The Saints are coming back. During gamescom Opening Night Live broadcast today, Deep Silver and Volition announced Saints Row, a complete reboot to the long-running open-world action franchise. Catch the announcement trailer above.
The title comes in as an origin story for a group of friends climbing the underground ranks in the fictional city of Santo Ileso. There are three other main gangs roaming the city, Los Panteros, The Idols, and Marshall, fighting for power just like the new Saints. Describing the setting and the city players will be exploring, Volition said:
Experience the biggest and best Saints Row playground ever created; the unique sprawling world of Santo Ileso is the backdrop for a wild, larger than life sandbox of thrilling side hustles, criminal ventures and blockbuster missions, as you shoot, drive, and wingsuit your way to the top.
Character customization is back in a big way too, with the developer promising the most extensive tools ever for letting players create their main character, the Boss. Cooperative play is also returning, though how many players was not confirmed.
Looking back on the series, its final main entry, Saints Row IV, came out eight years ago, exploring an alien invasion angle while the player becomes the President of the United States and gains superpowers. A standalone expansion to it, Gat Out of Hell, released in 2015, followed by a spin-off action game, Agents of Mayhem, in 2017. Meanwhile, a remaster of Saints Row: The Third appeared last year.
With now a reboot of the universe in its future, it"s unclear where the series will go. It could either keep the over-the-top comedic nature of the later titles or go back to its grounded gang war-related storylines of the original two games. Perhaps even a mix of the two.
Saints Row launches on February 25, 2022, across PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5. The PC version will be exclusive to the Epic Games Store at launch.