Saints Row Is Creatively Bankrupt & Technically Broken | Review

[@SkiesTurnedGrey]

How did that even get shipped?! This has to stop. There's no other industry where a company could release a product to consumers in such a broken, non-working state and get away with it. Why are they getting away with it? How are they not getting sued? This is straight-up scammy.

[@viridigreen8714]

There was a lot of feedback before it got released, but the devs called em haters.

[@CookyMonzta]

@@viridigreen8714 And it looks like the "haters" were right...ONCE AGAIN!

[@gibberconfirm166]

I had never played Saint's Row and bought cheapo remaster of 3 I think, it broke after the first mission (without having saved at any point), I was like "I guess that's that." Not really a great indicator of where this company was at.

[@ryanc5572]

Cyberpunk 2077 would like a word with you

[@SkiesTurnedGrey]

@@ryanc5572 My point exactly. It keeps happening.

[@flippedoutkyrii]

The barren streets seem almost apocalyptic. Even the desolate stretches of highway in Fallout 3 and Mad Max seemed more populated.

[@mezmerizer0266]

Cyberpunk looks like a frat party compared to this game.

[@Garrett0329]

Reminds me of cyberpunk DEAD No feeling like I’m in a living breathing world

[@aeternumcadens1777]

Mad Max needs a sequel

[@jerico9263]

Stop the cap Fallout is so dead even when u see people it still feels dead never understood the love for that game

[@jingleding9002]

@@jerico9263 fallout 3 came out a decade ago

[@yourmom9200]

Nowadays it's rare to see a game that actually works and doesn't disappoint.

[@cosmonaut999]

That's AAA for you... Indies are really where it's at these days.

[@johndarkhorse396]

It's also rare to see people write nowadays as one word.

[@yourmom9200]

@@johndarkhorse396 What do you mean? That's how it's written.

[@jables336]

@@johndarkhorse396 "Nowadays" is the correct spelling of the word.

[@YGgamingGY]

@@johndarkhorse396 if you try to be a grammar nazi , at least be good at grammar my dude!

[@SakuraShirakawa]

I'll just state my feelings, no one has to agree with me. This game had no reason to be a reboot. From the beginning this reeked of Ghostbusters 2016 where they decided to ignore anything that came before. It could have easily been about a bunch of new generation up and coming gang bangers that idolized the original Saints and decided to form a new chapter in this new place. This could have led to some cool cameo's from some of the original Saints to give mentorship to the new group while not making them central characters. That would have been a way to bridge the gap between the absolute (but fun) chaos of 4, and a more subdued new Saints story. The game also seems to lack the soul of Saints Row. The irreverent humor, the comedic commentary on how the world is without being preachy, the characters with actual traits and backstories (Some not as deep as others, but still something). The lack of characters that you actually want to hang out with. Characters that feed into your ego of being a badass. Instead this game seems to try to do it in the same way that a girl will surround herself with less interesting friends to make herself stand out. The game, to me, seems to be commenting on how much more shallow these characters are compared to the older generation. To me technical issues aren't a deal changer, those can be fixed. What I mentioned above is unfixable without redoing the entire premise of what they released.

[@AmazingKevinWClark]

Well the game can only be fixed if the publishers allow it to be, or if modders fix it. If they chose to drop support for it and move on then the game stays a buggy mess and everyone S.O.L. but yes you're right about the franchise getting the same treatment and respect as Ghostbusters 2016, although that was far worst because it had the mental maturity of many Adam Sandler movies. A serious insult to a franchise like Ghostbusters which was more thoughtful of the scripts. When you make a movie more cartoonish than the cartoons themselves, you've done something wrong. For this game not only does it seem like they replaced all the department heads with inexperienced people but also the game doesn't look like it was worked on enough because it's plagued with technical issues that often happens when the creative team has been dicking around for a year or two. What happens is that the details of the game don't get passed down to the developers and they are often not told what they should be doing or the creative team changes things, making it impossible to put out a polished game.

[@HarvardAlumni2022]

Get a life bro

[@leometz7287]

"It could have easily been about a bunch of new generation up and coming gang bangers that idolized the original Saints and decided to form a new chapter in this new place" didn't Aliens destroy earth in SR4?

[@donb7519]

@@leometz7287 yea but then they went back in time and like rescued some author i forget which one and the earth

[@blinkachu5275]

I literally had the same idea. I don't MIND new characters (if they're written well), and it could've been such a good continuation of what came before. Have some bullshit reason why the Earth is back (or why a new Earth is created, I believe that's one of the options in Gat out of Hell), and have the original Saints be heroes due to what they did to get the Earth back and defeat the aliens. Then have this ragtag group of CRIMINALS that idolizes the Saints and want to continue their work in a different place, build up the gang again from scratch. It's why I prefer 2 over 3, despite having played 3 first, because you start out with nothing and it's a slow road to becoming a big gang. In 3 you do lose your gang but in an hour you're already operating out of a huge penthouse, it just feels less "earned". (I do like 3 still though, for the record) Instead we get cardboard cutout stereotypes. The jock that never puts a shirt on but has a soft side, the girl that is reaaaally into cars, the nerd and you, the player, which has to be one of the most unlikeable characters I've seen in a while. People make fun of Eli for being a bowtie wearing nerd, but imagine if they had based Eli off of Brother Mouzone from The Wire. Brother Mouzone was also a bowtie wearing dude that looked like a nerd, BUT, you also could 100% see that dude was scary. Eli's bowtie/outfit isn't what makes him look like a joke, his entire demeanor is. It's so sad because despite Johnny Gat being an psychopathic asshole, he was LIKEABLE. He'd be someone you'd have a beer with. I wouldn't wanna have a beer with any of the new cast, they all seem so dull, like they have no actual interests.

