u/CutMeLoose79

Trying to beat the epilogue. Good run on the yellow shore. Got the weapon I want. Big solar cage room before the last bit to the King.

All enemies were immune. I’d already cleared the side paths and cleared the totem on one side. There was not a totem on the other side path.

All the enemies in the solar cage room were immune. Not even overdrive could kill the Corrupter boss. Had to quit.

What a shitty bug.

Great game. Honestly, I spent a good chunk of the game thinking how much I preferred Returnal, but overall it was still a fantastic experience with pros and cons to Returnal and I ended up enjoying it almost as much.

Things I preferred or liked the addition of included:

- Shield and power weapon system.

- Permanent progression / skill tree.

- Parries (although damage on returned projectiles was too weak).

- A more interesting hub.

- The actual graphics tech (I was on PS5 Pro).

Things I still prefer from Returnal:

- Consumables

- Having mini hubs to spend currency (could have been a good trade off, do I buy these consumables or save all currency for upgrades etc).

- Parasites

- The overall storytelling.

- The general art direction.

- The music.

In terms of overall difficulty, it's a hard one. I finished Returnal in 10 deaths total, thanks in no small part to health packs, astronauts and a ridiculous Hollowseeker with portal beam, portal turret and waves (and like 6 of those total deaths was to Phrike, all other bosses I beat first go). Out of both games, Hyperion is still probably my favourite boss (the look and music are top notch), but Saros had some epic bosses and better ones overall.

I'm pretty sure Saros I ended up about 25 deaths total, mostly just playing through the biomes (EDIT - I was way off, I’m at 14 deaths total).

Those deaths slowed down dramatically as I learned the game better and upgraded my skill tree. Prophet I beat on my second attempt. Bastion took me 5 attempts (I didn't know you could shield yellows for just a little corruption at that point, I thought you took full damage and kept trying to dodge, I felt silly). Rhabdom first attempt. Legion first attempt. Architect second attempt. Shepherd first attempt (and probably my fav boss of Saros). Priestess second attempt. King second attempt. So I guess overall, I found Saros harder earlier, but it gets MUCH easier as you go on and upgrade.

I'd liked to have seen an option to convert an artifact you aren't collecting to lucenite. Once my artifacts were full, I was pretty much skipping them all.

First attempt of the King, I got him to about half health and died. It may have just been not understanding his mechanics, but I felt I could be a little more powerful, so I did one more full run of Shattered Rise through to beating the Priestess again and used all the halcyon and lucenite to do another bunch of upgrades. It then made beating the King a breeze on my second attempt.

Special shoutout to the Repeating Crossbow (homing shots) and the Reaping Chakram (hold L2 and spam R2). Absolutely loved both weapons, even if the Hollowseeker with portal beam and portal turret from Returnal will always hold a special place in my heart.

I still need to go back and do the secret ending, which is good as i'm not quite ready to move on just yet.

Overall, brilliant game that never wore out its welcome and I'd say it is currently sitting as my GOTY so far, which I didn't expect.