Saros gameplay mechanics are the natural evolution of those seen in Returnal, with additional layers of complexity added to defense. Instead of dashing through enemy attacks, the game is all about mastering a sort of rock-paper-scissors defensive loop between your Dash, Shield, and Parry. The last is the riskiest and most satisfying, but before you can pull it off, you must unlock it.

How to Unlock Parry

Parry is the only defensive option in the game that has to be unlocked before it can be used. To do so, you will have to reach the Blighted Marsh biome and play until you meet a member of a former Echelon expedition. Interact with the terminal nearby to unlock Parry as a permanent upgrade.

How to Parry Projectiles

After you unlock the Parry permanent upgrade in the Blighted Marsh biome, you can parry both projectiles and melee attacks. A common misconception is that you can reflect every projectile in Saros, but this is not the case:

• Nova Projectiles (Red): These are the only projectiles that can be parried and reflected back at the enemy.
• Standard Projectiles (Blue): These should be absorbed by your Shield to build Power.
• Corrupted Projectiles (Yellow): These can be absorbed by the Shield after unlocking a related upgrade in the Armor Matrix, but they will still cause Corruption, which lowers your total health even if you are successful.

Although it works a little differently than with Nova Projectiles, it is still possible to parry blue projectiles. If you time a melee attack perfectly with them, you will absorb these projectiles outright without needing to deploy your shield, letting you maintain combat momentum.

You can learn the correct timing by performing a melee attack at any time: if you don't hold the R1 button, at the end of the animation, you will notice a faint blue shield appear in front of Arjun. This is your window for parrying and absorbing blue projectiles.

How to Parry Melee Attacks

Although the parry mechanics are mostly limited to bullets, you can also parry select melee attacks by timing Arjun's melee attacks right before the attack connects.

• A Red Glint indicates whether the attack can be parried. These melee attacks are generally accompanied by Nova Projectiles, so you are actually parrying the projectiles, and not the melee attack itself.
• As very few organic enemies use these melee attacks that can be parried, it's generally better not to attempt parrying until you have a good grasp of the enemy attack patterns. A missed parry leads to massive damage in such cases.

This concludes the guide. For more help, visit our Saros: Complete Walkthrough & Guide hub.

Guide based on a completed playthrough on base PlayStation 5. Screenshots captured from the same version.

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