In the sea of what seems like endless clones of Grand Theft Auto, the Saints Row series has always stood out amongst the best - so much so that it would be a shame not to consider the series in its own league altogether. Saints Row was supposedly dead after the events of Saints Row IV but the 2022 Saints Row reboot has something to say about that.

By the time that the Saints Row series ended with IV in 2013, the Third Street Saints had become a global media empire, were president of the United States of America and fought against an alien invasion after becoming one of the most powerful organisations in the world. The reboot isn’t quite so grand as it brings the series back to its roots but perfectly captures what made the previous games so much fun; it’s funny, there is a ridiculous plotline and it is just over-the-top in the best ways possible.

Note: There will be minor spoilers for some elements of Saints Row but we will avoid story spoilers in this review.



The Saints Row reboot is separate from the games that came before and brings everything back to its roots with the formation of the Third Street Saints. Much like we see in the original release, our protagonist - simply called Boss - begins the process of incorporating the Saints after facing some hardship, along with three friends in a twisted form of homicidal friendship. After the newly formed Third Street Saints is formed, it's time to start conquering the city and building a criminal empire.

...it does such an excellent job of capturing what made the original series of games so much fun to play...

Saints Row is typically classed as a sort of Grand Theft Auto clone but even the previous games distinguished themselves fairly early on as their own class of game, which is best described as a “third-person, action sandbox, chaos-sprawler”. The reboot reaffirms why this distinct classification is just, because it does such an excellent job of capturing what made the original series of games so much fun to play because it was just pure and utter chaos, madness and the possibilities for destruction and mayhem seemed endless.



It is no surprise that Saints Row has been one of my favourite series of games - since I typically scream it at anyone who will listen (or won’t) - but Saints Row IV left a lot to be desired and left a pretty sour taste. Despite it being fun, over-the-top and probably the result of meetings held after copious amounts of illicit drugs were consumed and chased with RedBulls, it just felt removed from the original quirkiness that made its predecessor, Saints Row The Third, an absolutely impeccable game. I actually recently wrote on this which you should give a read here.

The Saints Row reboot rectified this almost from the first frame, as it takes the series back to what we got from the original release. The zanyness of everything had been reined in just enough to bring that original Saints Row feeling back without sacrificing its lunacy in any way. One of the greatest things about Saints Row was that it felt like a self-aware parody of pop-culture, treating itself with enough respect to command attention but not taking itself too seriously to be anything more than hours of comedic gold. The reboot commands this personality incredibly well as I was in stitches for pretty much most of my time in the game and while it was filled with so many cringey, eye-rolling quips, puns and phrases, the reboot firmly reminds you that this is nothing but campy, B-rate fun rather than an actual criminal drama unfolding.



Progression is marked by story events through missions but also by capturing various regions of the map through business ventures - which is like buying businesses in the previous games. The reboot brings the familial Saints Row trope of cash generation back, as the more business ventures you open, the more money you make. Though, each venture has their own set of goals that are technically optional but if you complete them, it increases your money-generation rate tenfold. Each venture is also unique, with vehicle repossession, stealing food trucks and researching unique tech being some of the possibilities on offer to you. It is basically just late-stage capitalism at its peak.

I wouldn’t say that anything was revolutionised or innovated here but, honestly, this was a great thing because it felt natural and true to Saints Row.

Deep Silver Volition brought traditional gameplay elements of the Saints Row series to the reboot, swapping dated mechanisms for modern practices with some enhancements to make the gameplay fun, smooth and rather addictive. Many of the controls felt quite natural and if you are already familiar with playing any third-person open-world action game, then you should know what to expect. I wouldn’t say that anything was revolutionised or innovated here but, honestly, this was a great thing because it felt natural and true to Saints Row.



Skills and Perks make a return in Saints Row but they are tweaked slightly. Skills unlock as you progress and level up and you have access to four active skills at a given time. These skills can be swapped out at any time and are hotkeyed to four keys or buttons - in our case, it was Triangle, Circle, Square and X as we reviewed the game on the PS5. Some skills are evolutions of others but they are mostly unique and allows you to customise how you play (grenades for explosions, health boosts, squad healing, etc.) to make it a little more personal.

