Saints Row, the much-anticipated reboot to Deep Silver’s street crime franchise, is out this week. Following the poor sales numbers for the 2017 spin-off, Agents of Mayhem, Volition is back on board to develop the latest iteration — pulling away from the “wacky” tone recent entries were lauded for. Saints Row 2022 is billed to feature the biggest playground ever, swarming with funky characters, neon-drenched locales, and loads of explosive barrels and vehicles. The reboot arrives on all major platforms, bringing back the fine ratio of seriousness and wit, reminiscent of Saints Row 2.
First showcased at Gamescom last year, the Saints Row reboot was met with divided opinion across social media, with most criticising the forced quirkiness of the characters. While 2014’s Saints Row IV introduced a goofy concept of an alien invasion, it still retained the edgy tone of the prior instalments. With this reboot, creator Jim Boone plans to take it down a notch, claiming that such narrative beats won’t work in the current social climate. “We love [the old Saints Row games], but we also recognise those are games of a time,” he said in an interview. “They made sense within that era, and we were able to do things that felt good back then. But that tone is not something that we feel like we want to do today. We had a different kind of story that we wanted to tell.”
Set in the fictional, lawless city of Santa Ileso — loosely based on Las Vegas — Saints Row tasks players with assembling their own crime factions and establishing control over the town. You step into the shoes of a character called The Boss and go head-to-head against the Idols, Los Panteros, and Marshall Defense Industries gangs — all of whom have deep connections to the underworld. Much like past games in the franchise, Saints Row will have you working to earn your rank, as you gradually take control of the nine districts spread across the map.
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The Los Panteros gang comprises of musclehead smuggler
Photo Credit: Deep Silver
Unlocking each zone offers full freedom over what kind of “business” you’d like to run, from a diverse choice of drugs, weapons, nightclubs, gambling, and more. These establishments can help your gang earn enough dough, wrest power from rivals, and ultimately become the “Boss” of Santa Ileso. Players will be armed with outlandish weapons such as laser miniguns, bazookas, or even battle tanks to suit Saints Row’s explosive feel. Character customisation options are detailed as well, letting you pick funky costumes and emotes; and it also features a cooperative multiplayer system.
With that, here is everything you need to know about Saints Row, available later this week on all major platforms.
Saints Row release date and platforms in India
Deep Silver’s Saints Row reboot launches Tuesday, August 23, across PS4, PS5, Xbox Series S/X, Xbox One and Windows PC via Epic Games Store. The studio currently has no plans on releasing the game on Steam, though it could show up a year later — as seen with past Epic exclusives.
Saints Row was originally planned for release on February 25, but got delayed by six months in light of additional development time to ensure better optimisation at launch. At the time, CCO Boone also brought up the COVID-19 pandemic as a contributing factor, stating scheduling issues. This time, however, the game went gold, ensuring a solid August 23 launch.
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The Saints Row reboot functions as a sandbox, letting you dive straight in and mess around
Photo Credit: Deep Silver
Saints Row PC system requirements
The PC system requirements come directly from Deep Silver, with the common requirements being listed as Windows 10 64-bit and at least 50GB of free storage space on an SSD.
Saints Row Minimum PC requirements
- Processor (CPU): Intel Core i3-3240 or AMD Ryzen 3 1200
- Graphics (GPU): Nvidia GeForce GTX 970 or AMD Radeon RX 480
- RAM: 8GB
- Resolution: 1,920 x 1,080 pixels at 30fps
Saints Row Recommended PC requirements
- Processor (CPU): Intel Core i7-6700K or AMD Ryzen 5 1500X
- Graphics (GPU): Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 or AMD Radeon RX 5700
- RAM: 12GB
- Resolution: 1,920 x 1,080 pixels at 60fps
Saints Row High PC requirements
- Processor (CPU): Intel Core i7-10700K or AMD Ryzen 5 5600X
- Graphics (GPU): Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 or AMD Radeon RX 6700XT
- RAM: 16GB
- Resolution: 2560 x 1440 pixels at 60fps
Saints Row Ultra PC requirements
- Processor (CPU): Intel Core i5-12600 or AMD Ryzen 7 5800X
- Graphics (GPU): Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080Ti or AMD Radeon RX 6800XT
- RAM: 16GB
- Resolution: 3840 x 2160 (4K) pixels at 60fps
Saints Row gameplay
Pulling inspiration from the exaggerated visuals in Just Cause, the Saints Row reboot functions as a sandbox, letting you dive straight in to ensure chaos, with a hint of creativity. As the Boss, players team up with a ragtag group of misfits and launch their own startup in Santa Ileso. A hotspot for booming business and criminal activities, surrounded by a sprawling desert — the ultimate sinner’s playground.
