Oh, THIS is Saints Row

 Now that's what I'm talking about

See, now this is why I said I wasn't going to write this game off straight away. That reveal was the pits, true, but that just leaves Volition with nowhere to go but up and a good way to start that process is by giving us actual gameplay! (Why wasn't the gameplay the reveal instead of the bad trailer? That's anyone's guess) It seems that emotions are still very raw when it comes to Saints Row, where the temperature hasn't quite set and the outrage hasn't touched every corner of coverage just yet; and so from where I'm sitting I think that this in-depth little snippet we've had gifted to us, though presented in a style I vehemently despise, could hold the remedy for a lot of what ails this game's early advertising. That identity crisis issue- well, it hasn't be resolved as such, but it has been elucidated upon us. Overall, if you watched that mess of CG crap and said "I have no idea what this game even is", watch this footage and you'll know. They covered mostly all of it.

But here I am claiming to know the secrets of the Saints Row universe; I know what this new game is, do I? Then how about I put my money where my mouth is, to quote one of my favourite picks from the Saints Row 2 soundtrack. It's Watch_Dogs 2; they are trying to create Watch_Dogs 2 in the Saints Row world, it's blatant, it's kinda style-less; but that is what they're trying to do. But what do I mean by that? Well, Watch_Dogs 2 basically broke itself down into a story of 'faux relatable' but highly marketable young adults fighting the 'corrupt powers that be' and proving how 'punky' and 'unique' they were through pretty cookie-cutter characteristics, such as being funny/quirky and wearing a digital mask all the time, being techy and... gosh that really was all there was to that character honestly, or being the leader person who then doesn't become the leader because of a contrived and non-sensical story beat that makes the player character the leader. (I won't pout. Some people liked the WD2 cast.) Well, substitute 'fighting the powers' to 'starting a criminal empire', and you've pretty much got what this game is going for. Teens shoved at the forefront of a story that wants to ride some 'relatable edge' that'll lay the weight of the narrative all on the characters and how strong they resonate with the audience.

And at face value you might think, "A character driven Saints Row? What are they thinking?", to which I would remind you that character has always been at the heart of Saints Row, (well, always since II) and it's one of the few shining beacons of this series. Johnny Gat, Peirce Washington, Shaundi back when she was cool- these characters were the solvent holding together all the wanton chaos and carnage, and following their personalities was almost as much of a draw for these games as shooting people to death with Dubstep guns. In fact, I'd argue that these games ended up becoming too character focused, to the point where the dynamics between teammates almost felt like they were devolving into dysfunctional sit-com territory; and I'm talking about before Saints Row IV where they intentionally leaned into that style of characterisation in order to sell a joke. (Everything about Saints Row IV was designed to land jokes. Not least of all the game itself.)

So coming back to a character heavy approach to presenting the new Saints Row world is nostalgic, even if this new cast have somehow managed to make me hate them all in less than 2 days. Okay, so maybe hate is a strong term, when I think about the searing disdain I feel towards Pillars of Eternity's Durance I remember the true meaning of hated; but I'm still not jiving with this new crew off the bat. They seem equal parts exaggerated and understated, in who they are trying to portray and how they are designed. A design philosophy that can totally work when pulled off correctly, don't get me wrong, but when it's not done right it just feels vapid. Take shirtless guy, we've been given a name I just don't care to remember it. He's the really 'out there' one who's a little bit wacky and crazy, and get this, he want's to be a TV chef. (Wild!) But in the clips we've seen of him so far this has been realised as him telling the odd lifeless cooking quip (I've already heard 2. Neither elicited a reaction) and wearing a silly mask. And he's shirtless. (I guess that counts as personality) And sure, these are just the previews, but I'm already noting that these characters aren't jumping out the screen to me, and if this is going to be all about character... well, I'm worried.

At least the city looks sick. One of the standouts of the developer update was their bragging about this new city of theirs, Santo Ileso, a southwestern redrock valley that is quite unlike anything we've seen from the Saints Row brand before. The team have stood up and called this a part of their bold new step away from the past games, new characters, new city. (You know, as if the Original Saints Row games didn't already switch the city up once) They've even had their main voice actor brag about how this is the best city yet which- well, yeah. Stilwater was kind of nice, and I liked the suburban vibe of some of it, but Steelport is one of my least favourite open world cities ever. It's garish, ugly and lacks any heart whatsoever, describing my disdain is near impossible, I just hated Steelport. Topping those two ain't no great feat of ingenuity. Yet still I think this new city looks very open, bustling with character and it simply glimmers under this engine of theirs.

The looks are, I think, going to be the most divisive part of this game, in regards to the art direction. Personally I have no problem with the 'simulate realism' style of art direction, but I'm sure there are some series veterans out there that are mourning the subtly exaggerated features and colours, which grew almost cartoonish as the series became more wild. At least in this direction change the staff are making no effort to move away from their customisability, which has always been a standout of this series for it's sheer range and diversity. However, I will implore the team shut up about how the 'way you take over the city' will be customisable, implying that our final Santo Ileso will resemble our own personal taste. Nice try, V, but I fell for that before during the Saints Row The Third marketing and I won't easily do so again; you're just going to give me a drop-down menu of different clothes for my gang-members to wear, aren't you?

What has been touched on the least, but what I'm most intrigued by, are the small tweaks to the gameplay that seem apparent this time around. Saints Row has never been the most solid in it's moment-to-moment action and combat, wherein all actions typically feel floaty and gunplay lacks any impact. One might call this a natural symptom of making a third person shooter, but I would refer the gunplay of modern GTA, Max Payne, or even the original Watch_Dogs. It can be better, and I think that would make the actual core gameplay loop a lot more fun to stick with. I've heard that Agents of Mayhem (I looked up the name) did some improvements to the combat gameplay just in order to sell it's concept better, and so I hope the team have leaned into that craft even more for this reboot. For what I've seen so far, this looks like it might be the case. I mean there is a roll now! It's way too fast and moves too far to be considered a roll with any impact or weight to it; but it's some sort of tactical movement. (Wait, was there a roll in the old series? Now I'm forgetting things. And I'm too lazy to download one quickly and check)

"Humour, over the top and Badass" are the pillars which one developer coined during this interview, his own attempt at providing a unique selling point. Now of course, calling that an approach unique to Saints Row is simply laughable; just look at Borderlands, modern DOOM, old Duke Nukem, oh and Yakuza! (Seriously, Volition; Yakuza beat you at your own game any day of the week.) But at least they have some direction they want to shoot for and a belief, skewered though it may be, that they're set to be trail blazers. Right now I'm seeing Saints Row as a reverse Starfield for me, in that the more I learn about it the more excited I get. I'm perhaps not there to jump on the game yet, which is worrying considering how soon the game is to launch, but I'm feeling it's rhythm rock my joints a little. My advice from here, learn how to take criticism. It's kinda galling for this game about being 'badass' and 'edgy' to be made by people turning around and calling everyone "Haters" for not loving the reveal trailer. (Still, this is shaping up to perhaps be an alright game.)