[@L6Jeremy]

can always tell when that review embargo lifts. juist got like 5 different reviews of this game all at once

[@L6Jeremy]

also LOVE your earrings

[@JORDANLEWISFILM]

Right whole sub feed is SR 😳

[@maofria1452]

5? Matty, ACG, Skill up, gman, digital foundry?

[@artifica0]

All saying it sucks as well rip

[@chibanni14]

The game creators cared more about creating a woke game than a good game

[@wildwest1832]

Jim Boone - “We love [the old Saints Row games], but we also recognize those are games of a time. They made sense within that era, and we were able to do things that felt good back then. But that tone is not something that we feel like we want to do today. We had a different kind of story that we wanted to tell.” Well I guess they succeeded lol. Quite a nice "story" they packed into this garbage

[@grisharotov9735]

That statement told everything you needed to know about this abomination not worthy of the SR-title.

[@robotpanda77]

Saints row 4 came out in 2013 but the dude is talking about it like it is from the 1950s.

[@ethanweddle6826]

When people are to afraid to offend then they'll never create something worth while

[@Zodroo_Tint]

@@robotpanda77 My first thought was exactly this. And this clearly show how much power the woke crowd had in these years. I can compare this to the history of my country. We learned what communism is about after WW1 when the communists ride armored trains to the country side and they killed people without remorse, we were so anti-communists after that we supported Germany against the Soviets, than a false flag happened and we even sent troops against the Soviets. After WW2 we were under the occupation of the Red Army and under permanent communist propaganda, we had an election in 1945 when we elected a democratic party, the communist got something like 17%, but the country was remained under constant communist propaganda and of course under the occupation of the Red Army. 4 years later in 1949 the communist won the election and they banned every other political party and ruled the country for 40 years. They only needed 4 years to go from 17% to 100% and there was no social media back then.

[@OnlyHereForCake]

Particularly strange given SR 3 and 4 were explicitly satirical. It's not like satire is dead, as much as some wanna believe it is for some reason, it's that good satire requires good writing...

[@nikoisagod9812]

When a game is so bad it causes one of the most fair and just reviewers out there to have an existential crisis due to how shit it is, that's when you know a game is bad.

[@josephflannery9015]

Deadass. Matty likes Cp2077

[@Gringo80]

@@josephflannery9015 because CP2077 are an amazing game !

[@acadiansm]

@@Gringo80 no

[@eaglegolden8326]

@@Gringo80 A big trash shitty game.

[@exonary]

@@acadiansm it is tho lol

[@Astralify]

Saints Row was the last and final one. All of the franchises that I loved, were murdered, and their corpses violated. Either from greed, incompetence, wokеness or pure corporate stupidity. This one is a strange combination of all.

[@animezilla4486]

What about Grand theft Auto 6

[@CanImakeamilliondollars]

God of war series?

[@_CrimsonBlade]

@@animezilla4486 thats gonna be next

[@MerrillDragonAge]

surely wokeness is the actual threat

[@decay279]

@@animezilla4486 never coming out lul

[@modernmobster]

Glad to see Volition didn't "back down" on their vision of this game like they said they wouldn't do. Now they can crash and burn like they deserve.

[@DeltaAssaultGaming]

They could’ve made FreeSpace 3. Instead we got this.

[@erso_returned2530]

It's going to be fun to watch them go bankrupt

[@MatticusFinch1820]

They get what they f****** deserve

[@theandronikus5061]

Volition? ABSOLUTELY. Not Saints row, not the real saints row anyway. GTA desperately desperately needed competition... competition I guess it will never have thanks to these out of touch devs.

[@tzuki6249]

That's a bit much. It's okay to not like the game, but hoping that devs get fucked because of the game director's decisions is kinda fucked.

[@cobrakingofeart]

the devs apparently didn't understand "gap moe" in the previous games and caused a moral mismatch. in previous games you were criminal anti heroes. you weren't actual villains. supporting evidence? in the first game you're almost killed and become part of the saints to put an end to the gang problem. you're essentially a vigilante neighborhood watch. becoming a criminal to make money? that's actually villainy.

[@Joker863x]

Did you not finish the first game or play any other saints row game?

[@enjoshi-godrez8775]

Dude they literally become crime bosses in the second game, and become straight up syndicates by the third. Lmao

[@cobrakingofeart]

@@Joker863x i played and loved all of them

[@cobrakingofeart]

@@enjoshi-godrez8775 ***crime*** bosses not villains. we're always the good guys in some way. in the second game we bring back saints to fix the gang problem again, not for our own power. and in the 3rd game we go to another city and become an empire b/c the syndicate steals all our money. if they didn't we'd have just continued to be celebrity criminals and heroes to the people in stilwater. in the 4th game we go 100% out of our way to stop the general at the beginning. why? for what self interest? none. we do it b/c it's the right thing to do. we're the good guys

[@Zodroo_Tint]

@@cobrakingofeart In the 4th the Bos became the POTUS who is not a good guy or the leader of the free world in real life but people lie themselves to think he is, so mythologicaly he is the ultimate good guy therefore the Bos is the ultimate good guy in the start of the 4th. So you are right here. And he solve cancer or world hunger. Nothing says villain here.

[@theblackknight1620]

Seeing as all the marketing for this game only highlighted its customization, I'm not surprised it was this terrible.

[@Sigilstone17]

Saints Row Reboot is what happens when you make a checklist open-world by hiring people off a checklist

[@bmessier2]

Perfectly said!

[@xjamiec]

Get woke go broke?

[@trautsj]

Savage comment. Enjoy your thumbs up!

