Saints Row's 2022 reboot is currently free to keep from the Epic Games Store. It's bittersweet considering its developer, Volition, was closed down in August, but it's also an opportunity to experience the last game the 30-year-old studio got to make.
]]>Embracer Group have announced that they're closing down Volition, the Illinois, US-based developer best known today for Saints Row and Red Faction. The announcement - which coincided with the predictably uproarious lifting of Starfield's review embargo, though I'm sure the timing is purely accidental - comes as part of broader restructuring at Embracer Group following a multiple-year acquisition spree, which Alice0 reported on in June.
]]>The Saints Row reboot received quite a cold reception when it came out last year, with our Alice Bee calling it fun but ultimately confused in her review. Now, developers Volition are closing out their post-launch plans for the game with an extensive update, a third paid expansion, and a Steam release. All coming this month.
]]>Last year's Saints Row received a rough reception, leading developers Volition to become part of Gearbox and to pledge that they were "supporting Saints Row for the long-term."
That pledge bears fruit on May 9th with the release of the Sunshine Springs update, which includes a new district, a combat overhaul, and many quality-of-life improvements.
]]>This year's Saints Row reboot met financial expectations, according to the interim report of mega-publisher Embracer. The same can't be said of the critical response, however, so developers Volition "will transition to become part of Gearbox."
]]>The Saints Row reboot sees its first major update next month, but don’t expect any new stuff in Santo Ileso to play around with. Devs Volition insist this one’s just concentrating on hunting down and squashing the game’s many bugs. As we noted when it was released in August, Saints Row has rather a few technical issues. While Volition say this means they’re not at the stage where they can be “talking about roadmaps and expansions”, they are at least releasing a free cosmetic pack this week that includes some boots that look like bananas.
]]>How can I make money fast in Saints Row? It's hard to overstate the importance of cash in Saints Row. Not only does the game's main objective require you to accumulate money as part of your efforts to expand the Saints' reputation and cement them as the leading gang in Santo Ileso, but many of the game's systems require you to have plenty of cash to lay down on incremental advancements throughout the story. Want to equip a new perk you just unlocked? The slot will cost you several thousand dollars. Need new threads or a new weapon to complete a challenge? Hope your wallet's not empty.
On this page we'll go over some of the best ways to make fast cash in Saints Row.
]]>How do you unlock Criminal Ventures to make fast cash in Saints Row? Insurance fraud is such a popular Saints Row mini-game that the developers had to hastily clarify that it would still be included after this latest outing was confirmed as a reboot rather than a sequel. However, you have to put a bit of work in before you're allowed to participate in this or any of the other criminal ventures that are key to growing your empire in the latest game.
On this page we'll explain how to unlock the criminal ventures feautre in Saints Row, as well as the requirements for getting into each individual venture.
]]>I feel a bit deceived by Saints Row at the moment. Although I spent the latter half of last week playing and performance testing it, the worst I saw in terms of bugs, glitches and unintentional chicanery was one temporarily floating pedestrian and a few de-synced execution animations. Only after I committed this clean(ish) bill of health to writing did the game’s wider playerbase discover that it is, in fact, riddled with issues: some benign and hilarious, others irritating and game-breaking. Well fine then, game.
Some of these bug reports have come from inside the house, namely Liam and Rebecca, whose respective characters have a) involuntarily shot out their own windscreen immediately upon entering every single car and b) fallen through the world when attempting to mount a motorcycle. Then there’s former vid bud Colm (RPS in peace), who has found his feet pinned to a car roof before fading away like Marty McFly if his parents split up.
]]>What are the best perks in Saints Row (2022)? Saints Row isn't technically an RPG, but there are some ways to customise your character's build. While skills in the game are unlocked linearly through levelling up, perks are far more variable. You earn perks by completing challenges and side missions. Generally speaking the bigger the task, the bigger the perk that comes as a reward; so completing some simple challenges while exploring Sant Ileso will net you a minor perk, while the side missions that unlock as you progress through the game are liable to net you a major or even an elite perk.
On this page, we'll take you through how to gain new perks in Saints Row, how to equip them, and going over our choice of the best perks for the early game.
]]>What are the best skills in Saints Row? In Saints Row, gaining new skills is a fairly linear process. But with only four active skill slots available, you'll still want to be selective about your choices, particularly as you progress further through the game and have more options open to you. On this page we'll give you our picks for the best skills to take with you into a fight.
]]>How can I level up quickly in Saints Row? In Saints Row, skill progression is tied in closely with the levelling system. As your Boss climbs the criminal ladder of Sant Ileso, they'll gain XP and advance through 20 character levels, each of which gives them access to another new skill. On this page we'll give you some tips on how to level up quickly in Saints Row so that you have access to every skill as soon as possible.
