Saints Row

Saints Row is the first installment in the series, having begun development in the mid-2003 as a PlayStation 2 title under the name Bling Bling.[1] The game was announced at E3 2005 for the Xbox 360. As the first non-linear gameplay-style video game to be released for the Xbox 360, Saints Row was widely anticipated; its pre-beta demo build set records after being downloaded nearly 400,000 times within a week.[2] It had sales in excess of 500,000 during its September 2006 release month, and was critically acclaimed. As of 2019, the game has had sales in excess of two million units.[3] The game is set in the fictional city Stilwater, which is located in the state of Michigan. The player character is inducted into the 3rd Street Saints gang after they save their life, and assists the Saints in eliminating three rival gangs that control the city. After the gangs have been eliminated, police chief Monroe kidnaps the Saints founder Julius Little and offers the player to exchange the gang leader's freedom for mayor Marshall Winslow's life. After Winslow is assassinated, Monroe is murdered by the Saints, and Julius is freed. The other Saints members look towards the player character, considering them their new leader. The new mayor Richard Hughes invites the player character aboard his private yacht and Julius betrays the player by blowing the yacht up and killing everyone but the protagonist on board, ending the game on a cliffhanger. The game was renowned for being the first seventh-generation sandbox game, and introduced features which have since become staples to the genre. It introduces online multiplayer, an in-game mobile phone, GPS navigation, and elaborate character and vehicle customization.[4][5]

Saints Row 2 began development in mid-2006, a few months before the Xbox 360 release of Saints Row.[6] While a PlayStation 3 port of Saints Row was in development, it was cancelled when Saints Row 2 was confirmed in May 2007.[7] A Microsoft Windows port, announced in June 2008, was released in early 2009. Three downloadable content packs were developed and launched in mid-2009 (for console only), including Ultor Exposed and Corporate Warfare.

Saints Row 2 is set years after Saints Row; having survived the yacht explosion, the player character awakens from a coma in a prison hospital and, after escaping, saves Johnny Gat from execution. Together with the newcomers Carlos, Shaundi, and Pierce, they begin to revive the 3rd Street Saints, gradually reclaiming Stilwater from the three new gangs that had taken control of the city in the meantime (The Sons of Samedi, The Ronin, and The Brotherhood). The Ultor Corporation, responsible for the redevelopment of the Saint's Row district, eventually recognizes the Saints as a threat and attempts to extinguish them, but the player character assassinates Ultor's CEO Dane Vogel, severely weakening the company. The ending sees the Saints run Stilwater once more. The game builds upon the fundamentals of Saints Row by improving the respect system, adding more varied activities, increasing the extent to which the player can customize their character, gang, and vehicles, and adding a number of new vehicle models. It expands the Stilwater setting and adds new gameplay features and content.[8]

Saints Row 2 received several downloadable content (DLC) releases, including two story DLCs. The first, Ultor Exposed, adds Red Faction: Guerrilla-themed content,[9] and stars American pornographic actress Tera Patrick,[9] who plays herself as a whistleblower and former microbiologist for the Ultor Corporation. It was released on 23 April 2009.[10][11] The second, Corporate Warfare, focuses on the struggle between the 3rd Street Saints and the Ultor Corporation, and was released on 28 May 2009.

Saints Row: The Third was announced in March 2011. It was released in North America on 15 November 2011, in Europe on 18 November 2011, for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Microsoft Windows platforms.[12] The game began early development at Volition in September 2008, a month before Saints Row 2 was due to release.[13] The player controls the leader of the 3rd Street Saints, who have grown from their humble roots as a street gang into a worldwide crime group. The story centers around the conflict between the Saints and the Syndicate, a rival crime group who seek to take advantage of the Saints' influence. Though the first two Saints Row games were set in the fictional city of Stilwater, Saints Row: The Third is set in a new city named Steelport. Steelport is run by three gangs, much like Stilwater was in Saints Row and Saints Row 2, yet these gangs—Morning Star, the Deckers and the Luchadores—are all under the control of the Syndicate. Later on in the game, a division of the military known as S.T.A.G. is called to Steelport by authorities in an attempt to eradicate all of the gangs in the city.[14]

Downloadable content for Saints Row: The Third was announced before the game's November 2011 release along with a commitment from publisher THQ to support 40 weeks of content. Among smaller upgrades, three main content packs were released: Genkibowl VII (released 17 January 2012), Gangstas in Space (released 21 February 2012), and The Trouble with Clones (released 20 March 2012).