[@PantheonOfAnthion]

@@bmessier2 why is it like they're creating a game for a new gem like they had nothing previous to go off.. it's like a new gen comes along and has to have duds just to meeet quota for releasing a game.. It's like nothing has gone before it, so they don't try change the staple. Throw it out and say take it or leave it. When they should be trying to challenge GTA5 and force R* to wake up and see what's going on over their 1000 acre fence.

[@Sigilstone17]

@@xjamiec seems to be going the other way around with ESG. Companies start to suck and go broke so they go woke and big money ESG investors staunch the bleeding.

[@lordmolag45000]

We need a Crowbcat video on this game. It would be absolutely hilarious to see him tear this game a new a**hole.

[@xbigbooshx4643]

Also waiting for ItsaGundam's jaded opinion on this. This game reeks modernity.

[@Auridus]

Matty getting existential at the end killed me, especially since he was 100% serious. I felt confident that the quality of this game was going to be subpar, but now I'm positive the game is a dumpster fire.

[@isaakfaulk8067]

These dev teams are just hiring a bunch of quirky young political science goofs that don’t know what made the prior games so good and probably don’t care. All the old devs are gone and retired on golf courses and these are the people leading the way for our new games.

[@AaronGallant]

Wow, that's awesome Saints Row IV was your first review code! I worked on that game (sound design) and it was my first time working at a AAA game studio. I am sad to hear this new title is not well done. Thank you for giving an honest review!

[@MrMattyPlays]

That game was awesome! Appreciate your participation in that. Thanks for the support ;)

[@Eking-su3tr]

U worked on 4? Holy shit that's epic

[@inkchariot6147]

Nobody can insult 4 ever again, not when THIS exists.

[@elbagofcarp]

Saints row 4 was terrible

[@melodyseverything6999]

I really love SR4! I liked being able to see all the characters from all the previous games show up, including Fun Shaundi from SR2. I think some people didn't like it because it was so different from the rest, but I loved the game mechanics and superhero abilities. Loved all the different missions. Thanks so much for being part of the team that made this game!

[@CoolHandKotaOG]

This game was ran by corporate. Everything I read about the game prior to release and the boss factory just turned me off to this. Thanks for the honest review Matty.

[@GMaster7]

The first minute of this video is gold. Almost worth Matty having to slog through this broken mess. Almost.

[@bookbinder66]

Lets thank Matty for doing his job, and saving us pain

[@PantheonOfAnthion]

Still something to do.. 😆

[@XProjectHunterX]

Man is doing gods work saving people $60-$70 by warning them to stay away from the start of the video.

[@smoknonkermit8011]

We just want saints row 1/2 remastered, its so simple. Why must volition keep kicking us in the nuts on a momentary basis.

[@xChimkin]

why do games keep being released broken?

[@radiantumbra2776]

The fact that this game had Matty questioning his life and how little time we have on the planet.

[@skullduggery1385]

Saints row 1 and 2 were the first games my mum got me on my 360 absolutely loved them especially the 2nd, being my favourite of the franchise. It really sucks seeing everything I loved as a kid being butchered and I ain’t even in my mid 20s yet.

[@AntiJewluminatiDwarf]

Imagine being 14 in your gaming prime when halo 2 dropped and getting infinite now.....it sucks lol

[@skullduggery1385]

@@AntiJewluminatiDwarf I feel u I was a massive halo fan as a kid as well, until halo 4 came out. Like I said “all my favourite franchise’s being butchered”.

[@RandomLombax37]

@@skullduggery1385 I feel like it's time for the big corporations to finally go under and deregulate to let small companies thrive and become relevant. I'm tired of these industries getting everything wrong and if they lose money monumentally the government just gives them cash. Let alone the majority of companies lobby for massive regulations that make it nearly impossible for anything new to be created let alone become mainstream unless you're already rich.

[@joeortiz5177]

Same. I got Saints row 1 in 06 when I was 6 and had a blast replaying it game over and over. I have sr1 and 2 over some gta games. It's sad bc I find myself playing 360 games a lot more than current new games, I enjoy some occasional new games like Psychonauts 2, Elden Ring, re2 and re3 remakes, doom eternal and others but I always go back to playing older games. I still play mw2 almost every day bc these last few cods have been trash 🗑 I've also been on my 360 a lot more lately finding new games I've not played like Splatterhouse, Singularity, WET, and a lot more. They just don't make games how they used to

[@skullduggery1385]

@@joeortiz5177 I’m the exact same way I’ll play some of the recent stuff that came out, but in the end I’ll always find myself going back to older gen games and having a blast despite the clunk factor. So many of these critically acclaimed games that come out now days I just find boring, I feel like creativity in game design has just gone out the window for the most part. They seem to just make games to cater to a large audience that probs won’t even buy the game, instead of just making a unique fun experience.

[@Cowp0kex]

Man I had a feeling this would be the outcome but I REALLY hoped this wouldn’t happen…

[@neojd]

Sadly I can’t say I’m surprised. Called it from the beginning when they showed it off. I was expecting a mix of 2 and 3 at the best but damn. This is going to be an interesting Jason S article someday.

[@gaimsharc7176]

Same... even if it worked, I was expecting it to not be good - the old saints games are not as good as people think they remember

[@neojd]

@@gaimsharc7176 I replayed 1-3 recently and they hold up but can be frustrating at times. I used to like 1 the best but 2 is my favorite after the replay. I thought this would be a mix of 2-3 modernized and that would be fine. But when the footage dropped and I saw that they scrapped all the characters and went for this weird new vibe, I was like oh that’s gonna be a letdown. And here we are. 😅

[@gaimsharc7176]

@@neojd totally - 2 was my fave and I saw the HUGE turn to absurdity in 3&4 and I was pretty sure this next entry would be on the same track of quality

[@RellshouldBsleep]

@@gaimsharc7176 exactly like they just said fuck it

[@zozzledwolf4653]

@@gaimsharc7176 I played 1 and 2 about a year ago and they are still great

[@Kevduit]

Shrek and Weiner was a far more intricate and emotionally laid out story than this entire campaign.

