in how they want to approach a hunt. Do you want to climb on a stand early in the morning and scan the tree line as you go? Or do you want to take a relaxing hike to the top of the mountain you spotted on the horizon? It is all up to the player and, since there’s a fresh spawn of animals, each hunt will be different. You’ll never know when the trophy of a lifetime shows up. That freedom extends to accessibility as well. Players can approach at their own pace with three different difficulty options, which affect animal senses and rewards. They’re easier to approach in Casual mode, and in Realistic, they are highly aware of their surroundings but yield higher monetary rewards. We also have a feature that gives you space to reflect and admire the progress you make on your many hunts: the trophy lodge. With our best-in-the-genre trophy mount system, players can freely place their favorite trophies around the lodge. There are several mount types available, varying from full body mounts to hanging ceiling mounts for pheasants, and players can add, change, and move them however they want. Outside the lodge, you can find a shooting range and a 3D archery course where you can master your shooting skills. The trophy lodge brings a narrative layer unique to each player, serving as a blank canvas for players to paint their virtual hunting story, one trophy at a time. PS VR2 takes it to the next level Virtual Hunter includes specific settings that are crucial to players shaping their VR experience. There’s a dedicated seated mode, a variety of settings for weapon handling, and more. Further, coming to PS VR2 gives us a selection of options we didn’t have in the original version of Virtual Hunter that we’re excited to take advantage of. “PS VR2’s specific features are always exciting to work with. They’re fairly easy to implement but with great payoffs for players,” says Asikainen. “For example, we use the headset haptics to simulate branches and leaves going by your head while in the brush.” ”The main show, however, is the adaptive triggers, and we aimed for ultimate realism with them,” he continues. “It helps when there are lots of hunters and other hobbyists in the fan base who can give us feedback on things like the resistances we applied to the triggers for the different guns.” The bows in the game are draw-and-release, so they are very straightforward when pulling the triggers. The revolver, however, has a realistic double-action where a partial pull cocks the weapon and pulling further fires it. “All in all, the adaptive trigger feature is a must-have for any developer trying to do some kind of weapon simulation,” Asikainen concludes. A trophy worth the wait Virtual Hunter is a technical and design feat that was challenging to accomplish with a small team and limited resources. It took a lot of time, research, and mistakes to succeed and we’re very proud of what we’ve accomplished. When the PS VR2 community gets their hands on Virtual Hunter, we want them to feel the thrill when they spot the first animal and successfully harvest it. It’s not always about the trophy, but the experience of the hunt as well. There is a lot to explore, new skills to master, and personal goals to achieve. Patience is a skill in immersive simulation experiences, and getting your first trophy is a feeling that will make it all worth it. We’re always open to hearing about our players’ experiences, so don’t hesitate to reach out with feedback or questions. Happy hunting! Virtual Hunter launches May 27 for PS VR2. View the full article

Arc System Works and Executive Director Daisuke Ishiwatari are known for fighting games, and their upcoming game, Damon and Baby, is a huge shift. It’s an action-adventure game that’s defined by an overhead viewpoint, twin-stick shooter mechanics, a lighthearted, cartoonish art style, and a wry, satirical wit — a departure from series like Guilty Gear and BlazBlue. Damon and Baby is an expansive game that packs a surprising amount of depth and challenge. I recently played through the first 10 hours of Damon and Baby ahead of its release to get a first-hand feel for its blend of action mechanics and comedy stylings. You take on the role of Damon, a demon with aspirations for greatness, who has what turns out to be an unfortunate friendship with a priest. At the start of the tale, the priest shows up mortally wounded and entrusts Damon with a baby. Little does Damon know that, through supernatural shenanigans, the two have become inseparable, and if Damon wanders too far away from the baby, he’s instantly teleported back to her. Stuck with putting his demonic plans on hold to care for a cute child, Damon sets out to find a way to separate himself from the baby. But he quickly discovers that while he wants to get rid of the kid, there are demonic forces, led by Death, who will do anything to claim her. And while Damon is a curmudgeonly demon, it turns out he has a heart of gold, so he grabs some guns and sets about fighting through hordes of supernatural enemies. Fast, furious twin-stick combat And you will fight a lot of enemies in Damon and Baby, using a close-range melee strike and four different types of weapons: pistols, shotguns, machine guns, and rocket launchers. Each of the gun archetypes comes in all sorts of variations, sporting different stats and nuanced capabilities. Some guns might add additional bullets to their spread, pierce through enemies, or fire in powerful, short bursts rather than continuously. Each weapon is good for specific situations, encouraging you to change them up often as you fight all kinds of enemies. From easily-defeated knife-wielding spirits, to giant, flying, shield-wielding fiends, there’s a huge number of threats to deal with and you’ll have to constantly shift strategies in order to stay alive. Toss that baby! Damon and Baby gives you a few interesting tools to help you, as well. Before long, Damon realizes he can use that whole baby curse thing to his advantage, giving you the ability to throw the baby, which causes Damon to teleport to wherever she is and catch her. That move allows you to cover big gaps that you couldn’t normally jump over, and it serves as your primary dodge to escape enemy attacks. You’ll need to use that baby throw ability a lot, because enemies hit hard. While Damon and Baby might look cartoonish on the surface, it packs some serious challenges. Even normal enemies can be huge and powerful, but the bosses take things up a notch — like a giant, katana-wielding wolf dressed like he belongs in Kill Bill, or a moth who uses a massive sniper rifle against you in a grocery store. They’ll clobber you if you’re not on your game. Throwing the baby is also just one of the many abilities that help you explore its sprawling areas. As Damon earns a double-jump and wall jump, and “ultimate” abilities that let him do things like smash through certain kinds of objects, you can revisit earlier areas to discover secrets and power-ups, or earn money for buying new weapons. Damon and Baby’s levels are huge, and offer almost as many nooks and crannies to check as demons to shoot. Heaven and Hell have bureaucrats, too The thing I liked most in my preview of the game, though, was Damon and Baby’s comedic sensibility. It’s set in a world where demons, angels, and monsters are old hat for normal folks, and dealing with Heaven and Hell is mostly a bureaucratic annoyance, and it’s a paperwork snafu that costs Damon his powers at the start of the game. Damon’s ultimate goal is to get to Sedona — as in, Arizona — and he’s helped out by a demonic insurance agent, a vampire mafioso who transforms into a bat to help you in combat, and an angelic cook, among other weirdos. It’s a game that imagines a goofy supernatural world that’s full of spirits and creatures trying to help you save the world, but who still have to work within a society full of mundane tasks and arbitrary rules. The absurdity leads to a lot of good jokes, especially as Damon complains his way through the journey. You’ll get a chance to explore the enormous, ridiculous world of Damon and Baby when it launches on PS5 and PS4 on March 26. View the full article