As cool as it sounds, making a quick buck here isn’t child’s play as you encounter rival factions that exact order in nine regions. Los Panteros is full of musclehead smugglers, the Idols are a group of independent anarchists, and the Marshalls are a private military corporation. These gangs and six others run the city on their own distinct rulesets — failing to abide by them could get you in trouble. Helping you on your journey would be the strategist Eli, the shirt-hating DJ Kevin, and your trusty getaway driver Neenah.
Saints Row also features a castle aka the Saints HQ, where you run all major operations. The hub is stocked with all kinds of ammunitions and vehicles needed to expand the empire, as you experiment with spaceships, motor boats, helicopters, or honk around in a taco truck. Players can track missions using their in-game smartphone, as seen in Grand Theft Auto V, and even customise their look with a diverse set of options — masks, vibrant helmets, hotdog costumes, makeup, accessories, the list goes on.
This time, Deep Silver has introduced Saints Row Boss Factory, a customisation hub that allows players to share their creations with others online. The toolset is available to download for free and can be incorporated into the full game at launch, given you’re logged into your Saints Row profile.
The reboot also comes with a co-op mode, albeit it is limited to two-player — similar to Gotham Knights — with cross-gen support. Players in the same console family can play with one another, regardless of whether they own a PS4 or PS5, or an Xbox One and Xbox Series S/X.
Saints Row download size
While the spec sheet for the game recommends a minimum of 50GB storage space, Saints Row on PC requires 40GB when installed, Gadgets 360 can confirm. The remaining storage comes in handy when downloading updates that extract themselves before getting lobbed in with other installed files.
The case is different on the console side. As per the reliable Twitter account PlaystationSize, Saints Row will take up 60.3GB on the PS4 and 53.5GB on the new-gen PS5. Xbox file sizes have not been revealed, but fans will likely find it in the same ballpark.
There is no dearth of transportation options in Saints Row
Photo Credit: Deep Silver
Saints Row price and editions
Saints Row on PC
On Epic Games Store, Saints Row is available in three editions: Standard, Gold, and Platinum. The lowest tier costs Rs. 1,859 and includes the base game and the Idols Anarchy Pack. The Gold Edition, listed at Rs. 2,749 adds Saints Criminal Customs content, the Los Panteros American Muscle Bundle, and an Expansion Pass that ensures all post-launch DLC gets automatically downloaded onto your system.
Finally, you have the Platinum Edition which is listed at Rs. 3,049 and compiles all the above bonuses with a copy of Saints Row The Third Remastered.
Saints Row on PlayStation
The console version comes with the same bonuses and content, but is priced differently. On the PlayStation Store, Saints Row is listed for cross-gen support — both PS4 and PS5 versions are listed for the same price. Standard Edition costs Rs. 3,999, Gold costs Rs. 6,399, and Platinum costs Rs. 7,199.
Saints Row on Xbox
Saints Row won’t be available on Game Pass at launch. Those on Xbox One and Xbox Series S/X (optimised) can purchase the Standard Edition at Rs. 3,999, Gold at Rs. 6,399, and Rs. 7,199 — the same price as the PlayStation version.
While your gang comprises of four members, Saints Row only allows for two-player coop
Photo Credit: Deep Silver
Deep Silver has made physical copies available as well — internationally, exclusive to GameStop — where the Notorious Edition comes adds a steelbook, a double-sided poster, mini artbook, 4 Santo Ileso postcards, and 4 character art cards.
Saints Row review
At the time of publishing, no reviews were available — and there’s no word on when to expect them either. The first reviews for Saints Row should drop ahead of release.