[@muirtle4441]

watched one review who gave it an 8/10... im glad i came here, always appreciate your no BS takes matty

[@MrMattyPlays]

I can’t fathom this game getting anything about 5

[@gaborsalamon3629]

It was Dreamcastguy review isn’t it?

[@modernmobster]

@@MrMattyPlays Polygon said its an excellent reboot that "perfectly captures Gen Z rage." That says all you need to know about that POS review.

[@Anonymous-st3gy]

@@gaborsalamon3629 yeah

[@coreycasciano3255]

@@modernmobster Polygon always have pathetic reviews, they live woke shit

[@genki23]

You have saved me $90, thank you for not sugarcoating the review

[@DEVILTAZ35]

lol I think people would have to be brain dead to buy this crap hey

[@danieldragotti2608]

God dam it. Just take saint row 2 tone with 3s gameplay but add more. That's all you had to do......

[@xGRASHOPAx]

Right at the beginning. When you get to your apartment. I walked outside and went to the garage and fell through the bottom of the map. I had to change my clothes to get out from the bottom of the map. to many glitches for sure. can load and disappear right in front of you.

[@MrThanefull]

I genuinely didn't even know this game was coming out until a few weeks ago! I really enjoyed the saints row games of the past, I knew from the first trailer I saw that this wasn't going to be any good

[@alpsalish]

Yeah, it was obvious it would be a bad game.

[@mullaoslo]

@A B HOW???? please tell me how anyone looked at any of the trailers and thought yeah this is gonna live up to SR 2 or 3(im just adding 3 becuase half the fanbase loves it)

[@Aesthetic626]

The announcement for this game was terrible. I knew this game will be sht

[@isturbo1984]

@A B How? Did you see the criticism? When these woke companies put identity politics first, everything else like game design always falls to the wayside. One is usually a precursor to the other. Have you not made this connection for the past decade or so??

[@RICHIEV333]

Yeah, the trailer did the game no favors. Sort of like, The Eternals movie trailer.

[@tanork47]

Also remember they didn't just make The SR games. They developed Red Faction Gorilla and Armageddon. Gorilla being a awesome gameplay building blow it up but then they reversed course and created Armageddon in the classic style. Telling once again that Volition still can't grasp what fans loved about either series and should be handed off to better suited hands.

[@mrzen256]

It's so sad to see how far Volition have fallen as a development studio. I was really happy to see them get the rights for Red Faction back, but after seeing how much of a mess Saints Row is, I don't have a lot of faith in a new Red Faction title :(

[@Aegis-is-broken]

saints row 4 for me is the definition of dumb fun. no other game ive played has come close, sure it wasnt the best saints game but the superpowers made me have a blast..

[@mravg79]

Dumb fun for me it was sr3, also I bought it when after playing games that were treating them self seriously it was something different. I liked it. But when I tried it years later well I was not that much into it. I was not finding fun in it anymore.

[@thepurrfectionist365]

Unpopular opinion, I enjoyed the mindless phuccery in SR 3 & 4. Something missing in other open-world franchises because of them trying to keep up with "realism" and what not.

[@FreneticPotato]

Say what you want about 4, but at least it's not boring, unlike this garbage.

[@mravg79]

@@thepurrfectionist365 well the strength of gaming is in its diversity some game might go the more realistic path, some more fantasy and some might be just mindless fun. We need all of them. So I do not get why you said “unpopular opinion” simply you have your preferences. Example: far cry blood dragon was well received as it was not treating itself seriously, it was a stand alone DLC, or a smaller shorter game. It was fun. Which just proves that there is a market for games which are not taking themselves seriously. The key point here is that regardless if the game wants to be serious and realistic or not it still needs to be a good game. And from what I read/heard in the reviews the SR 2022 might not be a good game period.

[@twilightcerberus]

@@mravg79 definitely saints 3 ! Bert reynolds! Zombies! And ufo missions!

[@johnathonm7813]

A 1 or 2 reboot would have been great

[@tedrow70]

Wow, for you to tear a game apart I mean it must truly be awful bro. Never seen you rip one apart besides FO76 this bad, because of your great passion and balanced analysis; sucks to see that such a classic game had awful delivery

[@lordmolag45000]

You should watch his Crossfire X review. Matty goes absolutely berserk, ripping the game into shreds.

[@Bred0nSch00lV2]

It's a shame because I forgot this game was coming out, that's how uninterested I am. I put over 200 hours into SR:III, then played SR:II and even the original many years after it came out. SR:IV was the death knell for the franchise and tried wackiness to try and keep the fun going. Remake SR:1 if you want this franchise to continue existing Volition!

[@MonkeyspankO]

I think Matty hit the nail on the head, when he said it seemed like they never played the original games. I think this is really a major thing now in the industry. None of these "sequels" are continuations. They're stand-alone new games, mooching off the established IP for clout. So many devs are basically unaware or don't care, where the studios they are currently working in came from or what made them. Those games are all history, in the past, retro games, with no common thread to modern games. They are literally re-inventing the wheel. Madness...

[@Kinvarus1]

The first Saints Row was essentially a GTA clone but it was a damn good one, the fact that it's the only one that never got a PC port still pisses me off because I would love to play SR1 again. SR2 improved on it, and went a little zany and SR3 they just went fuck it, we've jumped the shark let's just have it be crazy fun and SR4 did more of the same pretty well.. This is them literally rebooting the franchise after blowing up the Earth in SR4 so they could have done anything and yet now we're in a situation where it's still Volition but somehow it seems like they never played their own games before...on what it essentially a reboot of the franchise. It's amazing in the worst way and yet equally not surprising considering the game industry today.

