Saints Row is launching on August 23, and expectations for the game among its fans have never been higher. For a franchise that has evolved numerous times over the course of its installments, Saints Row never failed to ooze charm, and it bears its lowbrow humor with pride. Following an over-the-top Saints Row 4 that had players go up against an intergalactic overlord as the President of the United States, Volition had no choice but to give the franchise a soft reboot – a chance to return to its roots, and to also take those roots in a new direction.
This reboot is the culmination of Volition's efforts, and though the initial reception for Saints Row's announcement trailer was lukewarm, the apprehensiveness was steadily replaced by genuine excitement as gameplay footage was unveiled in the following months. One thing that players were most excited about – reasonably so given the franchise's reputation – was the robustness of Saints Row's character creator.
Needless to say, Saints Row players need wonder about that no more, as Volition has released the Saints Row Boss Factory – allowing them to preview the character creator months ahead of release. Players can create their own Boss on PC (through the Epic Store), Xbox, and Playstation, and then share it with the Saints Row community through Share Codes.
In terms of character customization, the game offers the ability to choose facial and body features, clothing and accessories, as well as eight distinct voices to choose from – irrespective of the Boss' body type. In addition to offering players a vast color palette to work with, for those in need of a specific shade can create their own custom colors to suit their needs. Furthermore, an important thing to note is that the full game may feature more character creation options than are currently present.
For PC players who want to test out Saints Row's character creator and struggle to find it on the Epic Store, the most surefire way to obtain the demo is by going to the game's official website and downloading the Boss Factory from there. For console players, the method is even simpler, as they can find the Boss Factory directly on the game's page or by searching it on the store.
Given the amount of bizarre Saints Row bosses people have made with the franchise's past character creators, releasing this demo early was a clever move by Volition. Whether the rest of the game lives up to the hype remains to be seen, but for now, outside of lamenting the lack of a Cockney accent, players are happy.
Saints Row releases on August 23 for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.