Housemarque released the Zenith update for SAROS today, October 19, 2026. It is free for every owner of the game and brings two big additions at once: the Eclipse Layers New Game+ mode for players who have already cleared Carcosa, and Overlord Rush, a timed race against the bosses from the main game with online leaderboards. On top of that come new modifiers, trophies and a set of accessibility options that open Housemarque’s bullet ballet to players who found it too hectic until now.
The studio set two goals for the update: give replayability to players who finished the game, and lower the barrier for newcomers. Here is what changes and who it is for.
The essentials
- Release: October 19, 2026, at no extra cost for all SAROS owners on PS5.
- Eclipse Layers: New Game+ with altered rules, unlocked after finishing the game. Before each layer you build your own loadout of modifiers.
- Overlord Rush: a new mode where you defeat the Overlords from the main game as fast as possible. Online leaderboards, three sets.
- Modifiers: 10 new Protections (make things easier) and 10 new Trials (make things harder), for 25 Trials in total.
- Accessibility: Slow Game Speed, Auto-fire and Motion Sensor Aiming.
- Trophies: new trophies arrive alongside the new content.
- Online: the Overlord Rush leaderboards need an internet connection and a PlayStation account.
Eclipse Layers: a New Game+ where you set the rules
Once you clear SAROS, new nodes appear in the Armor Matrix back at Passage. They unlock the gate to the next Eclipse Layer, a more intense version of the game with altered rules. It is not just scaled-up enemies. Right after entering a layer you have to pick a loadout of Carcosan Modifiers and meet a required difficulty threshold. A single Trial will not get you there, so you will combine several, but which ones is entirely up to you.
This is where New Game+ meets the expanded modifier system. With 25 Trials to choose from you can shape the challenge around your playstyle, and Housemarque hints that some Trials synergize with each other. If you want, you can build a genuinely deadly run.
The Crown and the Visions: a reward for courage
So that everyone can see what you are playing with, Arjun wears a Crown in the Eclipse Layers and his armor glows gold. The more Trials you take on and the higher your Modifier Balance goes, the bigger and more splendid the Crown gets. It works in Photo mode too, so you have something to show off.
The Crown is not just decoration. It is the key to a new collectible Housemarque calls Visions: murals and messages etched into stone by an ancient king. There are 12 of them scattered across Carcosa, but some of their story texts require a higher Crown level. In other words, only players running plenty of Trials will see the full story of the Visions.
Overlord Rush: boss races and global leaderboards
The second headline feature is Overlord Rush. You launch it from the Primary Unit in Passage and it drops you into a training simulation where you dispatch the Overlords from the main game as quickly as you can. Your result goes onto an integrated leaderboard where you compete with friends and players around the world.
The mode is split into three sets, each with a different selection of bosses:
| Set | Overlords | Rough length |
|---|---|---|
| Incursion | 3 | about 10 minutes |
| Ascension | 3 | about 10 minutes |
| Totality | all 8 | one continuous gauntlet |
Housemarque describes Incursion and Ascension as a ten-minute “Saros snack”, while Totality is the full test that lines up every Overlord in Carcosa back to back. A nice touch: the global leaderboard can be filtered by Main Weapon. Even if you cannot reach the overall top, you can still be the best with your favorite weapon.
New modifiers: 10 Protections and 10 Trials
Carcosan Modifiers already let you tune the difficulty in both directions in the base game. Zenith adds 10 new Protection Modifiers that make the game easier and more forgiving, and 10 new Trial Modifiers that tighten the screws.
Among the Protections, Corruption Melee Enhancement stands out. Corruption is one of the nastiest mechanics in the game: hits from certain projectiles build up on your armor and eat away at your maximum Integrity. With this modifier, your built-up Corruption is consumed when a melee strike connects and turned into bonus damage, so a single hit can be devastating. The risk stays, but now you have a reason to close in instead of running.
On the Trial side, Hostile Regeneration is a tricky one. Larger hostiles can be stunned by weapon damage, but they quickly regenerate. Only a melee strike finishes them, so you have to rush in the moment they are stunned and land the final blow.
Accessibility: Slow Game Speed, Auto-fire and motion aiming
Housemarque did not want to make the game easier by removing projectiles, because those are what make SAROS a bullet ballet. Instead it added settings that leave the attacks untouched and give you more room to react:
- Slow Game Speed: slows the game down so you can read an attack telegraph, watch the bullets fly and decide whether to jump, dash, shield or parry. You control how much the game slows, and you can have it kick in automatically in combat or toggle it manually.
- Auto-fire: your weapon fires on its own while you aim at a hostile. It helps players who find it hard to hold a button for long and gives everyone else one less thing to think about. Reloading is not automatic, though: a perfect reload still needs a well-timed press.
- Motion Sensor Aiming: aiming with the controller’s motion sensors, alongside the existing button remapping.
All three live in the accessibility settings. Housemarque stresses that they are meant to make the game accessible, not remove skill expression, which is why mechanics like the perfect reload stay as they are.
Who Zenith is for
If you have finished SAROS, you now have a reason to go back: Eclipse Layers with your own Trial loadout, the hunt for 12 Visions and Overlord Rush leaderboards where you can race your friends for the best time. If you put the game down because it felt too fast, now is the moment to try again with Slow Game Speed and Auto-fire. And if you do not own SAROS yet, the update ships free with the game; see the official SAROS page. The studio’s announcement is on the PlayStation Blog.
We follow everything around the console in our PlayStation section.
Join our Discord to compare notes with other players on which Trial combinations work and who holds the best Overlord Rush time: GamersTogether Discord.
FAQ
Nothing. Zenith has been available free of charge to all SAROS owners on PS5 since October 19, 2026.
You need to finish the main game first. New nodes then appear in the Armor Matrix at Passage and open the gate to the first Eclipse Layer. Before entering, you build a loadout of Carcosan Modifiers that must meet the required threshold.
Overlord Rush is a timed mode where you defeat the Overlords from the main game. The Incursion and Ascension sets have three bosses each, Totality has all eight in a row. You start it from the Primary Unit in Passage, but the online leaderboards require an internet connection and a PlayStation account.
No. The attacks stay the same; the whole game just runs slower so you have more time to react. You set how much it slows down and can have it activate automatically in combat or toggle it by hand.
It is not. Auto-fire shoots on its own while you aim at a hostile, but a perfect reload still requires a well-timed button press.
Visions are new collectibles in the Eclipse Layers: murals and messages carved by an ancient king. There are 12, and some of their story texts need a higher Crown level, which means more active Trial Modifiers.