SAROS, our interview with Simone Silvestri: "Carcosa had to have a voice of violence and beauty"

The success of SAROS continues to grow day by day, fueled above all by the many accolades received from both industry critics and, even more importantly, from gamers around the world, thanks to an experience capable of pushing beyond the boundaries of classic sci-fi action.

To better understand the creative vision behind this project, we had the opportunity to speak with SAROS's art director, Simone Silvestri, a key figure in the development of the game's visual and atmospheric identity. During the interview, we delved into the creative process that brought the world of SAROS to life, the artistic influences that shaped its aesthetic, the team's desire to evolve the visual language already seen in previous Housemarque productions, and the delicate balance between spectacle, accessibility, and challenge that characterizes the final experience. 

Carcosa as a character: the voice of the planet

Gamesurf: "In Saros, the environment is not just an aesthetic backdrop, but also seems to be a character that constantly observes the player. How did you work on this element? How and when did you decide that in Saros the game environment could be so profoundly important and could silently "speak" through every single detail?" 

S. Silvestri: "One of the main things, when I joined Housemarque, was talking to Gregory Laden, the creative director. And he gave me the idea of the eclipse and this psychological narrative journey of Arjun, and for me it was important to make Carcosa an additional character. It's a character who is a travel companion for the player and thus for Arjun. It was essential that Carcosa had its own voice, and it was essential that this voice was one of violence, of tension, and that it somehow created a visual and psychological conflict for the player. It's a challenge that at the same time was a voice full of beauty. It's a voice that somehow constantly attracts you like a siren and constantly asks to be discovered and to continue through what is the game experience.

And this balance between violence and beauty then created one of the fundamental pillars of the artistic direction that we called Violent Beauty. And it is through this language that we went on to create every single part of the world of Carcosa. And it is important that it is this oxymoron between violence and beauty, because in some way it also describes the main themes of the narrative, and gives you a preview, let's say, of what the destination will be. And for us it was fundamental to also find these color palettes with which to express this idea of visual power of yellow, orange and red. And yellow is a bit of a difficult color to use because it is the color that most of all attracts attention, which we also use for road signs, for example. But it is also the color of excitement and it is the color of obsession.

Here, obsession is a main theme of Saros. And so, juggling this palette with these visual languages shared with the rest of the architecture that have a balance between these triangular and violent forms and these softer and more gentle arches that give both an idea of organic and almost an idea of security. And in this way, the player never quite knows whether to feel safe or to feel in danger. And this is the sensation we wanted to navigate with the voice of Carcosa, which is then also expressed through the sound design that completes this visual experience with an amazing auditory experience. There is obviously also an escalation that must be done on two levels, one when the eclipse comes into play, so when we put the eclipse. And then an escalation throughout what is the geographical journey through Carcosa, because. Arjun goes through his psychological narrative journey and the planet must do the same thing, the architecture must do the same thing and the setting must follow this constant journey through this perverse enlightenment that the eclipse gives you. And so this is a bit of all the reasoning we did to try to make Carcosa also a main accompanying character to Arjon. 

The "Maximum Impact" rule: between neoclassicism and Italian futurism

Gamesurf: Saros's design often plays with the contrast between ancestral elements and hints of futuristic technology. What was the technical and conceptual challenge in blending earthly elements with artificial ones? Is there a direction or rule you follow to make everything work incredibly well? 

S. Silvestri: We have a series of rules that we create ad hoc for each type of conceptual challenge, let's say. For us it was important, for me as an art director, to start from a basic idea that you can then relate to, so we always try to start from the history of civilizations: you go and see what happened in Mesopotamia, you go and see what happened in Egypt of Sanzio, Greece, Rome, what are the cults of the sun, how mysticism works in the history of civilizations. And this is the basis to which you, as a player, can relate, because you have cultural elements that are similarities.