The Perks were a little frivolous I found, as they didn’t really affect my gameplay much and are tied to challenges that you complete while running around the fictional town of Santo Ileso. You could actively track these challenges to maximise unlocking perks but you can only have a certain amount of perks active at a given time, and the slots to unlock them become incredibly expensive quite quickly. I didn’t invest too much into them because I really felt like my resources could be better spent elsewhere.

The Perks were a little frivolous I found, as they didn’t really affect my gameplay much...

The various gang factions that we meet in the game - The Los Panteros, The Idols and corporate military conglomerate Marshall are familiar for Saints Row but these are excellently added into the reboot to make them feel unique to the world. If you have played Saints Row before you will know these factions as the brawny steroid-infused car junkies, the strange anarchist-loving anti-corporate rich kids, and the, well, corporate military conglomerate respectively. I won’t divulge too much more but these factions all add to that original Saints Row flair and it was so well done in this reboot.



Vehicle, weapon and character customisation make a strong return in the reboot but offers the most in-depth customisation options that we have ever seen in a Saints Row game before. Vehicles and weapons are especially detailed and I spent as much time kitting out my cars and guns as I did actually using them, which was just fantastic. Interestingly, you could make changes to your Boss character at literally any time through the Style app on the in-game app without even charging you a fee as was the case in the Saints Row series before. The sky is the limit with customisation as well, which leaves endless possibilities for you to run around and commit large-scale murder in unique and interesting ways.

The Saints Row reboot also has its fair share of references and throwbacks for Saints Row fans, but never enough that the Marvel Effect starts to kick in where you need to catch up on the previous six years of content to get the story-specific reference (looking at you, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness). There are also awesome nods to other video games, including Dark Souls, Fallout and a cheeky bash at microtransactions as well, and while I won't divulge too much, I recommend you check out the exhilarating LARP-ing action that takes place in Santo Ileso.




As much as I loved the Saints Row reboot, which quite frankly sets the bar for how a reboot should be done, it has to be mentioned that there were a plethora of bugs. It is important to remember that this is technically an early release build and there should be a day-one patch (although not confirmed) that will hopefully rectify these issues. This review was also performed on the PS5 version of the game.

Most of the bugs that I experienced were fairly harmless and were simple glitches and small hiccups along the way. I have heard of games crashing and other major game-breaking problems happening but I personally didn’t experience anything that severe. There were only two instances where I had to reload a save as my controls locked up after a cut scene. There were a couple of annoying things as well, including using the interact button which frequently took multiple presses to actually activate.



Another ridiculous bug - although it could just be a bad gameplay design choice - is that the camera does not follow and auto-rotate with you when you are in a vehicle and so you have to move the camera entirely manually. This was incredibly frustrating as I had to actively manage vehicle combat, driving and then still control the camera. I understand that it isn’t rocket science but it just seems strange as the camera is perfectly fine while on foot.

...it has to be mentioned that there were a plethora of bugs...

Another weird problem I encountered came from the control schemes. On the PS5 version, there is an option to enable the adaptive triggers on the DualSense controller but when I would activate this setting, the Y-axis controls were automatically inverted and there didn’t seem to be much difference in my triggers, if anything. If I tried to disable the inverted motion controls, the trigger settings would automatically turn off as well. Inverted controls would have been something to get used to if there was a difference in the triggers but I genuinely couldn’t feel a difference so I hope that gets rectified too - both the triggers and inverted controls.



Overall, the Saints Row reboot is phenomenal and I had so much more fun with it than I initially thought I was going to. It is incredibly authentic to the Saints Row madness and mayhem that we know of while carving out its own distinct personality so that it doesn’t simply feel like another rehash, giving both new and old-time Saints Row fans plenty to chew on. The Saints Row reboot perfectly embodies what a video game like this should be - fun, chaotic and over-the-top all while reigning itself in just enough so that it doesn’t become nonsensical and a parody of itself. Sadly, the bugs did put a bit of a damper on the festivities but once those are sorted, Saints Row deserves quite a bit of praise.



*PS5 review code provided by Deep Silver