[@ShadowKallig]

He's right. I live near where Volition HQ is at in Champaign, Illinois and have a few friends who work there. TL:DR a lot of new hires who've never played the first 4 Saints Games ever - even one of the friends I mentioned, left, because he felt as if they weren't doing the franchise a service by going back and attempting to at least capture some of the essence that made them wacky and entertaining. I had a feeling based on how they marketed the game they were trying to appeal to a new audience. Not to mention a lot of the political talk that was attempted to surround the game in. Its just one of those things where you have young Devs coming in, who have no idea what they're working on and are just there for the paycheck.

[@MonkeyspankO]

@@ShadowKallig Dude, that sucks. I get no pleasure from being right.

[@MonkeyspankO]

@@Kinvarus1 Exactly. feel the same way

[@ShadowKallig]

@@MonkeyspankO Sorry man, no slight from me - I love Saints Row and I was hoping they did some wacky shit like turn the Saints into an Interstellar Empire with wacky and funny aliens and different planets and stations to visit. Regardless, its just unfortunate that this fell so flat. You're gonna see a lot of genuine reviewers speak about how soulless and identity struggling this game is. Because that's all I've heard from friends working, and friends who've left Volition. They wanted to try and shift away from adult humor and rebrand themselves as something else and its not what their community(or some of their devs wanted) by any means.

[@mr.sinjin-smyth]

The game is amazingly meh, meh, and MEH

[@wuitdew36]

I’ve never heard you dislike a game this much. From your review it seems justified. I really hoped I was wrong about this game.

[@thanos2715]

Whenver I see a franchise getting rebooted and being more ”grounded” I take it as just an excuse to not be creative at all. I know there are some exceptions like God of War but this happens alot now

[@zozzledwolf4653]

If it took a saints row 1 or 2 approach the game would have been great and more "grounded" 2 was the peak of the series

[@billymanziel5666]

This reboot isn’t grounded at all if you know anything about the series

[@R1ck_Ryder]

Lmao God of War was ass too Sony fanboys just can't admit it to themselves

[@SmokeOneAndChill]

What a masterpiece Volition! I hope this gives you a lot of money to make more of these! We all cant wait!

[@joelahcarter8781]

This is unfortunate because I am a Saints Row fan. I was really looking forward for this game, and for them to have it buggy like that is a crime. Gone is the days when a game came out polished with nearly no bugs. After I got burned by Watch Dogs Legion, I NEVER pre-ordered any game, ( I made it, against my religion to do so. )

[@denimschaffer9439]

I stopped pre ordering games a lot of after Cyberpunk and waited for a huge sale on them except for RE Village, RDR 2, God of War, Spider-Man and Elden Ring when they came out because most of their track records with their games were never broken at launch and can be played all the way through but any new title that comes out or a companies history of releasing mediocre or terrible games is a no go for me and this is one of those I expected the game to be terrible from the marketing and seeing the gameplay

[@kyriosmalaka2312]

Well that sucks. I was looking forward to Saints Row. Going to catch a stream before deciding. Usually I go media blackout on games I intend to play when they launch. Thanks for the warning.

[@PatienceBeatz]

Save your money this game is trash and I used to love all saints row games...

[@00Mike55]

Oof, I expected the writing to be a downgrade after the trailers but I wasn't expecting this level of bad, specially since they've made several Saints Row games, you'd think they know what's up. And remember, the game got delayed too, what is with this industry rushing things this bad lately? As if CP 2077 wasn't enough of a warning for developers already.

[@flatline42]

Developer houses are just companies. I don't know why people would expect that the same team that made SR2 or 3 or even 4 would still be around like 10-20 years later. I'm not even sure the same heads of development are around.

[@00Mike55]

@@flatline42 Fair point, more the reason to be careful with purchases these days.

[@imrileth6618]

@@00Mike55 Yeah. Don't be fooled by studio names. Or marketing crap like by the makers of these and these games.

[@jeffk.9075]

Thanks for the warning. I was trepiditious about this game to begin with, but decided to give it a go against my gut feeling. Seeing yours and all the other reviews about how broken a game and how lackluster it is and given the company's hostility towards the OG fanbase at the onset, I decided to cancel my pre-order. This thing is just a hot mess and I have better games to waste my time with.

[@marchenry3269]

Thank you for this, I just cancelled my pre-order.. I loved saints row 1 and 2 and was hopeful that the reboot would be closer to them games. This franchise is dead in the water, there will be no true saints row 3. RIP

[@EternalAnglo]

The Characters are extremely cringe I can barely even look at them let alone listen to them talk the dialogue is absolutely terrible

[@Cryptic-cy3xr]

How is it, that I have solid, fun, and interesting ideas for this and other similar franchises, and I’m not even a game developer. When you have as many resources as they did, there’s just no excuse good enough. Indie developers, with small teams and even smaller budgets put out absolute gems that put AAA games to shame. I hope one day they pass on the saints row license to a competent team

[@grampsizzakilla7981]

Like most long-time fans of the SR series, I had no idea WOKE ROW was even coming out at this time. Too many of us called it from the first trailer. This whole game stinks of AGENDA when all we want to do is play buck wild gang-banger in a world full of crazy laughs. I'm scared they are going to do this to GTA 6.

