The Saints Row Reboot Is Being Met With Backlash

Yesterday, during ONL, Volition and THQ Nordic finally announced the new Saints Row game, which [...]

By Tyler Fischer

Yesterday, during ONL, Volition and THQ Nordic finally announced the new Saints Row game, which will reboot the series when it releases in February via the PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S. It's been eight years since the last mainline Saints Row game and six years since the last release in the series. In other words, it's been a while. During this dormancy, demand for a new Saints Row game slowly built up into a considerable force, and it seems like what was revealed this week didn't satisfy this demand.

Over on the official Saints Row YouTube channel, the announcement trailer of the reboot is trending, which is normally a good sign. However, it's trending with more dislikes than likes, at least at the moment of writing this. While the trailer boasts 14,000 likes, this is outweighed by 20,000 dislikes.

As noted above, there was a ton of anticipation for a new entry in the series ahead of the reveal, so what happened? Well, according to the comments, fans are largely unhappy with the tone and aesthetics of the reboot, noting the reboot is Saints Row in name only.

Meanwhile, over on Twitter, all you need to do is search "Saints Row" -- or check out the replies to the official Saints Row account posting the trailer -- and you'll see the game being dragged over there as well.

Unfortunately for Volition and THQ Nordic, you only get one shot at making a first impression, and it seems the pair have stumbled out the gate here. Public opinion of the game may start to change closer to release and when gameplay is revealed, but right now, it's not looking good for the reboot, which is set to release in a stacked year and a stacked month. Releasing on February 25, the new Saints Row is set to release alongside Horizon Forbidden West, Destiny 2: The Witch Queen, Sifu, The King of Fighters XV, and Evil Dead: The Game. Even if not a single other game is announced for this window, that's some stiff competition that even a non-divisive Saints Row game could struggle to release in.

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