Best Saints Row Games

Highlights

• Volition, the game studio behind the Saints Row series, has been shut down by the Embracer Group, leaving the future of the franchise uncertain.
• The latest Saints Row reboot received mixed reviews and failed to live up to expectations, with glitches and unappealing characters dampening the experience.
• Saints Row 2 is considered the most beloved game in the series, striking a balance between serious drama and wild humor with its creative options and engaging gameplay.

On August 31, 2023, the Embracer Group shut down Volition, the game studio behind Descent, Red Faction, the Summoner games, and, most famously, the Saints Row series. It’s a rough time, as the workers have pointed out the significance of their shutdown date (e.g., no medical insurance for September). With luck, they’ll be able to bounce back elsewhere. But the original Volition studio is now no more.

The rights to Saints Row will likely go to Deep Silver who, depending on their whims, may bring the series back via another developer, or lock it in the vault for years to come. Whatever happens, people can still track down the main games and give them a spin (for now). But which ones are the best of the bunch? Which is the best Saints Row game?

Updated on December 4th, 2023 by Dave Heath: Just before Volition’s shutdown, the Saints Row reboot received the last of its DLC expansions. While it gave the game more to play with, it didn’t exactly give the game a No Man’s Sky-like redemption story. Though even if it did, it likely wouldn’t have changed the Embracer Group’s decision to shutter the studio.

There’s still no news on how the series will progress following the closure, and there likely won’t be for at least months to come. Until then, this article has been spruced up a touch to refine some writing, and add some extra details here and there. That way, it’s a little easier to compare all the Saints Row games (and their sort-of spin-off) to each other and see which are the best of the bunch.

7 Saints Row 2022

Metascore: 61

While Volition’s shutdown is sad, it wasn’t out of the blue. Some people, including those at the studio, mentioned that their position was precarious. Following THQ’s fall and their shift to Plaion and later the Embracer Group, they needed a big success to make their future more secure to their figurative overlords. Agents of Mayhem couldn’t get the job done after its lacking critical response, so hope was riding high on a new take on Saints Row.

The reboot was meant to be a more up-to-date take on the series. It was supposed to be lighter and brighter, with less 2000s-era humor. But the result wasn’t received well. In addition to the glitches, dull activities, and wonky fast travel, the new Boss and their gang were less appealing than the originals. Fortunately, many of the worst glitches got patched out. But they couldn’t change the new gang from being bland Gen Z stereotypes. It’s a sad note for Volition to go out on.

6 Saints Row: Gat Out of Hell

Metascore: 64

There is debate on whether the multi-year AAA game development cycles are sustainable, and if there should be more lower-budget games high in creativity. It works for indie games, but bigger studios are prone to producing games that would have been better off as DLC. For example, Saints Row: Gat Out of Hell, where the series’ chad, Johnny Gat (and Kinzie as a female option), dives into hell to save the Boss.

It had a new map with new weapons, activities, and some familiar faces from the games’ past. But it was just Saints Row 4 without customizable characters and more hit-or-miss yuks (Gat sings!). Players who liked SR4 would have enjoyed it enough as extra content for that game. Fans who preferred the classic gangland violence of the old games would still be put off by it, and new players wouldn’t get much out of it unless they knew Johnny Gat from elsewhere like Divekick.

5 Agents of Mayhem

Metascore: 62

It’s technically not part of the main series, yet Agents of Mayhem does tie into Saints Row beyond also being made by Volition. The game follows the ‘Recreate the Earth’ ending from Gat Out of Hell, where Persephone Brimstone’s MAYHEM organization, complete with the Saints’ logo, takes on the evil LEGION group in Seoul, “the city of tomorrow”. It even brought back SR2‘s Pierce, and SR3‘s Kinzie and Oleg under aliases, plus Gat as himself.

The game was still open-world, but it was now a third-person shooter inspired by Saturday morning cartoons. Possibly Overwatch too, as each playable character had their own weapons layout and tactics to use in brighter, more cartoony locations than either SR1 & 2‘s Stilwater or SR3 & 4‘s Steelport. Some fans and critics felt it had potential if it had the chance to develop, comparing it to SR1. But SR1 wasn’t considered as buggy or grind-heavy as Agents of Mayhem was. Thus, it wasn’t a success, further adding to Volition’s woes.

4 Saints Row

Metascore: 81

It’s the game that started the whole series, as the Playa is taken in by the Third Street Saints to help them stand up against their rivals. Being the first Saints Row game, it had the most room for improvement. Some of its controls and activities feel wonky compared to the sequels (e.g. tracking down hits in the Hitman activity), and the Playa’s customizable options are limited as they’re male only and mute. It was also an Xbox 360 exclusive, so unless it gets its own remaster some day, only those with Microsoft machines can play it.

Yet it still holds plenty of charm. It was criticized for being a Grand Theft Auto clone at the time, made to satisfy fans until GTA 4 came out. But its serious elements are refreshing to go back to after more than a decade of wackiness. The storylines, gags, gang perks (such as wearing Saints colors to get an XP boost), and the city of Stilwater itself all hit a sweet spot that SR3’s suspiciously shaped bats can’t reach.

3 Saints Row: The Third

Metascore: 84 (original), 74 (Remastered)

Whether Saints Row: The Third or SR4 stands ahead of the other depends more on the gamer’s taste in the end, as they’re otherwise too similar. They use the exact same maps, graphics, and assets for the most part. Yet, SR3 came first and sticks to the classic formula of taking over the city from rival gangs with the right cars and firepower. For many, that’s enough to put it ahead of its sillier successor, but it had some flaw. Many of which are still in its Remastered upgrade.

It was a graphical and gameplay upgrade over SR2, but a content down-grade. There were fewer customizable options, no mini-games, and fewer activities spread more thinly across the duller, more generic Steelport. To make up for this, Volition leaned more heavily into the wackiness. Murder-themed game shows! Shark guns! Luchadors! Partners with bad AI! It’s still a fun, functional game, but it’s like a stick of gum: it loses its flavor all too soon.

2 Saints Row 4

Metascore: 86

Saints Row 4 was originally going to be a DLC chapter for SR3, called “Enter the Dominatrix”. But with their original publisher THQ crumbling and time for a new game pressing, it got expanded into a new entry about the Saints fighting aliens in both cyberspace and literal space. It essentially reused everything from SR3, but gave the Boss (or “President” this time) superpowers they could upgrade over the course of the game.

This shift from being a GTA-like game to a Crackdown-esque one spun the series further down the goofy spiral, and it was even buggier than SR3, crashing if the player so much as looked at the screen wrong. However, the activities had more variety, the superpowers were fun to experiment with, and it had some nice callbacks to the prior games. However, aside from a few missions here and there, the game lost the series’ urban charm.

1 Saints Row 2

Metascore: 81

Ultimately, it’s clear which game is the most beloved among the series’ fans. While Saints Row 2 still has some jank from the first game (like shooting from vehicles, etc.), it hit that sweet spot between serious drama and crazy hi-jinks. When some players found GTA 4 too dour, SR2 was there to provide something more wild. It had sewage attacks on pimps and hos, chopper attacks on marijuana farms, and more creative options than before.

Players could make the Boss a man, woman, or anything in between and beyond, complete with voice options for the first time. There were more mini-games and activities which, if completed fully, gave the Boss upgrades. It resembled SR1 enough with the Stilwater setting, controls, graphics, etc., but it refined enough features to make it a good jumping-on point for fans without 360s. If the series does make a comeback, it should follow SR2‘s template.

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