Saints Row Reboot: Release date, gameplay, platforms, story, system requirements, more

Gamescom Opening Night Live 2021 is behind us, with a myriad of big and small announcements about the upcoming games and updates for already released ones.

The very first revealed game was a new Saints Row title, named simply Saints Row, thus confirming the rumours that Volition and Deep Silver are planning to reboot the popular action-adventure series.

The reboot was officially revealed with an action-packed CGI trailer, which has introduced us to new characters, titular Saints, as well as a brand new location, the city of Santo Ileso.

Eight years have passed since the last Saints Row game (Saints Row IV was released on 20th August 2013) and the series' devoted fans cannot be more excited about the prospect of a new Saints Row game, but the first reactions on the trailer are mixed, as some believe that it has failed to capture the essence of Saints Row games.

Let's take a look at what we currently know about the game.

Saints Row reboot story: Location and characters

Being a complete reboot, Saints Row doesn't have any connection with the previous entries in the series, except for possible cameos.

The series' iconic characters from the 3rd Street Saints gang are not making a return in the reboot, instead, we will follow a group of four new young outlaws on their way to build a new criminal empire from the ground up.

These "new Saints", which can be seen in the announcement trailer, are The Boss, Nina, Kevin, and Eli.

The characters are not the only new part, as we are also moving away from Stilwater and Steelport, the main locations of previous games, and are travelling to the American South West, to a fictional city of Santo Ileso.

The developers describe Santo Ileso as "a melting pot of big city business and darkened alley street crime, the perfect place to start a new criminal empire and the biggest and best playground we have ever created."

Volition says that this will be by far the biggest map they have ever created, and it will consist of 9 districts plus the Southwest Desert surrounding the city.

The series' signature over-the-top chaotic action and humour will be a heavy focus of the reboot as well, though things will be toned down a bit compared to Saints Row IV, which fans considered to be too goofy even for a Saints Row game.

Saints Row reboot gameplay

At the time of writing, the reboot's gameplay hasn't been revealed yet, though we do know some details based on the announcement and other published info.

Just like all other games in the series, the Saints Row reboot is an open-world action game with a third-person view. Players will "witness the birth of the Saints" which means that we will start from the very bottom and build our criminal empire from the scratch.

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Broad customisation options from the previous games are back, described as "the most extensive character customization suite ever seen in the series." Character customization is one of the most praised features of Saints Row IV, so it will be interesting to see if the reboot can surpass IV in that regard.

Asides from The Boss customization options, players will be able to customize their vehicles and weapons as well: "A vast variety of familiar and exotic weapons, all customizable, and all deadly fun," Volition promises.

When it comes to vehicles, you will be able to traverse the vast open world in a variety of ways. You can use cars, bikes, planes, helicopters, VTOLs, hoverbikes, hoverboards, go-karts or even the wingsuit!

Platforms and release date

The Saints Row reboot is confirmed for both current and last-gen consoles, which means it's coming on 25th February 2022 to Xbox One, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, PS5 and PC.

When it comes to PC, the game will be released exclusively on the Epic Games Store, and it will not be available via Steam on the release.

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While it is not yet confirmed, this will likely be a timed exclusivity, for either six months or a year, similarly to other games published by Deep Silver in recent years.

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