Saros Trailers Drop “Carcosa” and Yellow Symbols — Is Housemarque Tapping The King in Yellow?

Housemarque’s upcoming game Saros shows a planet called Carcosa in its trailers, and the footage includes several visual details that match motifs from Robert W. Chambers’s short-story collection The King in Yellow. Below I list what’s visible in the trailers, what Carcosa originally refers to, and which concrete parallels appear so far.

1. What the trailers show
2. Carcosa and The King in Yellow (facts)
3. Visual parallels in Saros
4. What we don’t know yet

What the trailers show

The first Saros announcement trailer was shown during Sony’s February 2025 State of Play, and a gameplay trailer was shown during the September 24 State of Play. Both trailers feature the protagonist, Arjun Devraj, experiencing repeated deaths and returns on an alien world named Carcosa. The trailers include shots of tall alien structures, a coastline or beach, and unusual sky phenomena that emphasize the color yellow.

In the September gameplay trailer, a large humanoid creature appears with multiple arms and a crowned or helmeted head; in some shots the creature holds glowing spheres. The February announcement trailer shows Arjun on a beach, a yellow medallion around his neck with a sun-like symbol, and an eclipse or dark celestial event. Both trailers show giant, multi-armed figures emerging from or near the water.

Carcosa and The King in Yellow (facts)

Carcosa is a fictional place that appears in Robert W. Chambers’s 1895 collection The King in Yellow. Chambers’s book contains ten stories, and four of them—“The Repairer of Reputations,” “The Mask,” “In the Court of the Dragon,” and “The Yellow Sign”—feature references to a fictional play called The King in Yellow. Chambers includes fragments attributed to that play, and one of those fragments, usually called “Cassilda’s Song,” mentions twin suns, strange moons, and black or dark stars in the sky.

Visual parallels in Saros

Concrete parallels between the trailers and Chambers’s material include the following observable items:

• The name “Carcosa.” The planet is explicitly called Carcosa in the trailers.
• Yellow imagery. The trailers emphasize yellow sunlight or rays and a yellow medallion worn by the protagonist.
• Dark celestial event. The announcement trailer shows an eclipse-like or darkened star occurrence.
• Coastal setting. Arjun is shown on a beach and near water in the announcement trailer.
• Large crowned figures. Both trailers show giant humanoid figures with crowns or crown-like head ornaments and multiple arms emerging from water or landscape.

What we don’t know yet

Housemarque has not stated that Saros is a direct adaptation of Chambers’s stories. Also, no full narrative details or a release date have been provided beyond the trailers. Therefore, while the game includes clear names and imagery that match elements from The King in Yellow, the developer’s intent or the degree of narrative borrowing has not been confirmed in public materials so far.

Summary

In short: the trailers for Saros show a planet named Carcosa plus several visual motifs—yellow symbolism, an eclipse-like event, coastal scenes, and crowned multi-armed figures—that line up with well-known elements from Robert W. Chambers’s The King in Yellow. However, Housemarque has not announced that the game is an adaptation, and further details remain undisclosed.