Saints Row Has a Long History of Deep Character…

When Volition announced its reboot of Saints Row, a lot of longtime fans expressed doubts about the new game. There's no denying that it looked entirely different; initial impressions suggested that the game would massively cut down on the franchise's outlandish humor and opt for a more traditional crime war narrative. Later Saints Row trailers have proven otherwise, though. The upcoming Saints Row game still has all kinds of wacky characters, over-the-top combat, and moments where the player is free to cause as much chaos as they like. That includes through Saints Row's character customizer, which seems to reach new heights for the franchise.

Customization in Past Saints Row Games

From the very beginning of the franchise, Saints Row has offered great customization options. The first Saints Row offered players both presets to streamline the process and a ton of sliders that allowed players to carefully adjust the character's facial features. Saints Row 2 doubled down on that design principle in valuable ways. It added numbers to the sliders, allowing players to measure exactly how they arrived at their character creation, and also offered fans no less than six different voice options, which went a long way in establishing a personality for the Boss of Saints Row 2. Both games offered fans vehicle customization too, while Saints Row 2 allowed players to change details about their gang.

Saints Row customization only got more elaborate from there. Players may have had access to various non-natural hair colors in Saints Row 2, for example, but Saints Row: The Third allowed players to use any color of the rainbow for the character's skin, and also introduced metallic skin tones for a robotic look. The introduction of a three-sided body shape slider also allowed for nicely nuanced character bodies. Both Saints Row: The Third and Saints Row 4 went far to introduce even more specific body sliders, further options for facial details and makeup, and so on, all while working to improve customization in other departments like vehicles and music as well.

The Next Step of Saints Row Customization

In spite of all this great Saints Row customization, though, the Saints Row reboot looks like another leap forward. Not only do players have finer control over their character's body than ever, thanks to asymmetrical customization options, extremely detailed hair coloration, and more, but players have huge control over the Saints Row Boss' clothes too, right down to the patterns on their socks. Players can give prosthetic limbs to the Saints Row reboot's Boss, adjust the appearance of the Boss' teeth, and even customize the way that Saints Row censors the Boss' nudity.

Reboot or not, it's great to see that Saints Row captures the customization-heavy spirit of the franchise. If these new character options weren't enough for Saints Row fans, they can look forward to a range of elaborate new weapon customization options, like a rocket launcher hidden in a guitar case, and the Saints will have a customizable base too. Vehicle customization will have a glorious return as well. These innovations could help make Saints Row a huge hit this summer. Santa Ileso brings a lot of new ideas to the Saints Row franchise, but the soul of Saints Row still inhabits this new game.

Saints Row releases August 23, 2022 for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.

MORE: Saints Row Vehicle Customization Looks Deeper Than Most Racing Games