It”s no secret that I haven”t really been looking forward to Saints Row so far. Sure, the reboot was inevitable for the series and a return to the gangster roots is something I welcome. But apart from the fantastic character editor, the gameplay, graphics and new character constellation left me shockingly cold. Accordingly, I was sceptical as to whether the open world game, which will be released on 23 August 2022, could be anything at all.
Now I was able to play Saints Row in person for the first time and I can happily announce: I was wrong! The reboot may not be flawless, but it certainly has fun potential that should not be underestimated. In the following preview, I summarise what I liked and disliked about Saints Row during my three-hour playthrough.
What I think of Saints Row after playing it
Table of Contents
The Story
Volition sets everything back to square one with the new Saints Row. This time there”s no world, universe or hell to save, instead it”s simply a case of seizing control of a city as a gang leader once again. And that”s exactly what Volition has done in its usual entertaining way and at the same time with a lot of wit and charm – at least as far as I can judge based on a handful of first main missions.
Few if any gags go below the belt. In my eyes, a refreshing and much-needed change, this kind of Saints Row-typical humour was long since worn out by Gat out of Hell at the latest. Instead, the reboot now relies on a lot of situational comedy and witty dialogue that made me, if not laugh, at least smile.
At the same time, Saints Row doesn”t reinvent the wheel but also returns to familiar patterns – at least as far as protagonists and antagonists are concerned. For example, the enemy Los Pantheros look like the Luchadores from Saints Row: The Third or the Brotherhood from Saints Row 2. The Idols, on the other hand, are strongly reminiscent of the Deckers, who I also had the pleasure of mixing up in part 3.
This may seem a little uninspired, but could strike a chord with veteran Saints Row fans for that very reason. After all, Volition doesn”t just want to excite its familiar player base, but also attract entirely new customers. A daring feat, which has probably led to the identity crisis of Saints Row, among other things!
The only big sticking point: In the story of Saints Row, the Boss, Kevin, Neenah and Eli are friends with each other from the beginning. How they get to know each other, fraternise with each other and become something like a little family, I don”t find out, at least in the first few hours of the game. To show how good friends the new Saints are with each other, it is emphasised all the time how good friends the Saints are with each other. And that doesn”t work very well at all, it seems rather forced and not very authentic.
Whether this will be explained in more detail in the further course of the game in the course of flashbacks, I cannot judge at this point. Instead of putting me in front of existing facts and constellations, it might have made more sense to get to know my gang members bit by bit – just as it worked brilliantly in the predecessors.
The Gameplay
My first impression of the gameplay of Saints Row did not deceive me. In terms of gameplay, the latest part really only stands out from its predecessors to a limited extent. There is no cover system and I run around under a hail of bullets like a startled chicken. At first I was disillusioned by this, as I had definitely expected more almost ten years after Saints Row 3.
But when I played the game, I realised that even without a revolution in gameplay, Saints Row is a lot of fun. Instead, there”s an evolution and the gameplay has been noticeably improved in detail. For example, I”m much more agile and nimble on the move, can use dodge rolls to get out of the enemies” line of fire, and can throw mines or smoke bombs around with new unlockable special abilities.
Also, more enemy types appearing in different ways require dynamic rethinking. This is not super complex – for example, some opponents block fire and have to be outmanoeuvred – but it loosens up the gameplay noticeably.
Cars and motorbikes still control in the usual arcadey way, of course Saints Row does not pursue a realistic claim like GTA 5, for example. On the other hand, modified vehicles in particular steer much more precisely and no longer like a piece of butter in a frying pan. In addition, I can now swerve to the left and right to ram my pursuers and get rid of them. The over-the-top physics are even more fun here, for example, when I make police cars burst into a ball of fire with ease.
During my play session, the only thing I didn”t really get to grips with was the new self-healing system. I have to shoot my enemies off balance or beat them up and bring them to their knees with a finisher in order to replenish my life bar. Comparable to Doom, this is supposed to reward aggressive action. But so far it has seemed arbitrary and unpredictable to me when an opponent starts to stumble.
The Open World
The game world of Saints Row is really filled to the brim with activities Collectibles, side missions or simply occupational therapies can be found at every turn. From a wingsuit challenge to assassination missions to helicopter thefts, I have a really colourful mix of activities at my disposal right from the start that are not stingy with rewards in the form of cash and experience points.
This is doubly motivating in addition to its gameplay potential, Saints Row offers a whole range of clothes, weapons, cars and customisation options in the first hours of play that hunger for my in-game currency. However, it should be exciting to see how fun and varied this turns out to be in the long run. But if the colourful mix is maintained in later hours of the game, I am quite optimistic in this regard.
However, the one or other interested game fan should be prepared for the fact that you can definitely expect a map full of icons to work off. And whether the open world also offers something to discover apart from that, I simply cannot judge at this point.
In my limited time with Saints Row, I let the wayfinding guide me from mission to mission, apart from some fireworks set off by NPCs along the way, I didn”t really notice anything worth mentioning. That would clearly be too little for the final game, it would make the game world feel quite lifeless and static. Wait and see.
The Graphic
Visually, Saints Row doesn”t knock my socks off The game looks basically okay, so not really bad and not really good either. The facial animations are rudimentary and serve their purpose, while the game world itself makes a solid and unexciting impression.
However, the far-sightedness is disappointing, as objects further away in my preview version showed unattractive edge flickering, which I hope Volition will get under control by the time of release. If you attach great importance to graphics, Saints Row is not for you. This is not necessarily something new, the series has never been a visual hit, but I would have expected a little more from a GTA competitor coming out in 2022.
After playing Saints Row for the first time, I can give the all-clear: The reboot will not be the disaster that some fans – including myself – may have feared. Instead, what we have here is a charmingly written open world adventure that holds many strengths, but is not without its weaknesses. How much Saints Row ultimately has to offer will ultimately be revealed on its release on 23 August 2022.
Editor”s Verdict
Saints Row really surprised me when I played it. To be fair, my expectations weren”t exactly high from the 2022 reboot either. The look and new direction didn”t appeal to me, equally the gameplay and mission design seemed too familiar to me. And by that I mean, on the same level as the now over ten-year-old Saints Row: The Third. When I was finally able to get my hands on the mouse and keyboard or the controller, however, I realised that Saints Row can reinvent itself in terms of story and take a more relaxed approach to gameplay.In fact, I would still like to see more major developments in terms of the playful and especially graphical aspects of the new Saints Row. But even without major leaps, there is a lot of potential in the reinvention of the open world/gangster series. How much fun Saints Row will be in the long run, how well the story and characters will work across the full game, and ultimately what fans will think of it, remains to be seen, of course.
At least I am now much more optimistic and less suspicious about the final release on 23 August. Saints Row probably won”t be the game I was hoping for in the future of the series, but maybe it doesn”t have to be. Soon I”ll know, or rather we”ll know, more.
