It’s no doubt a daunting task to reboot something as beloved as the Saints Row franchise, but it makes the most sense. Given the ending of Saints Row 4, there would be no returning there without some major head-scratching issues. Volition has instead closed the chapter on the old Saints and is looking to begin a fresh saga with the new ones.
WARNING: POTENTIAL SPOILERS AHEAD! THOSE WANTING TO GO INTO SAINTS ROW FRESH SHOULD TURN BACK NOWGame Rant recently attended a digital presentation, where we got to see missions, gameplay, and more of the new Saints Row game. One thing that caught our eye was the gameplay and missions focused on Los Panteros and The Idols, specifically with how many options there were for approaching each mission.
Saints Row: Los Panteros and The Idols
Los Panteros and The Idols are two rival gangs players will encounter in Saints Row, with Neenah being a former Los Panteros member and Kevin being a former member of the Idols. Los Panteros are the strong-armed chop shop kind of gang, with a huge focus on vehicles. The Idols are more cyber-esque, party-hard, anarchists. Each gang has different tactics, different boss enemies, and different aesthetics, and players will be seeing more of them in Saints Row.
Saints Row: Getting Payback on Sergio
Without going too far into spoiler territory, one Saints Row mission features players blowing up Los Panteros’ Forge, a place where several vehicles are constantly manufactured. It is as chaotic as it sounds, with vehicles blowing up left and right, and Los Panteros enemies and bosses swarming the warehouse location. The mission was quite extensive, including a way to get there, all the blowing up in-between, and a pretty epic finale. What this mission showed off best, perhaps, was Saints Row’s weapons, perks, and various abilities.
For example, the demonstrator showed that players can change their perks at any time from their phones and were able to best prepare themselves before heading into the mission. Of course, there are enough subtle hints about the mission’s goals that players should be able to keep these choices in mind ahead of time, while weapons come in clutch too. One Saints Row shotgun did better at damaging vehicles, for example, and players could swap over to a sniper rifle to keep enemies away from Neenah.
Toss in Saints Row’s iconic and zaniest weapons, and this mission could go any number of ways. That is perhaps our biggest takeaway: not necessarily just what we saw, but all the possibilities that could go into what we saw. With the ability to change perks and the like from one's phone to carrying a multitude of weapons with different, unlockable buffs and abilities, it seems players can essentially customize how they go into combat. Theoretically, someone could pick their favorite perks and weapons and go through the whole game like that, but they would be missing out on some rich, unique experiences by doing so.
It's not certain how far into Saints Row this mission takes place, but it’s clearly not the last encounter with Los Panteros, nor is it the first. But it seems like a lot of missions are designed around each gang and each Saints Row character, which bodes well for its overarching structure. There are 25 critical path missions in the game, and notably, this one differed a lot from The Idols’ mission we saw.
Saints Row: Breaking Up The Idols’ Party
Again, to be as vague as possible, the Idols mission we saw includes tracking down a missing Saints Row character, a sequence with a porta-potty, a race against the clock, another explosive race against an aggressive and unfair clock, a wingsuit flight, and an epic brawl at a neon party. Once again, the entire missing structure was intriguing, but it’s all the possibilities that go into this mission that proved the most intriguing.
Here, they showed off an ability that operates like throwing a football, but it attaches to NPCs and sends them flying off into the air. Volition also teased that its fully upgraded bonuses are pretty nifty, and there was even a gadget that allow players to shoot through walls. The wild Saints Row gameplay combined with anarchist party vibes really stood out.
Many may be justifiably worried about how the new Saints Row will hold up compared to the old. It’s a perfectly understandable concern. While there’s no telling how its reception will go when Saints Row’s release date eventually arrives, as there never is with any game, the gameplay we saw quelled any fears we had. If this is the face of the new Saints Row and it remains consistent throughout, then fans have nothing to worry about.
Saints Row releases on August 23 for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.