A newSaints Rowwas announced to be in development a few years ago, but the developers have remained largely quiet about the title ever since. Despite this, the announcement of the newSaints Rowclaims that the game is reportedly going to reboot the series. Exactly what this entails, or how much of a soft reboot this newSaints Rowremains to be seen.
However, aSaints Rowreboot makes a lot of senseto bring the franchise to modern times. Not only would it help circumvent having to develop some ofSaints Row 4’s more difficult story beats, like the entire earth blowing up, but it also would help the series redefine itself. The games industry is very different than it was whenSaints Rowreleased, or even whenSaints Row: The ThirdandSaints Row 4were released. This putsSaints Row 5into a perfect position to return to the series' roots and take it back to what made players fall in love with the franchise in the first place.
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Saints Row’s Roots
The firstSaints Rowwas released in 2006 and was followed bySaints Row 2in 2008. At the time, the games were largely seen as clones of the incredibly popularGrand Theft Auto; offering a similar experience focused on open-world gameplay, loads of driving, a focus on criminal activity in a fictionalized United States, and very mature themes. The games saw players joining a gang known as the 3rd Street Saints, after which the player had to help the gang with turf conflicts, shootouts, and drug deals. However, even early on the series was more than just adistraction forGrand Theft Autofans.
From the series' inception, it has always embraced a more light-hearted and juvenile tone thanGrand Theft Auto. Stories inGrand Theft Autohave always focused on delivering a satirical look at the culture of the United States at different points in time, butSaints Rowwas more concerned with giving players an outrageously good time. Enemy gangs in the games are caricatures, while side activities include spraying sewage on the city, or demolition derbies. The story of the games still has a more serious tone to them, but side activities and player customization focus on just giving players a good time, leading toSaints Rowdoing some things better thanGrand Theft Auto.
How Saints Row: The Third and Saints Row 4 Changed the Franchise
Saints Rowwas forever changed with the release ofSaints Row: The Thirdin 2011. The third entry in the series dialed up its ridiculous and comedic aspects to new heights, with ridiculous character customization and an insane story to match. The game sees the 3rd Street Saints becoming a media empire, complete with energy drink commercials, movie deals, and penthouse apartments.
Then,Saints Row 4was released in 2013 and managed to take things even further. Not only did it start the player as the President of the United States, but it also saw all of humanity getting abducted by aliens and put into the Matrix. In the case ofSaints Row 4sounding too bland, the player also gets superpowers.
The ridiculousness of the later games was alsoevident inSaints Row’s weapons, with some highlights like a dubstep gun, a gun that shoots sharks, and one that lets players create black holes at will.Saints Row 4even introduced a new attack that saw the players defeating enemies with a quick strike to the groin. Embracing the absurd helped solidify the game’s unique identity for many gamers, but it also went a little too far for some who felt like superpowers ruined the point of using the game’s guns, or that missed a slightly more grounded experience.
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What the Saints Row Reboot Could Look Like
With the nextSaints Rowrebooting the franchise, it seems likely that it will be rolling back the ridiculousness the series is now known for, at least a little bit. Following up on superpowers, in a digital world, constructed by aliens, by going even more ridiculous, is a very difficult task.Saints Row 5is evidently better served by taking the series back to its roots and focusing more on modernizing the experience for today’s players.
However, the game will still have to capture the tone of the series that fans love it for, so it is likely best off not becoming overly serious or else it will likely alienate many of its fans. It seems the best approach forSaints Row 5is to include a bombastic and funny campaign, while keeping its mechanics a bit more grounded. Keep combat revolving around gunplay, but have some fun guns thrown into the mix. Thankfully, the game’scommunity developer said thatSaints Row 5is going to “blow the roof off,“so it sounds like it could be doing just that.
Saints Row 5has been a long time coming, so it will have to bring something great to the table to satisfy series fans who have been waiting for years now. With the new generation of consoles and modern PCs, there is a lot that the developers can add to the series, and it could be very interesting to see how the game could help re-ground the series. Hopefully,Saints Rowwill be able to maintain the spirit of the series that fans love while still being able to take the franchise to new places and be something totally unique. It will undoubtedly feel great to revisit the 3rd Street Saints yet again.
Saints Row 5is currently in development.
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