- Primary Subject: Saints Row (Game Franchise)
- Key Update: Following the 2023 closure of developer Volition, the Saints Row franchise remains effectively "on ice," with the 2022 reboot cited as the primary catalyst for its current decline.
- Status: Confirmed / Opinion
- Last Verified: June 10, 2026
- Quick Answer: The Saints Row reboot failed due to tonal inconsistency, lackluster writing, and a "flanderization" that stripped the franchise of its campy but sincere criminal charm.
Now that Grand Theft Auto 6’s release date is fast approaching, I can’t help but grieve for one of the few franchises ever to give GTA a run for its money. Saints Row is one of the latest victims of flanderization in the gaming sphere, and I’ve been living with regret ever since its comeback flopped in 2022. Flanderization is a concept in media in which a single minor trait of a character is celebrated and slowly consumes the entirety of that character’s personality. This concept can take a deep and multifaceted character and turn it into a one-joke wonder, and that is exactly what happened with Saints Row.
To those young readers in the audience, they may only know Saints Row as that weird buggy reboot that people just forgot about in 2022. That flop is the product of the game’s flanderization and a misunderstanding of the core of what Saints Row is (or was), at least to me. To understand that, we have to travel back in time to two decades ago, when the first Saints Row was released. From the start, Saints Row was meant to be a fun, arcade-style competitor to Grand Theft Auto, tackling themes the latter wouldn’t normally tackle (especially in its current state).
With Grand Theft Auto, you’d often be put in these dramatic storylines that were epic in scale, but of course still somehow made sense realistically. When it came to Saints Row, the storylines were still epic, but realism was an afterthought. From Saints Row 1, 2, and 3, you were faced with these villains and situations that were cartoonish, but still somehow made sense. There was a campy and cheesy charm to every character in Saints Row, and the game was very self-aware of what it was. It was during this stretch of games that I even realized I would rather play Saints Row than Grand Theft Auto because of how much it prioritized fun over realism.
But while that was the appeal of Saints Row, it wasn’t the identity of the franchise. Sure, Saints Row was the fun GTA that didn’t really care about realism and just focused on the wackiness of the world, but it was still somewhat sincere in its storyline. The most polarizing proof of the franchise’s slow flanderization is the jump between Saints Row: The Third and Saints Row IV, turning the game from a fun, chaotic sandbox game to… a superhero simulator. Suddenly, it wasn’t just over-the-top gangsters; it was about fighting alien supervillains as the president of the United States?
So now that we’ve gotten into this mess, the problem we have to solve is: Where do we go from here? This is the question that the reboot, Saints Row 2022, tried and failed to answer. And it’s not because the game was bad; it’s just that it didn’t feel like the game really tried to give us something new. Playing through the 2022 reboot felt like the game had an identity crisis, trying to appease both new and old fans alike. The game was goofy and serious, but not enough to show off a distinct personality. Not to mention, the gameplay and writing weren’t polished or fun enough to keep players coming back.
While the original developers of the game, Volition, may be done and dusted, I firmly believe that the franchise isn’t dead. Although the previous iteration of the game wasn’t the most profitable nor the most critically acclaimed, it still holds a lot of water, and I expect to eventually see it return in some shape or form. When that time comes, I hope they’re willing to take some risks so that the game regains its identity. Whether they go wacky or somewhat slightly comedic, I want them to lean into those concepts fully. That, and of course, hire a competent writer who won’t make the audience cringe with every line.
But perhaps the biggest change that I would beg for in the next Saints Row game is a revamp of the gameplay. We get that Saints Row is supposed to be somewhat of a cool arcade-y action game where you can just shoot waves of enemies, turn off your brain, and look cool, but that leaves little to replayability. The fact that this wasn’t at the top of their mind makes you genuinely question the leadership of the project, and I sincerely hope the game is in good hands once it comes back.
So let this article be an open letter to developers out there with franchises that are teeming with potential - please do not lose sight of what makes your game great! It’s not just one thing, I promise you. Otherwise, you’ll end up with something like Borderlands.
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