Saros: Best Carcosan Modifiers & When To Use Them

Unlike its spiritual predecessor Returnal, Housemarque’s new Saros allows players to throttle the difficulty in the game to their liking to some extent with the Carcosan Modifier system. Players can access Carcosan Modifiers via Primary in the Passage, and they become available quite early on, though many of them will be locked at first.

Carcosan Modifiers are an excellent new addition to the Housemarque gameplay formula that can make your journey slightly easier, or give hardcore players a more extreme challenge if they’re looking for a more Returnal-like experience.

How To Unlock Carcosan Modifiers In Saros & How They Work

In order to take advantage of the Carcosan Modifier system, it’s essential to understand how they work, though the system itself is not all that complicated. Carcosan Modifiers come in two varieties:

• Trials: Enabled by players to add challenges that increase difficulty, ranging from increased Corruption buildup to disabling Second Chance, etc.
• Protections: Enabled to decrease difficulty by giving players various buffs, such as preventing Corruption effects on Artifacts or increasing damage against enemies.

Carcosan Modifiers function on a “balancing” system on a plus-minus scale, with a rank -4 or less being underpowered and anything 4+ being overpowered. Players will have to maintain at least a -3 ranking to “lock in” the selected Modifiers, with protections decreasing the gauge and Trials increasing it. You can select up to six different Protection Modifiers and six different Trial Modifiers, but have to strike a balanced gauge score of at least -3 in order to play.

You can enable more Protections by selecting additional Trials, and these can come in extremely useful if you find yourself hitting a wall against any particular end-stage boss. Early on, you’ll have a limited number of both Trials and Protections available, but these will gradually be unlocked as you advance through the game, typically after you complete each Biome.

Best Carcosan Modifiers And When To Use Them

Carcosan Modifiers can be extremely useful if you’ve hit a wall with any given Biome or boss encounter, though they can also make things worse if you aren’t careful with which Trials you select. Conversely, if you find yourself destroying enemies very easily and wish things were more unforgiving, you can enable several Trials without any Protections, to a maximum of +22 on the gauge.

For players looking to make their lives easier in the mid to late-game, the following Trials/Protections offer the most benefits with the least costly drawbacks (with the most useful Protections listed first):

Personally, I was not using ALL of these modifiers all of the time, but these were the go-to options when I did use Carcosan Modifiers at all. The Artifact Immunity and Damage Enhancement Protections in particular were extremely useful throughout the entirety of the game, and using the Artifact Destruction and Halcyon Removal Trials came at the least detriment while still balancing the gauge. I’d typically go on a Halcyon-focused run after clearing an area if there was a specific Armor Matrix upgrade I had my eye on.

Further, the below listed Protections will be useful on a case-by-case basis against certain endgame bosses, depending on your playstyle and skill level (spoiler-free):

Overall, there’s no real downside to enabling Protections outside the specific effects from each Trial you select to balance them out, and if you’re truly struggling (or not struggling enough), the Carcosan Modifier system in Saros is definitely worth experimenting with to figure out what works best for your playstyle.

Saros

8/10

Released

April 30, 2026

ESRB

Teen / Blood, Language, Mild Suggestive Themes, Violence

Developer(s)

Housemarque

Publisher(s)

Sony Interactive Entertainment

Engine

Proprietary