A remastered version of Saints Row: The Third for Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One, including all the DLC for the original game, was released on May 22, 2020. It was developed by Sperasoft and features remastered assets and textures, along with improved graphics and lighting.[15]

Saints Row IV was unveiled in March 2013 and released in North America on 20 August 2013 and worldwide shortly after on 23 August. The game is set five years after the events of Saints Row: The Third. After the Saints stop a terrorist attack by former S.T.A.G. commander Cyrus Temple on the United States, the Saints leader is elected President. Soon after, an alien invasion occurs and the Earth is overrun.[16] The majority of the game is set in a simulation of Steelport created by the aliens to break the Saints' wills. In this simulation, the Saints must fight against their new enemy for justice of their past and their own worst fears.

Saints Row IV's first story-driven downloadable content pack, Enter the Dominatrix, is a "directors cut" version of the cancelled Saints Row: The Third expansion of the same name, and was released on 22 October 2013.[17] Its second story DLC, How the Saints Save Christmas was released on 10 December 2013.

A standalone expansion to Saints Row IV, called Gat out of Hell was released on 20 January 2015 in North America and 23 January 2015 in Europe.[18] The plot revolves around Johnny Gat's attempt to rescue the Boss from Hell after being captured by Satan.[19]

THQ Nordic's financial report released in August 2019 stated that a new Saints Row title has been in development at Volition.[20]

The setting of both Saints Row and Saints Row 2 is the fictional city of Stilwater, located in the midwestern state of Michigan, United States. Stilwater is primarily based on the real-world American city Detroit. During the early development process of Saints Row, the city was designed before the script was assembled and was more than four times the size of its final version. It was cropped to a smaller size because development resources could not support a city that large. Stilwater's red light district is largely based on Harlem, including the Raykins Hotel as The Cotton Club.[24] During its development phase, the city went through constant expansion and cropping. For example, the shopping mall and trailer park districts in Saints Row 2 were originally included in early designs of Saints Row.[24] One design challenge was creating the city without load-screen interference, so the engine was designed to stream around the player's location in individual chunks of the city.[1] The city was designed to feel diverse and have a variance of districts; Saints Row product art director Matt Flegel commented that "We wanted the city to cover all styles, from the towering sky scrapers of downtown to the gritty industrial feel of the factory district. We want the player to feel the changes between the districts, rather than just noticing the visual difference."[25] The districts were designed to feel relevant to the gangs that controlled them.[25]

The Stilwater of Saints Row 2 is significantly different from its original rendition; the city is 45% bigger than its older counterpart.[26] Much of the city from Saints Row is redeveloped in Saints Row 2, albeit becoming more "alive" and full of depth.[27] Saints Row 2 lead producer Greg Donovan said that "Stilwater in Saints Row 2 is very different from Saints Row. In fact, every detail has been touched to some degree or another. [...] I think that what will end up happening is that people who played Saints Row or are fans of the franchise are going to have a great time exploring the city and looking for new things. [Also], people that are new to Saints Row 2 are just going to be presented with a huge, very dispersive and very different looking environment, it's very well polished and detailed."[28] There are no in-game load screens in Saints Row 2,[29] a notable feat as the game allows for seamless co-operative play. There are over 130 interiors within the city, including over ninety different shops.[30] The city is more dynamic and lifelike in Saints Row 2, as the artificial intelligence is smarter, i.e., civilians will interact with each other.[31] Additionally, certain elements of Saints Row 2's environment are destructible as the game shares some technology with the Volition-developed Red Faction: Guerilla game.[32] Its environment also features numerous landmarks and Easter eggs; one such feature won "Top Easter Egg of 2008".[33]

The game Saints Row: The Third is set in the sister city of Steelport, a city that flourished in the 1800s and has since succumbed to economic failure. Steelport's districts are almost distinctly the same, and the city size is smaller than Stilwater but has larger buildings. Steelport's most memorable feature is the large statue on Magarac Island, south-east of downtown Steelport. The statue is that of steel worker Joe Magarac and is a parody of the real-life Statue of Liberty. The overall design and look of Steelport can be changed via progressing through the story. At certain points the player is allowed to choose whether to do one thing over the other, which will change how Steelport's skyline appears. Some of these choices include deciding whether to keep or blow up the Syndicate Tower.

Saints Row IV is once again set in Steelport, however the city is set in a simulation under control of Zinyak, the game's main villain. Zinyak has changed Steelport to fit his likeness removing all signs of the Saints from the city and replacing them with images of himself, and alien technology can be seen heavily throughout the city. Many missions in Saints Row IV take place in locations other than the main sandbox of Steelport. The city of Stilwater (the setting of Saints Row and Saints Row 2) returns for one mission of the game, two missions take place in the 1950s version of Steelport, while Washington, D.C. is featured in the game's introduction.

