The Saints Row reboot looks…awful.

One of the biggest reveals for Gamescom Opening Night Live was the reboot for the Saints Row franchise, and I’m using the term “reboot” very loosely, because its officially a reboot but not one really.

For those who read my content, you know I try to keep my content more positive; and when I can’t, I try to be constructive to solutions. I’m also very open to try new games, even if my expectations are low. I’m usually willing to preach keeping an open mind until you play something.

...

This is not one of those times.

Honestly, when watching the trailer, I (and many others) had no idea it was a “Saints Row” game until the logo popped up. That alone shows how ridiculous it is to call this a “reboot”. It has none of the original characters, but more importantly it doesn’t have any of the original tone or even look. It doesn’t look or feel like a Saints Row game at all. It’s like they made a new ip, realized how bland and boring it was, and decided to borrow a franchise that wasn’t being currently used.

(Credit: AngryJoe)

It looks like a bland vanilla fortnite-rage-borderlands clone. It was so serious, and just failing to understand what it means to be a Saints Row game. Saints Row has never been a fortnite game for kids. The last games had you running around naked hitting people with dildos. It was goofy and mature humor. It was an over the top GTA parody filled with purple. This is a “hilariously serious” adventure in the desert. Angry Joe had some pretty negative comments about it for many of these same reasons. This looks like a game that will be funny for the wrong reasons.

Trailer backlash has been telling with 45k dislikes to it’s 22k likes. To say the fans hate it, is a bit of an understatement. It doesn’t help that the Saints Row twitter condescendingly called fans “haters” and said they “wont back down”.

(Credit: TheProfessional)

Just hitting the comment section on the official trailer on YouTube is telling. It is so skewed negative. My favorite favorite comment was "looks like a type of game that becomes free on Epic". What makes all of it have more impact is people aren't even being mean or unfair. They are mostly being pretty fair, and this game just completely ignores fans of the series in favor of what a suit in an office thought would be profitable.

Honestly, if the developers really want to make this game, they should just rename it something else and scrub the references to “Saints Row” from it. Considering how far it is from anything Saints Row, I bet it would take them less than an hour to do. If I could offer the developers a piece of advice, It is always better to be an average recieved new IP instead of an awful and hated installment of an existing franchise.