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City of Anti-Heroes: Saints Row IV Is Super Saints Row

This kinda seems to be happening a bit too soon - don't open world games take years and years and years to make? - but I suppose Volition wouldn't want to sit on their hands after their recent dice with death. And heck, this is probably Saints Row: The Third with bits on (EDIT - oh, yeah, I forgot, it is one-time SR3 DLC expanded into a full game. That makes sense), but when those bits include making the player a superhero I'm not complaining. Offering godlike, reality-bending powers is an entirely logical outcome for a series which started life snipping at GTA's unconcerned heels then increasingly (d)evolved into out and out AAAARGH WOOOO YEAH WHATEVS ANYTHING EVERYTHING LOOK AT MEEEE POO BUM WILLY HAHAHAHAAHHA happy-madness.

Part IV goes further still, and is somehow out in August. Take a look below.

Cover image for YouTube video

If you're wondering how the Saints become super-people is possible, even within the series' wildly unpredictable veneer of internal logic, well, aliens did it. Like we really need a reason to punch a man into space or ride a lightcycle, but here's the official blurb anyway:

In the next open-world installment of Saints Row, Deep Silver Volition continues the story of the Third Street Saints by elevating their status to the highest level - the leaders of the free world. In Saints Row IV, the head honcho of the Saints has been elected to the Presidency of the United States. But the Saints are just getting started. Now the larger-than-life insanity of the Saints series gets a new twist with a catastrophic alien invasion, and the aliens have transported the Saints to a bizarro-Steelport simulation. Wield gargantuan superpowers and fight to free humanity from alien granddaddy Zinyak's mental grasp. Escape the simulation that's trapped the Saints crew, or die trying.

Saints Row IV lets players delve into an arsenal of alien weaponry and technology that will turn each Saint into an ultimate entity of destruction. Utilize out-of-this-world superpowers to fight all the way to the top. With intensified action and enhanced customization, players can use their newfound superpowers and leap over buildings, outrun the fastest sports cars, or send enemies flying with telekinesis in the greatest, most insane installment of Saints Row yet.

Out on current-gen consoles and PC on August 20, 2013, in North America and August 23, 2013, in the rest of the world, that is.

This comes from Deep Silver rather than former Volition owners THQ, but the fast turnaround suggests the lion's share of this ridiculous game must have been done while still living at the original owner's house. In other words, I'm not sure we'll be able to get any sense of what Deep Silver owning the license and studio means from this one. I just hope they don't send journalists any more giant dildos in the post this time. Dildos or dildoes?

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In this article

Saints Row 4

PS3, Xbox 360, PC

Saints Row: The Third

PS3, Xbox 360, PC, Nintendo Switch

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About the Author
Alec Meer avatar

Alec Meer

Co-founder

Ancient co-founder of RPS. Long gone. Now mostly writes for rather than about video games.

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