According to a recent leak, the initial plan for the Saints Row 2022 Reboot was to include the original Saints, which would have been a much better idea.
In the action-adventure game, Saints Row 2022, a thriving fictitious city called Santo Ileso serves as the setting for players to learn how to pursue a life of crime and collaborate with other factions to gain more control over the city. However, ardent followers and others who had never played the open-world criminal series from the now-defunct developer Volition found the Saints Row 2022 Reboot a great letdown.
But a new leak claims that Saints Row 2022 Reboot originally was pretty much what everyone wanted. YouTube user mrsaintsgodzilla21, an insider, talked about how the game was not supposed to be as flop as it was. In short, this “reboot” was supposed to be a true-blue tribute to the franchise’s history, starring the original Saints, before things took a turn for the worse.
This game was expected to feature fan favorites including Shaundi and Johnny Gat, which was something that the community had been calling for for ages. Moreover, the goal of the most recent installment in the sandbox third-person shooter series, Saints Row 2022 Reboot was to return to the basics.
This indicates that for a significant amount of the game’s development, it was mostly meant to be tonally modeled after Saints Row 2, with a dash of silly Saints Row The Third tossed in for a good amount.
Regretfully, that dream never came true.
In his video, mrsaintsgodzilla21 said, “Original plan was for Johnny Gat, Shaundi, Dex, Aisha & Pierce to return and the game being 80% Saints Row 2 and 20% Saints Row: The Third but Deep Silver were dissatisfied with their vision of the game so it was scrapped. Mike Watson was even supposed to be in charge of designing a mission where you can finally be in a proper fashion.”
From internal disagreements on design and story to external interference by the publisher demanding a new direction, the final result was a messy amalgamation that failed to capture the essence of what made the franchise beloved in the first place.
Previously, YouTuber Flippy said that Volition had intended for Saints Row (2022) to have a narrative that was more akin to Saints Row 2.5. However, publisher Deep Silver stepped in and stated that the game would not be a commercial success. Rather, they insisted on a more cheerful tone and a storyline centered around a group of friends, which took the game in an entirely different direction.
This new direction didn’t sit well with anyone, leading to widespread dislike among fans, many of whom criticized the studio for its decisions. Moreover, after hearing the news that the Saints Row 2022 Reboot originally was supposed to feature the OG Saints, fans have reacted with the utmost disappointment, hoping that the IP will be acquired by a team that will (hopefully) produce a game that offers a fitting end to the series.
One fan said, “That is tragic. Would’ve preferred this than what we got.” Whereas others said, “Just hearing that Volition actually had a good heart for the reboot that would have probably pleased the fans, only for it to be massively undercut by corporate greed, seriously breaks my heart so badly. I can’t wait to see what’s in the NDA video, it seems like it’ll be juicy with what was here.”
But since the studio was recently shut down by parent company Embracer Group, it will not have another chance to improve the Saints Row 2022 Reboot.
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