A Saints Row film was announced to be in pre-production in April 2019, with production by Fenix Studios, Koch Media and Occupant Entertainment. F. Gary Gray is set to direct the film with a screenplay written by Greg Russo.[34]

The connections between Saints Row and Volition's Red Faction series begin as early as the series' first installment in 2001, Red Faction. The first Red Faction takes place in 2075 and continues the story of the Ultor Corporation, who have begun mining operations on Mars due to Earth's rapidly depleting resources. This storyline is referenced in Saints Row 2 and its DLC. Despite potential licensing conflicts after Deep Silver purchased the rights to the Red Faction series and Saints Row in 2013, references to the events of Red Faction continued to make appearances in the Saints Row series. On February 14, 2018, Nordic Games (now known as THQ Nordic) acquired Koch Media, effectively reuniting the Red Faction and Saints Row intellectual properties under the same publishing umbrella for the first time since THQ's bankruptcy and acquisition by Nordic.[43]

On 6 June 2016, Volition released a trailer for a new intellectual property set in the Saints Row universe, Agents of Mayhem.[44][45] The game is set in a futuristic Seoul, South Korea, and takes place after the events of Gat Out of Hell's "recreate earth" ending. The cinematic announcement trailer shows Persephone Brimstone (a character featured in Gat Out of Hell) leading an organization known as "M.A.Y.H.E.M." under the Ultor Corporation's payroll and to stop the terrorist organisation "L.E.G.I.O.N." from destroying the world's nations.[46] Agents of Mayhem was released on 15 August 2017. Pierce Washington and Oleg Kirlov are two of the game's twelve playable characters, while Johnny Gat and Kinzie Kensington are playable as downloadable content characters.[47][48][49][50]

Both Saints Row and Saints Row 2 received positive reviews for their Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 ports. However, the mobile phone ports of both games as well as the Windows port of Saints Row 2 received a more mixed response. Additionally, the downloadable content packs for Saints Row 2 received mostly average reviews.

The Xbox 360 port of Saints Row received generally positive reviews and scores. It received an 82.20% and 81/100 from review aggregators GameRankings and Metacritic respectively. IGN reviewer Douglass Perry awarded the game an 8.5/10, praising the presentation and gameplay while pointing out technical shortcomings as well as the often forced humour.[61] GameSpot reviewer Greg Kasavin awarded the game an 8.3/10, giving credit to the driving, the action, the presentation and the story. However, he criticized the lack of polish and lack of variety in mission design.[62] It was hailed as "the best reason to own a 360 this side of [The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion]" and a "must buy" by GamePro reviewer Vicious Sid, who awarded it five stars out of five.[63]

Both the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 ports of Saints Row 2 received positive reviews. It received an 83.37% and 82.99% from GameRankings respectively, and 82/100 and 81/100 from Metacritic respectively. GameSpy reviewer Gerald Villoria awarded the game four and a half stars out of five and said that "Saints Row 2 offers up a shooting and driving experience that is plenty of fun [...] It's self-consciously funny in its irreverence, and its low-brow humor will definitely appeal to much of its audience".[64] IGN reviewer Nate Ahearn awarded Saints Row 2 an 8.2/10, praising the gameplay but criticizing the lack of polish and the weak artificial intelligence.[65] However, the PC port of Saints Row 2 received a much less positive response. It received an aggregated score of 70.68% and 72/100 from GameRankings and Metacritic.

Dan Whitehead of Eurogamer wrote that Grand Theft Auto IV was a boon for the Saints Row series since it allowed the latter to be "gleeful silly sandbox games" as the former series took a more serious turn.[66]

Saints Row 2 shipped over two million units for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 during October 2008, the month of its release.[67]

On 2 November 2011, THQ CEO Brian Farrell announced that Saints Row: The Third was already the most pre-ordered title in series history. The game had four times the number of pre-orders; Saints Row 2 had two weeks before its launch. THQ estimated the game would ship over 3 million units before the publisher's fiscal year ends in March 2012. By comparison, Saints Row 2 launched in October 2008 and sold 2.6 million by the end of the fiscal year. On 25 January 2012, THQ announced that The Third had shipped 3.8 million units globally and are expecting to ship between five and six million units lifetime on the title.

To date, the series has roughly sold over 13 million units, including over three million for Saints Row 2.[68]