When I saw some early looks at the upcoming Saints Row reboot in Game Informer’s New Gameplay Today video series back in October, I was not immediately bowled over. The Southwest city setting didn’t really sit well with me, the combat looked a little wonky, and the enemies seemed like super-absorbent bullet sponges. There was also a general air of hipster-dufus BS on display with some of the characters that make up your gang cadres.
And then the game was delayed out of early 2022 with a new August 2022 release date.
Honestly, that was the right call. For one, the new date allowed Saint Row to avoid the mushroom cloud of success that was Elden Ring (something Horizon Forbidden West could’ve learned from), landing it firmly in triple-A drought that usually happens in late summer/early fall. The delay also gave the team a chance to tighten things up and polish what is now looking like a well-crafted and interesting open-world crime game.
In the more recent gameplay footage, it is clear that Saints Row isn’t shying away from the zaniness that made it popular for some players, but it’s not nearly as over-the-top as the series later got. This is a blessing for me, as I personally don’t mind some juvenile over-the-top video game antics, but I still prefer that to be mixed with some semblance of what I guess could be referred to as reality.
The real kicker — and that thing that has me the most excited — is that the controls (as far as I can tell from watching footage of a game I have yet to go hands on with) look tight and responsive. That’s something that has always eluded GTA-likes in general and Saints Row specifically. If you play GTA games and then play something like Saints Row or Watch Dogs, I’m sure you know what I mean: floaty vehicles, clunky characters, braindead NPC and traffic A.I., and so on. Rockstar is just the best in the biz when it comes to vehicle control and character movements in third-person, open-world action titles.
But if these early impressions are any indication, things look promising for Saints Row and the development team’s effort to really nail this aspect of the game. Of course, only time will tell.
I think the real reason why I foresee Saints Row being a hit — and possibly one of the best-selling titles of 2022 — is that by the time it comes out, we will be several months removed from the impact of Elden Ring, and video-game enthusiasts should hopefully be hungry for the next big game. Considering there looks to be slim pickings in August, Saints Row might just scratch that itch.
Factor in nostalgia for the Saints Row series, which has been dormant for some time now (outside of remasters), and also the fact that GTA 6 is still way off in the distance, while a lot of folks are played out on GTA V and the less-than-ideal versions of the older GTA titles bundled in Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition.
If the stars align for Saints Row — and it looks like they might — Volition and Deep Siler may very well have a stew going.
