Saints Row Reviews
I find myself ambivalent about Saints Row – it’s a well done and necessary reboot with a great setting, fun mechanics, and good writing, but the story was just not paced well and there were the graphical and AI glitches that held the experience back to me.
Saints Row is bananas.
Unambitious, dated, and dreadfully lacking in polish, only series fans eager for more classic Saints gameplay need apply.
If you find yourself in the right frame of mind, the unhinged nature of Saints Row can be cathartic, particularly if you find yourself in a good series of missions where the writing and humour aren’t too manic, and the action isn't too humdrum. In the end, Saints Row succeeds in recalling and refreshing the affable personality of the dormant series, but this reboot is simply a return, not an evolution.
Deep Silver Volition took a bold step in setting Saints Row around a whole new crew, and it absolutely paid off. Featuring a cast of interesting and entertaining characters, this narrative reverts back to the more serious nature of Saints Row 1 & 2. Add to this some really slick combat and driving mechanics, as well as a world filled to the brim with fun side quests and areas to explore, and you have an absolutely stellar entry into the Saints Row series!
Dear fans of Saints Row, the reality is that Volition does not care for you anymore, so please stay away from this product, as far as possible, and do not reward lazy and poor quality work. Otherwise, we will keep getting hot garbage like this that fills up your precious Xbox Series X or PS5’s SSD space. There are plenty of games on both Game Pass and PS+ that will give you far better value, gameplay, and, most importantly, entertainment, than this piece of hot boring trash.
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.
After nine years of hibernation, the Saints Row series is making a comeback. A comeback that is an outdated turkey and sanctimonious entertainment of high class at the same time. Although we too often growl in frustration, we also find it difficult to put down the controller – it's so much fun! Most of the time anyway.
Review in Swedish | Read full review
The reboot of Saints Row is failing both as a reboot as well as a good game due to the game running poorly, a sandbox riddled with bugs and a boring story with just a few fun characters. Blowing stuff up is good and all, but Santo Ileso simply isn't a fun place to create chaos in. Driving the expensive cars is simply the best part, but steering clear of Saints Row at launch is by far the best way to go.
Review in Dutch | Read full review
Saints Row (2022) succeeds at returning to the roots of its predecessors by paring back the outlandish absurdity without losing an ounce of chaos, but sometimes feels as if it's holding on too tightly to a past best left forgotten. Plus, it has a distinct lack of polish.
I’d advise going into Saints Row with lowered expectations. If you can do that, Saints Row brings chaotic fun and over-the-top mayhem to the world of Santo Ileso.
Saints Row franchise has been on a roller-coaster ride ever since Saints Row 4 was released, mainly since the game design became really confusing as to what direction the developers wanted it to go. It has gone so many changes throughout the years which some fans loved and hated. It tried to win back old fans by sticking to the old formula of lunacy, while trying to attract new generation of gamers through its relatable story. It is far from perfect and while there are minor hiccups in this game, we can assume that Deep Silver wanted to it go in a definite direction, a crime-centric game filled with comic relief and craziness.
Ultimately, Saints Row may not be the grand return to the franchise that fans were hoping for, but that doesn't mean it's not worth giving a look. Despite a poorly-paced story with average characters, it still has a ton of content and a sandbox that is ripe for hours of co-op fun.
Will the frustrations continue to mount? Will the Saints Row reboot establish its identity? We’ll see. For now, I’ll continue to play more to see the campaign through to its conclusion. I might also try some co-op activities with our Review Editor, Andrew Farrell, and maybe some drop-in multiplayer, too. You can expect a finalized review score within the week.
The biggest issue with the new “Saints Row” isn’t the lack of humor or well written characters, but consistency and a coherent narrative. In some ways, the franchise is too afraid of its past and still struggles to find its footing and look to the future.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Saints Row got rebooted in a way that should appeal to anyone meaning it’s very safe. And as such, it doesn’t interest me in any way. It is a perfect example of a mediocre title – play & forget.
Review in Polish | Read full review
It needs to be said how Saints Row titles have always been a fun and extravagant romps. This reboot is pretty much just more of the same, but with additional safety nets. The revamped humour is appreciated, and the current-generation take on what is a decade-old franchise is most certainly enjoyable, to say the least. It is just a shame how boring and, ultimately, forgetful, the overall experience is – leaving players with no real desire to return to the world. Characters are masterfully designed, and the open world is truly a marvel; but a boring slog of a campaign, literal game-breaking bugs, and an over-reliance on a faction system that ties into the campaign, is just not desirable. The game is good, but oh-so-forgettable.
Perhaps the excessive conservatism of Volition has caused a golden opportunity to revitalize the saga with a more forceful update to have been lost. Saints Row is a return to formulas that seemed somewhat outdated for the construction of open world games, but what cannot be denied is that, despite this, they have managed to put together a title that is hilarious at the controls, especially in some main missions that have a prodigious treatment of unbridled action sequences.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
In conclusion, this installment of Saints Row delivers on the fun factor, but it's not quite the groundbreaking change what the fans of the franchise might expect, so we'll see what happens in the next chapter. An entertaining way to kill time while great open world proposals like Zelda: Breath of The Wild 2 or GTA VI itself arrive.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Saints Row turned out to be a worthy reboot of the saga, a product capable of looking back to draw eagerly to the soul of the franchise, but also of looking forward to the future, creating a perfect starting point for everything that, potentially, will come. Volition has done its best both on the content and on the technical front, and the result is an open world that has nothing, or almost nothing, to envy to the competitors.
Review in Italian | Read full review