Volition’s troubled reboot of Saints Row dropped a huge update alongside its first major expansion today, addressing some of its more egregious technical problems.
Saints Row was much-hyped ahead of its return last year but stumbled at launch, with critics and players complaining of bugs, but also an overall lack of ambition in design. Despite its campy characters and patently ridiculous story — series hallmarks that fans show up for — the game felt curiously flat. Its missions weren’t terribly interesting (and were driven largely by referencing popular movies, something the new expansion does as well). Its open world felt oddly lifeless compared to something like Grand Theft Auto V, which came out almost a decade earlier. In short, it didn’t quite meet the lofty expectations the audience had for it.
So: the new expansion. Called The Heist and the Hazardous, it’s clearly modelled on Fast & Furious. Based on the trailer, you character is seemingly betrayed by the star of the Heist & Hazardous film franchise and embarks on a mission of revenge in the city’s new wing, Sunshine Springs. It’s all very Saints Row, and if you didn’t mind the base game, I’m sure you’ll enjoy this as well.
What’s more interesting are the major quality-of-life changes coming alongside the update. Combat has been overhauled to improve weapon feel overall and to reduce the “bullet sponginess”. The goal, according to Volition, is to make combat feel more dynamic across the board. Changes have been applied to aiming down sights, crouching and takedowns. Enemy health and dodging ability of enemies has been retooled to make them feel a bit fairer to fight against. Reinforcement calls have been re-timed to create a window where the player can shut down a call for help, rather than the enemy instantly radioing for backup. Reaction animations for heavy weapons and takedowns have been retooled. Lower-hanging fruit on the skill tree is now more useful. Weapon signature abilities will be assigned automatically once you earn them, and the same goes for vehicle special abilities, putting Jim Rob’s thoroughly out of business.
The rest of the updates are of the Extra Flavour variety — new selfie mode, some extra emotes, a new selectable camera angle while driving, enemy and vehicle health bar toggles, and vehicle nicknames for faster searching in the garage. Finally, the UI and menus across the board have received a bit of a tidy-up.
So, yeah, pretty good! The result of a dedicated team putting in the hard yards. You love to see it.
The question, of course, is, will any of this be enough to tempt players back? I can only speak for myself here — someone that really didn’t care for Saints Row at launch — and I honestly don’t think I can see myself going back. However, if you’ve never played it and you’re wondering if now’s the time to jump into Saints Row, I think this update might be the perfect moment.
Let me know in the comments. Is this enough to entice you back to Saints Row, or has the ship sailed?
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