[@coreymckee4844]

I knew this was gonna happen. They kept saying they wanna go in a different direction and "modernize" it. We all know what that means..🙄 They took Rim Jobs and changed it to Jim Robs, they took freckle b*tches and changed it to FBs. Why? Cause the woke and overly sensitive MSM (mainstream media) would whine about it. The story is cringe. The gameplay is uninspired generic garbage, and the overall identity and personality of the Saints is gone. All in exchange for this half assed politically correct woke rip off excuse for a saints row game. What a bloody embarrassment to the Saints Row name.. F*cking pathetic.🙄😒 RIP Saints Row..🙏

[@BlueBeetle1939]

Lmfao everything is "woke" now even the for profit video games by massive corporations about becoming a criminal to preserve the status quo why yes very "woke" indeed

[@eRON3000]

I can guarantee you no one would give a shit if they didn't change anything. I mean, I also don't give a shit that they did, but I'm not overly sensitive like that.

[@sonnenblumefrau2048]

I gotta Google woke, I'm like the only person in the world who doesn't know what the term means lol.

[@doubleboe7NYC]

Everything. Woke. Turns. To. Shit.

[@Goodheartless]

I am shocked! Just shocked! Well I’m not that shocked

[@userMikeforsure1997]

😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@emilydaniel5494]

Everyone: Man Cyberpunk is an unplayable mess, things can't get worse, right? Saints Row: Hold my beer.

[@pixelbitg9386]

This was peak helpful. I was on the fence and your review sealed the deal. Will not touch. Thank Matty

[@liamcollinson5695]

I have seen people defending this and I don't know why it's half baked as best. Why do all these companies build huge world's and just put nothing off interest in them

[@BorderlandsBoy0]

The humour in this game makes Borderlands 3 jokes look good.

[@rgb1110]

If you look on Glassdoor at Volition, it's clear that the studio is plagued by bureaucracy and a lack of creative direction. As a developer, the last time I worked at a company with such a culture it was really terrible for dev morale. I am 100% speculating, but I would bet there were more than a few developers that wanted to make an actual saints row game, but couldn't because everyone in the company was trying to push the game in a certain direction which resulted in a lack of soul in the final product. With the way that their PR department was attacking fan push back, I feel bad for how the developers who didn't support this direction were treated by people in Senior Management, Marketing, and any other part of Volition that resulted in this disaster.

[@MrManBuzz]

And the worst part about all of that is the useless inept upper management who likely is the reason behind this mess don't get the repercussions of it. It'll be the ground floor staff who had no say in the direction/decision making.

[@logandenton6467]

More buggy then day one patch cyberpunk and Bethesda releases? I'm extremely Impressed, really breaking down walls to prove "Yes, the gaming industry *can* get worse." Lmao people commenting that it was only buggy because it's a preview, why do you guys fall for that every time? year after year. Day one patch isn't a great holdout to believe in, it will release buggy.

[@YungSavage203]

This is the issue with employing people who are more concerned with "sending a message" than creating a good product. Their ideology will always come first and it's often at the expense of whatever they are working on. Pseudo activism is killing the entertainment world. Honestly, they should have just remastered the 2nd game

[@xUseTheForks]

This game makes the launch of cypherpunk look like a masterpiece this just makes wanna play saints row 2 lol if they actually fix the bugs and fill the open world with more npcs then I would actually give it a chance but not at the moment

[@bishopjoansie7416]

Lol remember when they hyping it like it was gonna be game of the year 🤣

[@Gamer1990100]

Old gamer here I remember a time when games weren't so broken

[@mravg79]

I watched a few reviews and if I hear “I needed to restart the game 20 times in my 30h play through” this automatically classifies as no buy for me. On top of this I heard about other issues depends on the review. I might give it a try if it ends up in subscription I already pay but otherwise I will not spent money on this game. If it ends up in subscription (which I find likely) I might give it a try just to see how bad it is (well I do it sometimes).

[@sirfog7066]

I refunded my pre order thanks for the save Matty.

[@Ben-Rogue]

When I hit my mid twenties I too had an epiphany about not wasting my time playing boring or unfun games. I'd literally rather watch clouds drift by than play a game like this

[@TheShepherdFilms]

Sad to see...I loved SR 3...and Also Enjoyed the craziness of SR 4...had a fun sense of humor and dumbness and good writing...sort of on par with Borderlands 2...not quite Anthony Birch Quality.... but fun crazy set pieces with over the top unbelievable moments and missions that drew to in to fully waste you time on something fun...well done and immature, but not purposed and not cringe...SR 1-2 are good as well but they were trying too hard to be GTA, SR 3 came into its own...But for me...since the Gatt Outta Hell I've haven't expected much. So disappointed but not surprised...

[@majorasecho]

Very disappointing to hear. Really love the franchise but damn now im definitely waiting for a steep discount. Also i just find it funny the way Matty describes the game at the beginning gave me flashbacks to everything said about cyberpunk at launch.

[@Mr.Grumps565]

just buy the 2nd and 3rd

[@majorasecho]

@@Mr.Grumps565 already bought the whole franchise as they came out. But this gives me a reason to go replay them lol.

[@RobTheDoodler]

Though at least with Cyberpunk the actual art and writing didn’t get all this flack.

[@jaiadlakha212]

Cyberpunk had ambition, a really good story , awesome gunplay , and it sort of flew to close too the sun with hype and promises, but all the bugs have been fixed allowing the the game to highlight its good parts(of which it has a lot), but it's redeemed itself, Saints row is just fundamentally bad , there is nothing beneath the surface, the story is bad, artstyle sucks , gunplay is inferior (straight up unsatisfactory, watch dogs has better gunplay ), this game will rot in obscurity

[@Mr.Grumps565]

@@jaiadlakha212 cyberpunk still has no functioning cops or wanted systems and gangs really don't matter

[@Beardodoomus]

In all of the reviews I've listened to so far not one person has pontificated that the reason this game sucks is due to the absolute cultural hole the West is in right now. Primarily due to young writers straight out of some Californian University with absolutely no talent whatsoever and opinions and world views shaped by Twitter and Tumblr. Add this to companies trying to be more 'flexible' with their workers resulting in staff treating their offices like adult day care centres you end up with shit like Saints Row 2022. It's everywhere. Disney, Marvel, Star Wars, Comics, AAA Video Games. We're culturally bereft.

