Saros: Zenith update out now with New Game+, Overlord Rush mode and accessibility options

Housemarque released the Zenith update for Saros on October 19, according to the PlayStation Blog. It is free for everyone who owns the game. The studio said it had two aims: give returning players more reasons to replay, and make the game easier for new players to get into. The update brings a New Game+ mode, a boss rush mode, new modifiers, trophies and accessibility settings.

The main accessibility addition is a setting that slows the game down. Enemy attacks stay the same, so players simply get more time to react to them. Players can choose how much the game slows. They can also have the setting switch on automatically during combat or turn it on by hand. As the studio put it, “The attacks remain the same, but you have a little more time to deal with them.” A new Auto-fire option fires your weapon whenever you aim at an enemy. Reloading is still manual, and perfect reloads still depend on timing. The update also adds Motion Sensor Aiming, which joins the button remapping already in the game.

Zenith expands the Carcosan Modifier system with 10 new Protection Modifiers that make the game more forgiving. One of them, Corruption Melee Enhancement, turns built-up Corruption into extra damage when a melee hit lands. The update also adds 10 new Trial Modifiers that make the game harder, for 25 Trials in total. In one of them, Hostile Regeneration, larger enemies can only be finished off with a melee strike.

The new New Game+ mode, called Eclipse Layers, opens after you finish the game. Each layer is a harder version of the game with changed rules, and players must take on enough Trial Modifiers to reach a set threshold before starting. During these runs, the protagonist Arjun wears a crown that grows bigger the more Trials are active, and his armor glows gold. Higher crown levels are also needed to read the full story text in 12 new collectibles called Visions.

Overlord Rush is a new mode where players race through the game’s Overlord bosses for a spot on online leaderboards. The Incursion and Ascension sets each have three Overlords and take about 10 minutes. The Totality set puts all eight Overlords in a row. Leaderboards can be filtered by main weapon. Housemarque noted that the leaderboard features need an internet connection and a PlayStation account.