No, the announcement of the Saints Row reboot didn’t elicit screams of joy from Vali either. The detailed presentation of the new character editor on the other hand …
I love games with a really good character editor. No matter if it’s Dragon Age, Monster Hunter, Baldur’s Gate 3 or Black Desert Online. Sometimes I spend hours painstakingly crafting the perfect game character. And that’s even when I have absolutely no idea what to do with the game behind it. So be it. Someone else will have to save the world – my (outrageously good-looking) character is stuck in his construction kit.
But then there’s Saints Row. As a GTA fan, the game series from Volition not only thrills me with its open world and gangster setting, but has also offered a really complex character editor in almost every part since its debut in 2006.
This is also the case with the Saints Row reboot, which is scheduled for release on PC and consoles on 23 August 2022. Developer Volition has now revealed the character editor and the customisation options for my weapons, vehicles and real estate in the course of a nearly 20-minute presentation. And after my initial scepticism about the reinvention of Saints Row, I’m now licking my fingers at it.
What Saints Row’s character editor offers
The character editors of Saints Row have actually always been a board. From facial features and physique, to tattoos, piercings and scars, to voice or walking animation, I’m really left with a lot of freedom to create the gangster boss of my wildest dreams.
In Saints Row, I can always play my own kind of role-playing game: Do I mess with the Brotherhood, the Sons of Samedi and the Ronin as a bearded Scotsman in a kilt? Do I conquer Steelport in the costume of a muscular female wrestler? Or do I fight the alien invasion as a punk rock president with a colourful mohawk?
The great thing is that Saints Row never actually questioned my crimes against fashion or good taste, but instead welcomed them with open arms. With the upcoming reboot, however, Saints Row not only delivers more of the same, but deepens the already excessive customisation options that the series has had in its bag so far. At least that’s what Volition promises.
What exactly is new now?
Development studio Volition has now shared a five-minute trailer for Saints Row, which is pretty much all about customisation options for my character, weapons, vehicles and accommodations. What exactly the reboot has in store for you in August 2022 is best seen for yourself.
But I’ve already picked out a few of my personal highlights for you:
(~) Like an onion: Like in Saints Row 2, different clothes can be combined with each other as layers. This means concretely that I can, for example, wear a vest under a shirt under a jumper under a jacket. This makes me less limited in my choice of personal outfits.
(~) Colourful all kinds of: For clothes, tattoos, prosthetic weapons and car paint jobs, there is a whole range of sliders with which their look can be individualised down to the smallest detail. Some weapons even get a completely new look at the touch of a button, for example, how about a guitar case as a rocket launcher?
(~) Matt or glossy? Textures can also be freely determined in Saints Row. For example, if you prefer a matt look to a shiny look, you now have a free choice. A combination of different textures is, of course, also possible.
(~) Two-Face: I can adjust the respective halves of my character’s face separately and independently of each other. So why not design a Harvey Dent cosplay?
(~)Editor at the touch of a button: Clothes, but also body and face can be adjusted anytime and anywhere using the ingame mobile phone, because now there’s an app for it.
(~) Car Tuning: The customisation options for vehicles have never been more diverse. In addition to performance enhancements, there is now a whole range of body mods, paint jobs can be customised as freely as clothing designs. Some gadgets like the wrecking ball are even reminiscent of Fast & Furious.
(~) Saints-HQ: The headquarters of my gang can also be freely customised. Some upgrades bring playful advantages, others are purely visual. In addition, I can also determine which look my gang members will be wearing.
I wish every game had this many customisation options for my character, its weapons, vehicles and accommodation. Even GTA Online or even Cyberpunk 2077 can take a leaf out of this book. However, Volition must first deliver in the final game what was promised in the brand new Customisation Showcase.
Is Saints Row saved now with this?
Of course, the presentation of the impressive character editor doesn’t mean that all the worries I still have about Saints Row have been forgotten. Compared to part 4 and Gat out of Hell, the much more down-to-earth approach appeals to me. But I still don’t like the idea of going into a bloody gang war alongside a couple of 20-year-old Fortnite hipsters.
Currently, Saints Row feels like a fairly arbitrary open world game that is in the throes of a serious identity crisis.
Whether Volition can still turn the wheel around will be seen in the coming months. It is undoubtedly too late for a general overhaul, too little time has passed since the official announcement to implement the feedback from the press and fans in its entirety.
But Saints Row can still score points in terms of open world and gameplay. At the moment, there is simply too little information and too little material to be able to form a proper picture. Regardless of this, I’ll risk a look at the controversial reboot one way or another. If it weren’t for my job, it would be for the damn promising character editor and the excessive customisation options alone.