And that's where we apply all our rules that start from the study of understanding the language of form. Then, for example, we have this idea of "Maximum Impact", that is, if there is a concept that interests us, but it is not at the level we like, we always ask what is the maximum extreme form of this concept, and from there we always start to develop things that are perhaps much larger or much grander in their realization. And we have a scale where we have one extreme that is minimal, and another extreme that is the most extreme part of the design, so in between there is what we call the "No Man's land of Blend", so no man's land and we never want to be in the middle. So either we do something minimal or we do something extreme and then we see how to combine these two elements. And we always try to push to the extreme part. And then obviously we broke a series of artistic pillars that guide what is the expression of the finished form and how it is then expressed within the game level.

And then on top we apply the arcade gameplay with all the neon bullets, etc. And this gives you this super interesting duality to work with, but there's also an escalation of the eclipse and all the narrative part that then becomes visual psychology within the level.

And these were a bit the three fundamental rules.

The architecture in particular, to make it alien, we found two real styles which are neoclassicism and Italian futurism, and blending them is very complicated and it took a lot of trust from the team, a willingness to explore, and a particular creative hunger that however, once we harmonized this language so difficult to unite, an alien idea of architecture came out that has a base to which we can relate, in which we can find ourselves.

SAROS vs Returnal: evolving without betraying Housemarque's legacy

Gamesurf: Returnal set a very high visual standard for Housemarque, based on an oppressive darkness and alien organic biomes. In Saros, how did you manage the weight of this legacy to avoid the "more of the same" effect? What was the most radical change in your technical and creative approach to transition from the claustrophobic atmospheres of Atropos to the violent beauty and monumental architectures of Carcosa? 

S. Silvestri: Well, for me Returnal is a masterclass in atmosphere. It creates this claustrophobic, oppressive, mysterious, and tense atmosphere that I absolutely wanted to maintain in its philosophy, but change in its execution. For example, Carcosa's atmosphere is less claustrophobic; in fact, it has more scope with these views where you can see these glimpses of the planet and create a sense of tangible geography. And then Saros needs other things visually, it needs a different color palette, it needs an expression, of tonalities that follow the themes of avarice, greed, obsession. That's why we chose a whole series of different colors, a series of different expressions, for us it's always a challenge, because we have a fantastic hunger and ambition.

We, like Arjun, are obsessed with creating something unique, with creating something that, for us first and foremost, is interesting. So there was never any doubt that we wanted to do something different and that we wanted to evolve in some way. These are our fundamental artistic philosophies of the fringe sphere I was talking about earlier. There is a fundamental difference between Returnal and Saros, and that is that the team has five more years of experience. And it's an experience that I have lived very, very well within Housemarque, and I can tell you with serenity that Housemarque's artistic team has never been as strong as it is today. And it's something we are very proud of, but also very humble about, and we still have a lot of hunger, and we still have a series of ambitions that we want to achieve. So, I can't wait to go back to the office and work with my team and see what comes out. 

The future of Housemarque: gameplay at the center, art in evolution

Gamesurf : Looking at your future projects, is there a particular artistic style or a new game style that you dream of putting at the center of your next artistic direction? 

S. Silvestri: We will always more or less maintain our nature. Housemarque has 30 years of history where we always put gameplay at the center of the experience, this philosophy and this identity. It's something that not all software houses have so clear in mind, and for me it always means finding an artistic expression that complements this philosophy. What the game needs depends on what the game wants to express, so all the artistic sources we will find with what the experience will then be. You always have to find the right things. My sources remain strong on the history of my country and the history of the Renaissance, classical art, and the history of civilizations, but I am falling in love with a whole series of abstractions of color and form that are starting to give me a series of ideas.

But I have no idea what will actually end up in the future, because it depends on the experience. The most important thing is to complement the gameplay with the right artistic form. So we'll see.

A heartfelt thank you goes to Simone Silvestri for his great availability, cordiality, and friendliness shown during the interview, elements that made this chat even more pleasant and interesting. An additional thank you also to Sony Interactive Entertainment Italia for giving us the opportunity to delve into one of the most fascinating and successful projects of 2026. .