There are games that challenge the player’s convictions, their sense of morality, even their assumptions about reality. And then there are games that let you beat people senseless with giant purple dildos while wearing sports mascot outfits in the shape of energy drinks. Guess which category Saints Row IV falls into? The big, stupid, ridiculous, nonsensical anti-GTA IV series is back, and we got some time to play with it at E3.
Remember this year's Saints Row(opens in new tab)? Volition would probably prefer that you didn't, which might go some way to explaining why the studio recently decided to upgrade everyone's copy of Saints Row 4(opens in new tab) to its full-fat Re-elected Edition, containing all the game's story and cosmetic DLC and even introducing cross-play between Steam, Epic, and GOG versions of the game.
Unfortunately, that upgrade seems to have backfired, and players now report a myriad of bugs with their new version of SR4. Both the Saints Row Steam forums(opens in new tab) and subreddit(opens in new tab) are filled with players complaining of broken saves, crashes, and mods failing to function. It's also received a few hundred negative Steam reviews(opens in new tab) since the update. If it's succeeded in washing the taste of Saints Row (2022) out of players' mouths, it's only because it tastes even worse.
I wonder if Volition's getting reorged under Gearbox impacted the quality of their release.
When it comes ranking the Saints Row games, there are a couple of weird ones you have to consider, though this is Saints Row after all.
Juan at SwitchWatchTV got his hands on Saints Row 4 Re-elected for Nintendo Switch. Check out his review here and see what he thinks.
I really want to like this game but I see so much of SR 3 in it, and I played that game to death, so warn out. I'll wait for their other projects. Other open world titles should keep me busy for a while.