2022 was a great example of “highs and lows” with certain properties. Naturally, some games soared higher than people could’ve ever hoped for or expected. Then some titles launched in an incredibly buggy state, much to the gamer’s frustration. Other titles failed to live up to the hype they were given, and then some titles failed on multiple levels, like with the Saints Row reboot. The game had been touted as the “rebirth” of the beloved franchise while giving it a new setting, core characters, and more. But upon release, it was not only buggy. It wasn’t that fun to play.
It’d take quite a while to list all the problems the reboot had. But one of the key things that many gamers and critics outlined was that the combat was janky at times. We’ll admit that the franchise was never the best thing with combat because it acted like everyone was “bullet sponges” at points, but they knew how to keep it fresh and fun, especially in the third and fourth mainline titles.
However, the reboot launched with numerous issues in combat, including certain abilities straight-up not working! The team promised that fixes were coming, and on Twitter, the game’s official handle, promised that in May, an update would come that would overall the combat to make it “smoother” and “badder” all the way around. You can see their teaser for it below:
It’s hard to gauge how to take this information for multiple reasons. First, while they showed various clips of the action, you could frame anything to make it look cool. Many felt the trailers for the game showed a typical epic Saints adventure, but it didn’t turn out that way. Moreover, it’s not the looks that matter as much as how it plays and whether gamers will have issues as they did at launch.
Another thing will be whether this helps make the Saints Row reboot meaningful to play, and we feel fair in saying that for many, it won’t be. The gameplay was a significant part of the game’s failure, but it wasn’t the only one. The team is bringing out many future updates that will add more missions and other things to the title, but will it fix all of it? That remains to be seen.
A previous report noted that the dev lost serious money on the game, and these fixes aren’t likely cheap. So maintain skepticism as you hope this update works out.
