The storyline sees your ragtag quartet encounter three distinct gangs, each of which owns a chunk of Santo Ileso. And, as you take over more of the city, the bigger your power base will grow. The choices you make here will, for instance, engender resistance if you start putting toxic waste next to wherever the one percenters live and work. You can choose where to put those businesses, too, like putting a garbage collection site in the middle of the financial district. Chief creative officer Jim Boone says that it’s, broadly, a “contemporary” millennial “power fantasy.” It’s only later that the game’s focus switches to the sort of empire-building that, in the previous series, eventually saw your character becoming president.Īs the game progresses, players can buy property and businesses which opens up new game modes and levels. These disaffected millennials turn to crime to, for instance, put food on their table, feel part of a community and pay off their student loans. The developers say that Saints Row’s focus is, at least early in the game, going to focus on the material concerns of its young crew. The game was built in a brand new, as-yet unannounced engine and these new environments are designed to take advantage of the power that next-gen consoles - if we can still call them that - can offer. Or you can steal a VTOL-equipped craft and just make merry havoc all over the city as you go. Running and driving will work best in some regions, while players are encouraged to fly a wingsuit off the top of the financial district’s skyscrapers to cover long distances. Santo Ileso is made up of nine individual districts with each one designed to use a different traversal method. And the financial area, at least from the trailers (and to my British eyes) seems to have been pulled from downtown Santa Fe. The neon-strewn casino district (El Dorado) seems to be inspired by those found in Albuquerque.

The new game is called Saints Row (which we're told has no subtitle, despite the repeated use of the 'Self Made' tagline even on the box art), and is set in Santo Ileso (Spanish speakers, does that pun work for you?), a stand in for America’s Four Corners region which the developers are calling the “weird west.” There are Route 66 signs scattered across the landscape and the desert that surrounds the city, with its patchy grass and tall mesas, looks a lot like Arizona.

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