It's been a while since we heard what was in store for the upcoming reboot of Saints Row. First announced at Gamescom 2021 this reboot has the Saints as a new up and coming gang in the city of Santo Ileso. After a delay into August 23rd, 2022, today's Ultimate Customization Showcase is the first look we're getting at the game, and what it has in store for this new generation of Saints. Saints Row will allow you to customize your player character, seemingly referred to as The Boss, what vehicles you drive in, your weapons, crew, and even your Saints HQ.
Creating the next generation of Saints
At any point that you're out and about in the overworld, you can whip out your phone, the in-game menu, and bring up the character customizer. From here you're able to select from a number of preset outfits you might have created, or go through each article of clothing individually to create your perfect look. Not only can you alter what you're wearing at the drop of a hat, but you can also alter any other aspect of your character from their face and body types, to the tattoos they wear, and even their personality which will affect the way they hold themselves.
Putting on a new T-shirt won't just be selecting it and moving on. You can also alter the colors present on a shirt to have its design better match your aesthetic, but can also apply different material types to alter the look. The trailer showcases a collared tank top having a variety of these materials applied including a cracked mirror aesthetic, and a rocky look.
This level of material customization goes all the way down to the skin. You can alter skin, muscle definition, scars, and even make your character look like they belong in any fandom. There's even a peek of someone who looks surprisingly like Shrek... There is also a number of customization options to represent differently-abled characters adding in a variety of prosthetic limbs, each with their own customization options.
Pimp your ride
There are over 80 different vehicles that you can drive and own in Saints Row from the humble street car to expensive boats and helicopters that tear through the sky. Alter what's under the hood, above the hood, behind the hood, pretty much everywhere on your car you think you can put a cosmetic change from extra parts to paint jobs you can do it. It's not all cosmetics either as you can boost the performance of each of these vehicles, and add upgrade options like nitrous for a bit more of a kick. Of course, Saints Row then takes it a step further allowing you to add a wrecking ball, ejector seats, and more weird additions to your vehicles.
This is my rifle, this is my gun
As you'd expect by this point in the showcase Volition has turned weapon customization all the way up to eleven as well. Add all kinds of decals and colors to each of your weapons. You can also make larger cosmetic changes to your weapons, an example shown in the trailer is turning a guitar case into a RPG launcher. Some of the weapon types we see during the showcase including pistols, rifles, shotguns, RPG launchers, and more.
Home is where you hang your Gat
It wouldn't be the Saints if they didn't just have a flashy gang, but they need a flashy home to live in. At some point in the game, you'll get an old church that you can turn into your headquarters. Starting as a run-down, half-broken building with sheets in front of windows and exposed scaffolding it won't look like much to start with. You can choose to customize the theme of the internals of the building, as well as select different decorations such as lobby art. On the second floor of the base you'll be able to pick and choose how the Saints want to dominate Santo Ileso.
After the trailer was over host Mica Burton spoke with a number of members of the development team from Volition. Here they spoke further about how the way that the Boss and the Saints will look will all be down to player choice. Sure there are eight preset options that you can use to jump into the game quickly, but you could also get lost in this character creator for hours. This portion of the showcase goes deeper into the individual aspects of character creation, if you saw something that interested you briefly in the trailer chances are they go deeper into each element.
The final big announcement of the showcase is that before the game releases on the 23rd of August there will be a tool released that will allow players to get their hands on the customization tools for Saints Row so that they can start working on that perfect Boss. No word on when this tool will be available but that news will be announced via the Saints Row social media accounts.
