PS5 Exclusive Saros Star Reacts To Controversial 7/10 Review
Topics: Interview, PlayStation, PlayStation 5, Features
Featured Image Credit: Sony Interactive Entertainment
Topics: Interview, PlayStation, PlayStation 5, Features
Saros is the latest big PlayStation 5 exclusive from Housemarque, the studio behind the critically acclaimed Resogun and Returnal.
We had the opportunity to speak with the star of Saros, Rahul Kohli (The Haunting of Bly Manor, Midnight Mass), who plays the character, Arjun Devraj, an enforcer operative for the mega corporation, Soltari. As a huge lifelong gamer and fan of the studio, taking up the opportunity to work with Housemarque was an easy decision.
“I love Dead Nation, Resogun, and of course, Returnal. I got to Housemarque, and as they started a PowerPoint pitch to sell me on the project, I knew whatever they were going to offer me, it would be a yes, purely based on their reputation,” recalls Rahul. “I love their style of gameplay. I said, ‘I want you guys to know, I’m in’. Then they started to show me what they were working on, and that I would be playing Arjun Devraj in Saros, and going in, I already heard about being part of their concept art for what the lead character would look like.”
“Arjun in the world of Saros is one of the reasons I found him to be so compelling, and within the first three or four minutes of the game, players get an idea of the kind of temperament that he has. He likes to hit the ground running, and he’d run through a brick wall to see the mission through. But the compelling part of his character is the deconstruction of that mindset,” explains Rahul.
“His mission is seen through different lenses, and we get to see it through the other members of his team's perspective. Is how others perceive him the same as how he perceives himself? It makes us wonder, what makes a person like this? Do the people in his team really need saving? What if we found out that Princess Peach has never needed saving, and all of a sudden, Mario is seen in a very different way?
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“Mario might then think, is all that he's gone through worth it? All those Cooper Troopers he’s stomped on were for nothing. Maybe he realises that he’s always had a hero complex. So exploring those themes in Saros, what makes a person tick and why he keeps respawning to complete the mission. It was those concepts that were a real lure for me and a big part of the discussions I had with Housemarque.”
For whatever reason, the video game community has somewhat of an issue with the amount of 7/10’s IGN gives. It’s become a meme owned by IGN, to the extent that you can actually buy 7/10 IGN review t-shirts from the media outlet's website.
Saros scored 7/10 by IGN, and whether we agree with that score or not, at the end of the day, it's subjective. So, poking fun at the review score, during a livestream with his partner, Alanah Pearce, an actress in games such as Cyberpunk 2077 and one of 2025’s best games, Dispatch, she also just so happens to be a former journalist at IGN, Rahul wore that 7/10 t-shirt.
“I’m a big fan of IGN, and they’re always the first reviews that I look for. It’s an outlet that I resonate with. Especially if there’s a game that wasn't on my radar, and it scores highly, I might then check it out. But even if there’s a game that scores low, I still might ignore it if it’s a game I connect with,” Rahul recalls.
“I have good friends at IGN, so when I first saw that they gave Saros a 7, my heart sank. Then I was like, ok, 7 isn't bad [an IGN 7 is classed as “Good”], but I don’t aim for sevens. No one does. Yet, I didn't know that most other places gave Saros eights, nines and tens. So then my heart didn't sink as much, and once I knew that the IGN score stood on its own, I thought I might be a bit cheeky about it. So I thought it might be funny to wear the IGN 7/10 t-shirt on a stream. It was never meant as a disrespect, it was all a good laugh, and Michael [Higham], who reviewed Saros, knows this.”
“I think the perceived gap is only perceived by people who don't really know anything about video games,” says Rahul. “I used to run home from drama school to finish Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, and Mass Effect. I’ve been enjoying storytelling in this medium for years, and video games allow us to have experiences that TV and film can’t do.
