There’s no doubt that Saints Row was quite the disappointment for players and parent company Embracer Group, whose CEO Lars Wingefors admitted that he had hoped for a better reception and that the return on investment wouldn’t be as great as expected.
As an indirect confirmation of all that, last November developer Volition was officially shuffled from Deep Silver to Gearbox, another operating group within Embracer Group, in the hope that they would make for better overseers for the Illinois-based studio.
Meanwhile, Volition is still working to improve the game. In late November, they added AMD’s FidelityFX Super Resolution 2.1 to the PC version. Yesterday, the studio unveiled the 2023 roadmap, which includes the three DLCs part of the Expansion Pass and other free updates.
On April 11th, Saints Row players will get a free cosmetics pack inspired by the upcoming game Dead Island 2 (also released by Deep Silver). Cosmetics will include wearables from Dead Island 2 characters like Jacob and Amy, a new weapon, a new emote, a pink flamingo hat, and a statue of Carver the Shark that can be added to the Saints HQ.
The first big update will land in May, though, when the game will be expanded with a new district called Sunshine Springs, the long-anticipated combat overhaul, and quality of life additions like Photo Mode. The first paid Saints Row DLC, The Heist and the Hazardous, will be released at the same time featuring new story missions, events, cosmetics, and more.
Two months later, in the predictable heat of July, a new free update with more QoL will be accompanied by the second paid DLC, Doc Ketchum’s Murder Circus, which is set to introduce a brand new solo game mode to the game.
Last but not least, this August (roughly one year after the game’s launch) Saints Row players can expect another district, more features and improvements, and the third, currently unnamed campaign DLC featuring additional story missions, enemies, cosmetics, and more.
That’s certainly a lot of stuff on the way in the next four months or so. Will Volition be able to redeem the Saints Row reboot by the time of its first anniversary? We won’t have to wait too long to find out.
