From Digital Foundry: "Saints Row is back after a seven year break, a proper 2022 series reboot from developer Volition that reinvents the series on several fronts - and I'm overwhelmed. Not because of the game itself - it's good chaotic fun - but because of Volition's approach to PS5 and Xbox Series X support. There are five different graphics modes - two at 1080p, two at 1440p and one at 4K - plus toggles for ray-traced ambient occlusion (RTAO) on the high quality 1080p and 1440p modes. That's seven permutations in all, perhaps a record for a major console release, yet Series S has no settings to change at all. On the surface, the level of customisability on PS5 and Series X is amazing stuff, offering tons of flexibility - but it also requires a ton of testing, both on our side and in the Volition QA department. It hasn't been long since we last saw Saints Row in action either - exactly one month since we ran our PC preview. Have the developers had enough time to produce a polished release?
Before we get into the issues - and there are issues - let's cover the positives. Many of the visual highlights we discovered in the PC version have made it to the current-gen console versions on PS5, and Series X. Ray-traced ambient occlusion is a superb extra that adds more realistic shading, especially noticeable in dark interiors, without any of the artefacting we'd see in a screen-space solution. Saints Row's lighting and volumetric effects are also spectacular, from the sand whirling behind cars in desert chases at dusk or the way smoke billows in front of headlights. Outside of story missions though, the city sandbox is the focus - the high vehicle count, destruction physics and AI provide potential for real carnage."
Want to see a magic trick?
All you need is an open-world video game that flopped at launch and a popular subscription service with millions of gamers. And presto, you can bring a “dead” game like Saints Row (2022) back to life and make it one of the most played games on PlayStation.
Because no one is stupid enough to spend their own money on the game I imagine, so they will try it for free and then realise they still over paid.
The game really wasn't that bad. I went in expecting dog shit based on what I'd heard about it. I ended up enjoying it though I do recognize the game is far from perfect.
everyone says the game was like REALLY bad, but i enjoyed it for what it was.
but i wouldnt have bought it for 70 either
The game is garbage. I spent probably 4-5 hours trying to like it. Telling myself give it a break its trying to break away from the norm and be a little fun. After that it just got deleted I'd rather have the SSD space ready for upcoming games.
But this agenda that keeps getting pushed about how the game is suddenly good because of how many people have now played it. Just shows how stupid the industry is. It's just been given away as a free game, of course people are going to download and play it. The consensus however is quite clear that the majority deleted it shortly after.
This was not a win for PS+ and not a win Saints Row either, far from it.
It was a win in the sense that i got to know I was right to ignore it and I got to at least try it and all it cost me was a slot in the monthly line up.
But you're right just because people have played it means nothing it got a huge influx of players who refused to pay anything for it. So that tells us that there are a large portion of at least casual saints row fans who felt rejected by the new direction and gave it a go when it cost them nothing
It wasn't good I played it on plus as a fan of the original games I watched the things go from bad to worse for the reboot so getting to play it on plus was interesting and it just wasn't good I did give it a chance I invested around 10 hours total before giving up.
it didn't update any mechanics to feel like a modern game it felt like a wave shooter in a lot of areas it didn't offer a real challenge but above all that talk about cringe it was to much I tapped out at the half way point.
Graphically it looked like a early PS4 game putting it nicely but the animations were ripped straight from 3 e.g. throw a grenade same animation cycle and that was a constant. So that made the game look like a fan mod. The world design felt like a step back getting around was slow and tedious.
The story was uninteresting and cringe Incan forgive more than most but I didn't need my gangster game to be an after school special on the power of friendship they couldn't rip on each other a little it was always I'm here for you type phrases who the hell was the games target audience.
I'd be kicking myself if I actually paid for it.
Devs asking fans for another chance, is this update enough to convince you to part with your hard earned cash or was this game’s fate sealed long ago?
Maybe, I'll admit even after all the backlash I still have a passive interest in it. The kind where I'd jump on buying it if I had $20 to burn and I spotted it in that budget. But if the overhaul is good enough I'll re-evaluate buying it
Replies(10)
Well i would like everyone to remember before or if you dive into saint row reboot it cost 500million to make.
Grand theft auto 5 had a full single player multiplayer and was built from the ground up in house engine 500million cost.
Saints row unreal engine 4 asset flipping some original stuff alot from the old games coop only 500million.
I personally want to see how this team blew 500 million during development.
Not sure where you got that number, but I don't get how that's supposed to influence my decision 😕
Agree i had a laugh when I was watching reviews using exactly the same animations as 3 and 4 can tell a lot of that was done to cut cost but it went way to far
It's actually $100 million, which is still incredible for the trash quality this game has.
You were right it was "over 100million" up to 250mill depends on the source but still how?
Volition has over 200 employees and I believe Saints Row was all hands on deck. So salaries, marketing, music licensing, voice actors, etc. Yeah, $100M+ sounds about right.
Needed overhaul after 3. Three was good but they were never going to push it past that. Four was dumb. They needed to focus on quality and becoming grounded then ramp the wackiness. The recent Saints Row wasn't it.
The reboot sucked and 4 was worse than 3 idc disagree but say why you do. They should have gone back to SR2 style.
People might be disagreeing because it seems like you're thinking that they're talking about overhauling the series with the next game and they're actually talking about over hauling the reboot with updates.
4 v 3 is entirely debatable I prefer 4 but I can see both sides.
I'd actually rate them
5 Reboot
4 sr2
3 sr3
2 sr 4
1 sr og 360 launch era
However everyone can agree the reboot sucks.
But sr2 just feels clunky it's graphically worse than 1 and runs worse at that I remember it being so choppy on 360 I brought it on PC and a decent PC of that era struggled to run it despite running crysis decently
Rebooting the reboot? Offer up a demo/free weekend. Not just the character creator this time.
I can’t imagine they made money on this. The overhaul is probably their Hail Mary.
The game's characters and story are so trash. You shouldn't have made them like fortnite characters. You made your bed, now lie in it. Saints Row 2022 is dead to me. I don't care what they do to it
That's my take as well. It's not the dated gameplay, it's the esthetic, style, very modern take on saints row characters I don't like. They aren't gang members, they are college kids.
Saints Row The Heist and The Hazardous DLC has been dated and a launch trailer is expected to be released on the same day.
Even though I didn't hate the game as much as others, I honestly have forgotten about it until just now.