“In video games, you can develop more of an emotional relationship with the characters, as I had with Joel in The Last of Us. You can’t get that in the TV adaptation to the same level, and this was on the PS3. Towards the end of the game, you feel those emotions with Joel, and you act them out with him. Then I question myself, am I a monster? Again, you can’t get that in TV and film.
“After years of Hollywood executives churning out video game adaptations, movies. I think they’ve finally realised that a lot of people really like this and it makes a lot of money. They’ve just started to know what we already knew.”
Unfortunately, whether it's a video game, movie or TV show, spoilers are a nature of the beast. Especially when a video game leaks early. But with Saros already being out for a good few weeks now, naturally, there will be a lot of spoilers out in the wild, but Rahul urges us not to let that hinder our experience.
“If you’re into Star Wars and knew Darth Vader was Luke Skywalker’s father, you’d still want to watch The Empire Strikes Back [come on, it’s been 46 years at the time of writing]. And with a game like Saros, where its core gameplay is so good, I’m having a blast shooting enemies and going for my Platinum Trophy. I’m still feeling the same level of thrill and enjoyment. In Saros, I think that's where the quality of the game is, and that's an experience you shouldn't rob yourself of because of what you may have heard. Plus, some of those “spoilers” might have been a really small part of the game, and it has hidden endings.”
Alanah Pearce, who began her acting career in 2019 in the TV series Alternative Lifestyle, would later land roles in Gears 5, the aforementioned Cyberpunk 2077 and Dispatch, to name a few. Alanah, along with Rahul, will both star in the upcoming Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun 2. So the roles they’ve earned in the upcoming sequel are important in more ways than one.
“It's wild because Alanah got me into Warhammer. I was airbrushing TIE Fighters and X-Wings model kits,” explains Rahul. “She then got me into Star Wars Legion, so I started painting miniatures, and she asked me if I could paint her a Blood Angel from Warhammer 40,000. I was like, ‘What the F are you talking about?’ and she said, ‘Space Marines?. I asked what a Space Marine is, and then she started talking about Games Workshop.
“So, because of Alanah, I began researching the Warhammer universe, and I began to fall in love with it. But I never actually did paint her that Blood Angel,” he laughs. “I went straight into the Ultramarines. I’m a huge DOOM fan, and when the first trailer went up for Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun, I retweeted it, and Auroch Digital reached out and offered me a role.
“I think that game became bigger than anyone had anticipated, and when they asked if I’d like to come back for the sequel, I said ‘of course’. After that, they asked if I could give them Alanah’s email address, and because of her experience as a journalist, I assumed they wanted her to cover the game or to be a writer. Then, Alanah came back to me a few days later and told me she’s voicing a character in Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun 2. She got offered to voice Mala and a Sister of Battle, or both. Our characters are on the front cover, firing DOOM-style.
I've been very fortunate. I'm just doing the thing that I've wanted to do since I was a kid. In the last 12 months, I've worked on Carrie, and Stephen King loves its interpretation. I’ve got to work with some wonderful actors and make some good friends. Then starring in Saros, a lead in an AAA PlayStation 5 exclusive. Being involved in some Warhammer and Space Marine projects again. I’ve just wrapped up a major movie with The Exorcist, working with Scarlett Johansson and Chiwetel Ejiofor.
“I dropped out of sixth form to pursue a career in acting, and that was scary. My parents were concerned when I told them that I wanted to drop out, especially as I had never even done a school play before. But they have always been so supportive. Coming from my little corner of northwest London. I didn't even study at GCSE level. Then I went to drama school. It was tough to have a year like that. I went and got a job at Gamestation [for those who don’t know, that was a big video game retailer in the UK between 1993 and 2013].
“It felt like I won the lottery when I got that job; it was one of the most coveted jobs you could get as a kid during that time. Then, recently, I bought a copy of Saros at GameStop and held that copy, reflecting on the journey from a 17-year-old kid who took a lot of shit. But I made the right call, and it all came together. It all paid off.”
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