Saints Row 4 Enter the Dominatrix

When we first gazed upon the spectacle that was Saint's Row: The Third's 'Enter the Dominatrix' DLC, its lone screenshot projecting the overtones of a massive alien invasion in the city of Steelport, it was quite apparent that THQ and Volition were planning something big, a long-overdue end to The Third's middling, sometimes quality-free DLC releases that many of our season pass-owning readers found extremely underwhelming.

Jason Rubin, THQ's new president in lieu of Danny Bilson's departure, apparently saw the same expansive potential in 'Enter the Dominatrix.' In a THQ announcement today, he confirmed that the content will become the centerpiece of an all-new Saint's Row game slated to launch in 2013, abandoning its ties with Saint's Row: The Third.

The project is tentatively titled "The Next Great Sequel in the Saints Row Franchise," but considering the naming history of the first three, it's more than likely planned as the already-discussed Saint's Row 4 (and also "The Fourth," perhaps).

'Enter the Dominatrix' was originally scheduled to release this Fall for $29.99 on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC - it was a standalone expansion for the The Third, much like Grand Theft Auto's "The Ballad of Gay Tony" or "The Lost and the Damned" - but according to Rubin, there was too much creative mojo tied into the project to pass it off as DLC:

"When I looked at the Enter The Dominatrix expansion in production at Volition, I was blown away by the ideas and desire to expand the fiction of the franchise. I asked the team what it could achieve given more time, more resources, and a broader scope for the project. We all agreed we wanted to play that game.

"When it comes to Saints Row, it's clear our fans want bigger, better, and even more over the top, and that's why Enter The Dominatrix will now be incorporated into a vastly expanded, full-fledged sequel, scheduled for calendar 2013."

With the financial frailty of THQ right now, the company has already stated that tentpole franchises like the highly successful Saints Row will be their focus going forward. Ex-boss Bilson also ventured in May that Saints Row 4 would feature "a lot of new characters... [and] have an even broader appeal than the last one, based on the content."

Where that places the concepts for 'Enter the Dominatrix' - Earth bending at the mercy of the alien warlord Zinyak; the enslavement of the Saint's boss into the "Dominatrix," a virtual reality simulator of Steelport; super powers, in a title already distinguished for its ridiculous gameplay - we don't know. But we're encouraged to see that Rubin was equally enmeshed by the project when it was first announced.

Ranters, Saint's Row 4 has been talked about in hushed tones before, but now appears to have its focal point; how do you want to see 'Enter the Dominatrix' factor into a full-sized Saints experience? Was the move by Rubin to not let it slip through as DLC smart, or did Saint's Row: The Third have more to offer?

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