Saints Row returns to its roots in the all-new chapter of Volition in eight years. By ignoring the hilarious storylines that crept into the franchise from Saints Row III onwards, the developers have effectively rebooted the series, and therefore not Saints Row V.
Instead, it takes on its original name, simply “Saints Row,” although judging by the gameplay footage we’ve seen so far, there will still be plenty of opportunity for stupidity – in the form of customization and combat instead. You are a person who brings as much humor as you can imagine.
We’ve done some personal briefing with Volition about the new Saints Row, so here’s everything you need to know about the upcoming open-world reboot.
Saints Row release date and format
Although previously planned for last-gen consoles, we were told that the new Saints Row will only be released in current-generation formats: PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.
After the initial delay, the game will hit stores on August 23, 2022.
Saints Row storyline and characters (2022).
The new Saints Row may have some Easter eggs for fans (we’re told), but it tells a whole new story with an entirely new cast of characters.
Located in Santo Ileso – a fictional city in the American Southwest – it is the first city to include sparse suburban and suburban neighborhoods. This makes for a much larger and more diverse sandbox with areas set in Vegas, deserts, and many other themed backgrounds.
You play as a fully customizable character known simply as “The Boss” who must create a new criminal organization (The Saints) with three like-minded but highly individual allies: Neenah, Kevin, and Eli.
They each have their own traits and abilities, and are generally acquainted with the inside stories of the various factions of Santo Ileso: Los Panteros, The Idols, and Marshall.
Each of them is also very different in fighting style and mode. Marshall, for example, is a defense organization, so its supporters are armed with state-of-the-art weapons. While The Idols are influential and very tech-savvy.
Most of Saints Row’s original returns were simulation-style business growth aspects. In the case of the newest game, that means making money and buying lots of businesses that you can set up to represent any type of criminal enterprise you want. Want to turn a dump into a restaurant drug franchise? Of course, you can.
This is one of the most interesting features of the reboot (for us). Along with mission-based campaigns and stories, the game lets you trim and build your business the way you want.
Saints Row Fitur Features
There are some great features that come with Saints Row. Here are our highlights so far. We will also update this list as more features are announced.
cooperative
The entire campaign is a playable co-op, with a drop-in/drop-out system so a friend can join any (or all) missions online. You can even joke with your partner along the way.
vehicle
Much of the action on Saints Row is vehicle-based – with Volition citing Baby Driver and Hobbes & Shaw as some of the influences on the kind of weird yet simple things you can get. One thing we learned is that this time, instead of just relying on you shooting a gun out the window, the car itself is a weapon. For example, you can now push other vehicles to the side, which was previously impossible.
You can also take to the skies with helicopters, airplanes and wing suits which are available in addition to cars and bicycles.
personalization
As described above, you can fully customize your own boss character, including your choice of language, outfit, and more. From what we’ve seen so far, it pretty much lives up to Volition’s claim that this is “the most extensive character customization pack the series has ever seen.”
Weapons and vehicles can also be fully customized, down to the texture of the barrel or even its shape and feel.
Plus, you can build your criminal empire at will by placing cunning ventures in the territories you buy or take over. It’s a game that will be different for almost everyone thanks to the many customizations it can make.
This gives you all the boss-building tools to play with, although you can’t get your character into the game just yet.
However, it does allow you to transfer the bosses you create into the game at launch.
Crawl
Perhaps one of the coolest features we’ve seen so far is the freedom to explore the massive open world.
As noted above, the vehicles are customizable with many gameplay elements that add to the aesthetics. For example, you can mount a catapult seat in your car, launch yourself, and then activate the wing suit you’re wearing to propel yourself across the landscape.
SILVER IN
This may have dropped the more ridiculous plot elements, but this Holy Line still wants you to have some fun.
emotion
Another new feature we saw in a recent preview session was the ability to use emotes. You can choose from a huge library of different actions (some unlockable) that even work well in single player when NPCs react to them. For example, we saw a character playing guitar and a group of nearby NPCs started dancing.
SILVER IN
It can be fun trying to figure out what each emote does in the game world.
Saints Row screen
A new set of screenshots has been released after the second preview phase in May. You can check it out below.