[@kinghell9061]

You see the recent Phil Spencer interview and his comments on foreign investment? I think he and Netflix are well aware of this problem. The western creative industry is slitting its own throat… just wish they’d get it over with.

[@606hunter1]

Well, those are the people these companies are hiring. Many of them saying they don’t care about the project they’re working on but “making their voice heard” or whatever bs they want to spew. Frankly the biggest issue is that these companies are more than happy to have insanely high turnover with mediocre pay. All the creative people leave quickly or start their own indies. The AAA game industry in the west is a direct result of their own stupidity. The amount of times these games have failed the past 5 or so years doesn’t seem to have convinced them to give up on this cycle

[@GreenBroccoli100]

@@606hunter1 couldn't agree more 👍

[@11123fsd]

LOL I saw this a mile away. Anyone could see how ridiculous the cast and the premise looked.

[@tinktink360]

Nothing will ever top the Power mission from SR3! This game could’ve been good if the characters/story was better.

[@RevampedR]

Can't wait till its like 5 quid then. As someone who loves 3 and just completed 2(and really enjoyed it), even an attempt at a mix of the two, I believe would most likely be better then this. Sad to see this happen to the Saints...again.

[@The_fahadkhan]

Im sure it'll drop on gamepass in the next 3 months. I'll check it out then.

[@Ben-Rogue]

There are hundreds of other games you could be playing for a fiver that are a much better use of your time. It's just not worth wasting your life on garbage like this

[@melodyseverything6999]

It will probably become a free game of the week at Epic next year. No need to spend any money on this!

[@wolfwang8464]

I don’t agree with the “as long as it’s fun the story doesn’t matter” take. A good story makes games fun. Literally keeps u gripped and into it. Not having a good story but good gameplay is only good for a little bit cuz u most likely won’t finish the game because the story sucks and you just wanna destroy shit, which does get old. You definitely have to have a good story for a game to be considered good.

[@bigphatty5298]

I didn't know this game came out lol. But I always expect games to be broken garbage

[@Blasted2Oblivion]

It isnt out for a little less than a day. He likely got an early copy.

[@Slodsworth]

24hr review embargo

[@Tiasung]

People apparently got physical copies days ago or even a week and more. On PC its in Epic Jail so if your only on steam you wouldnt be notified.

[@metalhead4life45]

Holy cow. This game really seems to tell me that I’m not a fan of Saints Row like I thought, rather I’m just a fan of Saints Row 2 specifically.

[@One_Minute_Gamer_1]

Damn I was actually interested in this because of the businesses you can buy and manage but I’ll definitely wait for a sale or PSPlus/GamePass

[@0-B1]

Gamepass in 6 months or so

[@melodyseverything6999]

Also it will probably be free for a week at Epic next year.

[@stephenHolloway88]

It feels like we haven't had a decent, working AAA game in years now at this point. They all seem to launch broken/half baked. It's a shame especially given the price of a game these days.

[@Connoclear]

Looks like I'm replaying Saints Row 2. Definitely my favourite. Such a shame but can't say I'm surprised

[@danbauer3669]

What do you know? Remakes equals sh!t! Not unexpected. ..

[@Enzevil]

I don't see this mentioned a lot, but just wanna let you know again I really appreciate the timestamps.

[@kavishhurbungs3152]

The weapon combat in saints row 2022 looks unresponsive and unsatisfying. The division 2 has one of the best 3rd person shooter combat I have ever played, the enemy AI in the division 2 is one of the smartest and most reactive enemies/bosses in a Ubisoft game.

[@BaritoneMonotone]

So who else wants to go replay Mafia 3 now ✋😂

[@lecyd]

i gonna do a Mafia 3 run and Andromeda right after 😂 😂

[@keon1776]

Bro this must be a alpha build and they upload it by mistake. this just can't happen to saint row😢 This what future's are going to be, it's just sad

[@ChimpRiot]

All the characters are unlikeable. It’s like they all chug soymilk all day.

[@swisschoco25]

It just begs the question, " why rush to release a game when you don't have to??" I do believe this is symptom of a larger problem. These publishers rush and rush to get these games out either due to pressure from fans, corporate greed and etc. and this is what you get.

[@LoneWolfGamer06]

Sad thing is the game actually did get delayed. It was originally scheduled for a Feb 2022 release. Just imagine how bad it would've been if it was released then

[@guitarbarbarian]

It's a shame, sr3 was, still is one of my faves. I don't know if they have a different dev team, feels like it's going downhill like the just cause franchise. If they make another game, they need to make it a labour of love. Also bring back zimos and the the purple vein baseball bat ( yes that one.)

[@jeremyj7157]

Thanks for your honest, no BS review. It's sad, baffling, yet unsurprising to see some reviews having this game a freaking 8 or 9. Just wow.

[@MrRazorSpoon]

I was a huge fan of Saints row 1 and 2 back in the 360 days. I didn’t really like 3 or 4 that much so I was a bit on the fence with this one. But yeah never mind, looks like shit lmao

[@st.paddymad7085]

Made the right call trusting my boi JAYRANTS GAMING when he was on about this Saints Row “reboot” and I’m glad you also made this vid, Matty-boi. I got Saints Row 3 remastered last year on Steam when PayDay 2 did a little collab with Saints Row 3 and I enjoyed it. I got Saints Row 1 and 2 on my Xbox Series X recently as well. I saw that Saints Row 2 was free with Games With Gold for this month and I had to buy Saints Row 1 to start the story with. I enjoy Saints Row 1, but the fact I need to earn respect to progress the story, I’m not really vibing with it, but I’m still hyped to continue Saints Row 1, start Saints Row 2 and I might even dip my toe into Saints Row 4. I heard that Gat Out Of He’ll wasn’t that great, so I’ll steer clear from that, just in case.

