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Saints Row The Third, to me, has always been the pivotal point in the series. I don’t think the Saints Row metamorphosis is as drastic as some believe, I don’t believe that Pre and Post Saints Row 3 is all that different, BUT, I do think there was a significant point where the series became something else and jumped the shark, and that was Saints Row IV. Why am I talking about Saints Row 3? Because it was the ramp. I think, while IV was the pivotal point, 3 set up a lot of where the series would go. It brought the series to the mainstream, and I think even the reboot, for as much as it failed to revitalize the series, it seemed to mimic the third game the most, because volition knew it was where they found the most success; and the strongest balance between crime drama and goofy grand theft auto alternative. While I know the conversation around Saints Row being a GTA clone is a tired one, I am going to retread it a bit, because it’s necessary context, and it properly frames why I believe Saints Row 3 made the decisions it did.

With that said, let’s discuss the origins of Saints Row, which was a GTA Clone. Don’t take my word for it, take the creative director's words. I think calling something a clone, even if an acknowledgment of similarities is a bit too restrictive of a turn, and tends to omit the personal touch that art naturally has. If rockstar and volition wanted to make the same game, it would still turn out wildly different just based on the individuals on each team. Now, the difference here is that GTA already trailblazed and Saints Row was made with being a GTA Clone in mind. At the time, there wasn’t an open world crime game for the XBOX 360. Now, seeing how Rockstar were able to deliver with Grand Theft Auto 4 and 5, it’s clear that taking their time paid off, as those games not only sold much more than saints row, but their cultural significance dwarfs Saints Row on a bad day. We need to keep this in mind because, for as much as Saints Row had great ideas and was a good game, look at the review scores, it certainly had a goal, and that goal was to fill a gap in the market.

Grand Theft Auto IV released in 2008, and by that time, blew the world away. I know some think it’s overrated, but come on, the game looks great, has a stellar story, and most importantly, was the de facto open world crime game. Unless you had something unique to separate yourself from the GTA Titan, like Sleeping Dogs, you weren’t going to get very far, and even then Sleeping Dogs regularly got called GTA Hong Kong. The GTA games have always been quite funny, but their humour was in a more subtle way, and was always a satirical critique of American culture. Grand Theft Auto IV offered a biting analysis of the American Dream, but masked it with enough action and humour to avoid being a buzzkill. With this shifting tone, comes a new gap for Saints Row to fill. Now, instead of simply being a more accessible GTA in the sense that it was the only open world crime game on modern hardware, they now had to make it more accessible by offering the over the top humour people loved from Grand Theft Auto, but without the maturity and truthful undertones that shackled it to reality. Despite leaning into slapstick and, let’s be honest, bottom of the barrel humour at times, Saints Row 3 has it’s own interesting takes on success, commercialisation, and finding a new identity, something the series itself was no doubt struggling with at the time. Rather than meet this new market with a tightening grip on rockstars coattails, volition instead grabbed their 4 foot bat, and came out swinging. This is Saints Row 3, 15 Years Later.

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