Saints Row is coming back. For the first time since 2013, a new original game in the series is headed to consoles. While almost all of the original games in the franchise have been remastered and re-released for the current consoles, Saints Row 4 actually tied a neat little bow on the series, considering that it literally ended the world and had its heroes fighting their way through space and literal hell. That's why the game that will be arriving in 2022 is going to be a complete reboot.
New characters, a new town, and new things to do are all coming along with the new installment of Saints Row. However, that doesn't mean the reboot is going to be leaving behind what made the original four games so popular. In fact, it appears Saints Row is going back to the series' roots a bit, especially when it comes to allowing players to carry out something called Criminal Ventures.
Saints Row Players Must Expand Their Reach
It can be hard to remember that back in the day, the point of the Saints Row games was about running a criminal enterprise. Whether it was robbing banks or robbing people on the street of money, the "heroes" in this franchise weren't always really supposed to be heroes. However, as the franchise ran its course, it seems as though Deep Silver and THQ wanted the main characters to be anti-heroes, and then eventually, actual heroes in Saints Row 4. Players ran the country and then eventually fought off an invading army of aliens, diverging pretty far from its criminal origins.
However, with the announcement that the brand new Saints Row game is going to be offering a Criminal Ventures system, it appears this game is going to embrace its origins. In fact, if that particular feature works out the way it seems, the developers are improving on what was supposed to be the purpose of the Saints back when the first game launched.
At the core of the new Saints Row game is the need for whoever players choose as their character to establish a kind of illegal dominion over the game world. That, in a nutshell, is what people can pull off by engaging in a Criminal Venture. While playing the hero was key to the last few games, putting together some kind of criminal enterprise is going to be right at the center of this new game.
At the outset, the reward for doing this is going to be acquiring all kinds of different perks and upgrades by engaging in different activities. As the story goes on, engaging in even more criminal activity over time will allow these criminal businesses to grow and get more powerful, until players are eventually the crime lords of their city. One of the interesting tidbits about these Criminal Ventures is that, when this new Saints Row eventually launches, there will be a way to pull these activities off so that people living in the city will not realize that these Ventures are illegal.
Doing things under the radar when it comes to the NPCs is the way that the new Saints Row is trying to make criminal activities feel a bit more authentic. Whether or not that means play will be a bit more controlled — no more running over pedestrians with impunity — is yet to be seen. Because this is still a Saints Row game, there's bound to be wackiness. How a desire to keep illegality under wraps will mesh with the outlandishness of the franchise will be interesting to see unfold. Some of the ways in which the player will be looking to keep criminal activities on the down-low will be having to figure out just where to set up these criminal activities.
Saints Row: Criminal Ventures Lead To A Rise In Power
The game's developer has said that being able to decide exactly where players start to build their empire strategizing of this new title. Where players build their criminal enterprise will affect just how easy it is to make those efforts successful. In all, there are apparently going to be about 15 different Criminal Ventures offered in Saints Row. While players can choose where they want to set up their empire, there will be some conditions that must be met, as well as some buildings or districts that support one Criminal Venture over another.
As of now, it's not known what all of the different Criminal Ventures storylines in Saints Row will be, but the game's developers have shed light on a couple of options that will be available. Bright Future is one specific set of activities players can carry out in order to begin building their empire. That particular chain of missions has to do with an environmentally-friendly recycling company that sends the player looking for trucks that end up hauling vats of toxic waste.
The player then needs to dispose of these trucks while dealing with dangerous payloads. Some of the cargo can slosh over the sides of the truck and cause problems in the city. There's even a chance that the trucks will explode. In order to carry out the Bright Future Criminal Venture, players have to reach their goals under a time limit while also avoiding taking a bunch of damage. Losing a couple of containers will end up in a mission loss. Other Criminal Ventures will be similar in nature.
This doesn't sound all that different from what players have run across in other games that have been released in the last few years. Even Spider-Man and Miles Morales have offered these kinds of missions that force players to not only do very specific tasks, but they have to do it within a time limit. Of course, the big difference here is that these are going to be central to the storyline of Saints Row, rather than side missions that can be done to kill a little time in other games.
It seems as if the choice to carry out specific Criminal Ventures in Saints Row will allow players to also customize the kind of clothes and vehicles that will be available in the game. Certain outfits, vehicles, or vehicle skins will match up with what kind of crime boss the player decides to be. Finally, while details on everything on offer aren't known yet, It appears the developers are hoping to bring some activities that have long been fan favorites, along with new offerings that will make being a criminal fun again.
Saints Row releases February 25 on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