[@KrauseParcival]

This game gives me flashbacks of mafia 3. Also it s rare seeing you being so upset about a game ( which is fully understandable by the way) and and i gotta say i quite enjoyed this video not gonna lie.

[@christopherbarker9133]

Haven't Pre-ordered a game in years and this is why, hopefully everyone else is starting to be less giving with pre-orders. I however DO have the new destroy all humans 2 pre-ordered and I really hope that game turns out to be a gem like the first remake

[@richieene1042]

hyprocritical argument but hey i have done the same exact thing😂 i pre ordered xenoblade 3 and it was the best decision i could do and ill pre order starfield aswell.

[@chewbacc17]

So you have preordered a game in years lol

[@christopherbarker9133]

@@chewbacc17 taking a chance haha last game I pre-ordered besides this was fallout 76

[@chewbacc17]

@@christopherbarker9133 yea lol I can’t say nothing.

[@christopherbarker9133]

@@richieene1042 as big of a Bethesda fan as I am (fell in love with oblivion and fallout 3) I will be waiting for reviews of starfield

[@davenic2471]

When a mature rated game which is heavily based on humor, comedy and being over the top is too afraid to say "Rimjob", you know something isn't right...

[@ironicweeb9544]

Sad to hear the game came out as bad as it did. I was really looking forward to it until they started to reveal more and more of the game and how much it wasn’t what most of us Saints Row fans wanted.

[@synysterpain]

Lol as always, love your music choices for these vids. I already know this game is terrible, just came to see how you rip it apart too lmao

[@notribadsvault]

12:15 I love how mercenary wet-work apparently pays so little that your character doesn’t have any money saved up to pay rent and has crippling student loans.

[@melodyseverything6999]

Right? It's just so dumb! And if you have a college degree, shouldn't you be able to get a decent job? Even if it might not be the same as the degree you studied for?

[@simplejayyslife4819]

I find it funny how Volition delays this game for 6 months, But they didn't do a damn thing to this unpolished, broken, unplayable, glitchy game. Like wtf did they do for 6 months? Smh 🤦🏾‍♂️🤦🏾‍♂️🤦🏾‍♂️ And now we can watch them crash and burn...they brought this on themselves.

[@notedsinner3171]

Thanks for the honest review Matty and I’m sorry you had to go threw this shit literally! So I just canceled my preorder with Xbox and it got approved within 25 minutes of my watching your video and canceling it lol

[@AmazingKevinWClark]

One really crazy thing about this game is that there's a slide bar in the settings for limiting the speed of vehicles. You want to talk about identity crisis... there it is.

[@CristiMoisii]

9:40 What about the rent?! Don't tell me they forgot about the rent they had to pay! Typical! 13:25 The move set for those NPCs looks pretty similar to that in previous Saint's Row games... This game lost me from the first trailer. Didn't even know it was coming out now. And a bad story and bad storytelling is a definite "never gonna play this" from me. Compared to this one, Horizon Zero Dawn may have really bad storytelling, but it has a good story, plus great lore and gameplay. So I can play it again even though I grit my teeth almost every time they speak.

[@ghostlegit]

Plz never ever say zero dawn. Had a good story. Zero dawn and forbidden west were top 10 of most boring games I have ever played

[@robotpanda77]

We went from Shaundi and Pierce to "Kevin". This is what happens when you hire people to check boxes that have no passion and no talent and hate the very fans they are trying to appeal to. Jokes about selfies and posting on social media. It's like the she hulk show, they just brought in some middle aged women that were having mid life crisis's to write the story. What are kids into these days the tiktok? The devs were blatant and up front that they found the old games offensive and bad. And what does that say of us that we liked those games? Are we bad too?

[@davidfoltz4207]

I had high expectations in this game. Glad I don’t pre order anymore.

[@jimboshiesty2831]

After cyberpunk never pre ordered ever again

[@davidfoltz4207]

@@jimboshiesty2831 that was my wake-up call too. Cyberpunk (imho) is great now, but it took a lot of work to get there.

[@jimboshiesty2831]

@@davidfoltz4207 right I'ma play it again since it's better now after that 3 mission I just couldn't play anymore was buggy unplayable graphics was ass got my money back so quick

[@broms316]

Guess I'll just keep playing GTA..... That I've been playing for 10 years.

[@broms316]

@MrMattyPlays@Telegram Only what's this?

[@DaPipes5]

Damn I’m going to cancel my preorder. All of these reviews have been viewing the game terribly. Makes me feel sick that I just spent $60 for this shit.

[@XxgoodbudsxX]

Did you learn anything? ..... probably not.

[@DaPipes5]

@@XxgoodbudsxX Learn anything from what?

[@XxgoodbudsxX]

@@DaPipes5 lmao exactly

[@DaPipes5]

@@XxgoodbudsxX Learn from canceling my preorder on this game? No. I’m going to continue to preorder on games that I see fit to preorder. In terms of not preordering any games from this developer? Yes, I will never preorder a game by Volition in the future.

[@EverythingGeek]

Didn’t saints row 2 so that where you could do side adjectives but they were repetitive and you had to do them though because you needed to fill your respect meter or something like that to be able to continue and do the next mission so I feel like that was in saints row 2 as well