]]>How can I edit my character in Saints Row? The Saints Row franchise has established a reputation for providing its players with deep character creation screens that let you customise parts of the body you probably never even think about, in ways you never knew you wanted. Like the idea of spending hours tweaking the exact inner ear fold angle of your solid-gold-skinned Boss? Saints Row has got your back. Happily, the 2022 series reboot has continued the tradition, as we saw in the Boss Factory demo that launched back in June.
On this page we'll give you an overview of every aspect of your Saints Row character which can be customised, and when and how you can edit or change your character after the initial character creation screen.
]]>Not to paint them as particularly fierce open-world rivals, but jumping into Saints Row after a week spent with Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered felt like being hurled backward in time. While Deep Silver Volition’s “what if millennials, but crime” reboot is colourful and often quite pretty, you can tell it’s not nearly as interested in cutting edge visuals or contemporary PC tech trappings as the Spidey remaster is. Ray tracing? Yes but only for ambient occlusion. Upscaling? Never heard of it, officer.
The upside - besides Santo Ileso being a generally nice place to visit, as Alice Bee found in her Saints Row review - is that it's playable on low-end and luxury hardware alike. And, to its credit, there's a healthy list of customisable graphics options too. I’ve therefore embraced the past, and spent hours in testing to find out how you can tweak Saints Row’s settings for the best possible performance.
]]>The Saints Row series started off as a sort of rival to Grand Theft Auto, an action-adventure crime sim about working your way up the ranks of a street gang to become the boss. It quickly diverged to become less realistic and more impossibly bombastic, and niched down into giant dildo bats, aliens, reincarnation, and so on. The series has gone to outer space and to hell, so if you're rebooting the series that doesn't leave you many places to go except... backwards.
Saints Row (2022 edition) is back to being a sort of Saints Row again, but also still trying to appeal to people who loved the characters and dick jokes and cartoon carnage of the Saints Row of 2013. If I was being reductive, I'd say it's Saints Row by way of Watch Dogs 2. It isn't bad. It's fun, in fact, but it isn't really doing anything new, either, and I think that's a shame.
]]>Does Saints Row have multiplayer? The 2022 reboot of Saints Row may be taking the franchise back to its roots in some ways, but worry not, multiplayer modes are making a welcome return in the series' latest title. On this page we'll tell you everything you need to know about co-op multiplayer in Saints Row, including how to initiate a co-op game, how to adjust your settings for your desired level of privacy, and which platforms allow you to join friends in crossplay.
]]>After four hours with Saints Row, it's funny being back in the present. I have a gaming PC! Bills to pay! A smartphone that recognises my face! Grey hairs! I say all this because Saints Row - not to be confused with Saints Row yet also to be confused with Saints Row - whisked me back to the early 2000s, when I was but a naïve teenager whose life largely pivoted around their Xbox 360. A time when Saints Row and Saints Row 2 were lighthearted Grand Theft Auto alternatives, then Saints Row: The Third came along and cranked up the silliness, and then Saints Row 4 grabbed the lever and cranked it so hard it snapped. So, yes, this year's Saints Row reboot is technically Saints Row 5, except it’s more of a careful reboot. Where does it really sit on the timeline? At both ends, I reckon.
]]>Revealed tonight at Summer Game Fest, you can whet your appetite for the new Saints Row game by making your boss character right now. Described as "the ultimate body shop", Boss Factory is a free standalone demo you can access in The Epic Game Store (or by following a series of links through SaintsRow.com). In it you can have a ride on the character creator before the game comes out in August, and save your favourite and most bizarre looks. This was revealed with a trailer with all explosions and montages and that.
]]>It's been about eight months since I first had a hands-off sneak peek at the new and about-to-be-rebooted Saints Row, and six since we've heard it was being delayed to August this year. With its late summer release fast approaching, Volition recently showed off a larger chunk of some actual gameplay to press in another remote preview session. It looks almost exactly like what you'd expect it to look like: a fun open world game where you shoot people and smash cars into other cars.
Barring any catastrophic eventualities where this game actually ends up being just a load of bugs propping up other bugs in a fluorescent trenchcoat, I feel almost 100% confident in saying to you that this will be an enjoyable product when it comes out. But I also should be honest and say that the gameplay I saw has congealed into the same kind of sticky morass and blurred whirling lights in my memory as my first all-night benders. It's a big collage of colours and explosions, and words like "cops", "switch car" and "plan", leaving a general impression of fun but, so far, few specifics in its wake. And to be even more frank about it all, I can't think of a nailed on reason why any of it has to be a Saints Row game.
]]>What do you suppose is next for the 3rd Street Saints? Volition's unapologetically bombasic action series Saints Row is about to give us the lowdown. We've known for a while now that another proper Saints game was in the works, but the developers are now teasing a reveal of some kind for the next game alongside the not so cryptic message "rebooting". We're slated to find out more next Wednesday at the Gamescom kickoff, but here's what we know right now.
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