Saints Row Preview: A Closer-Look at Chaos

The more recent Saints Row series releases seemed to be heading in a direction where ‘less is more’ was thrown by the wayside, with the franchise really letting its more bizarre and goofy side fly. Which wasn’t a bad thing at all, delivering something that was a bit more tongue-in-cheek and not taking itself too seriously among all the darker, more gritty games on the market. However, developer Volition’s soft-reboot (of sorts) for the gang-’em-up open-world series is en route, bringing a more refined approach to the wacky but relatable formula.

Now, it’s clear that Volition is turning down the crazy-dial a notch, but not all the way. So, instead of aliens and demons (as was the case with more recent Saints Row entries), you’ll get over-the-top gangsters, questionable physics, and ridiculous weapons: more akin to the origin of the series.

This is a great thing, because while the bombastic nature of those games were some of the most enjoyable bits, the zaniness did somewhat isolate the otherwise brilliant foundational gameplay of Saints Row from some players. The shooting, traversal, story, and open-worlds were all great, and that’s what Volition has focused on here.

Therefore, this new entry into the series goes back to the beginning, telling the origin of The Saints gang in Santo Ileso, a desert/city sprawl akin to Las Vegas. You play as the leader of the newly-formed posse, as you look to grow the influence and ‘brand’ of The Saints across the city. Of course, in classic Saints Row style, you can customise the hell out of your character, with everything from face tattoos to skin texture — it’s all there. Furthermore, your custom character will appear in all the cutscenes as per your design, which is a nice touch.

It’s apparent that the idea of being as fluid as possible was front-and-centre for Volition, giving players the tools to always be on the move. Leaping onto a car, car-surfing while firing, wing-suiting off of it, and landing into a combat roll before opening fire on some enemies is very Just Cause-esque, but captures the identity and frenetic style of Saints Row. The game’s combat is more refined and structured than the spray-and-pray attitude of previous entries, with cover playing a bit more of a role and Finishing Moves, allowing you to deliver some pretty badass takedowns on weakened bad guys, being a key feature in your arsenal.

Weapons themselves also feature ‘boosts’, such as the ability to deliver more damage to vehicles, or certain types of enemies, for example. The customisation approach to the character creator also extends to the weapon line-up, allowing you to paint, accessorise, change, and tinker with your guns to build a more personalised layout.

As an open-world crime game, vehicles play a huge role too, and the combat element has been further injected into the driving scenarios. You can now use side-swiping abilities when driving to ram other vehicles, chasing police, or people off the road; so whether you’re shooting on foot or jumping into a car, the carnage can continue.

In the hands-off preview, we got to see some missions that were more by-the-numbers for open-world games, as long as some more zany Saints Row type quests, which were great and showcased that the way you play Saints Row is what’s fun, not necessarily the objective marker, which is what these games were originally all about.

There’s a lot going on in Saints Row, but the thing that stands out so far is that Volition wants you to bend the game to your will, with heaps of customisation options and missions that play out in a sandbox environment begging to be blown up to your will. The game still has a bit of time in the oven, and we can’t wait to see the final product when it launches.

Saints Row is out 23 August on Xbox Series X|S, PS5, Xbox One, PS4, and PC.