I hope the Saints Row reboot remains inclusive
Saints Row is getting a reboot – that much has already been confirmed by the game’s official website, news sources, as well as presenter Geoff Keighley.
A reboot, to put it plainly, means that we’ll be getting a new take on the series that started as a Grand Theft Auto clone, but soon shifted itself to be one of the wackiest, heartfelt, and downright unique action-adventure games in the 2010s. It has everything: a fun-loving cast, a frankly unique character creator that not even Cyberpunk 2077 can come close to, and a willingness to make fun of itself, all while striving to make the Saints Row series even bigger and better than before.
I love Saints Row a hell of a lot, and I know I’m not the only one. We’ve had several writers at Gayming Magazine express why they love it, and why it means so much to them. Hell, one of our most looked at articles is a piece about how the game series said a big, hearty ‘fuck you’ to toxic masculinity in a way that Grand Theft Auto is still struggling to even address.
So with all that in mind, I’m very excited for the Saints Row reboot. I’m just… also hoping against hope that the reboot will keep the inclusivity and diversity of the series present too.
Saints Row and inclusion may be shocking to anyone who only knows about the controversy of Saints Row 2 and its Tropes vs Women episode with Feminist Frequency’s, Anita Sarkeesian. Sarkeesian got into hot water with Gamergate chuds over her criticism of the second game’s handling of women, something which creative director of Volition at the time Steve Jaros ended up accepting and agreeing with, by the way.
With such a negative history behind it, it’d be easy to write Saints Row off as something that doesn’t care about its marginalized characters. And while it does have some very sketchy moments even after the second game, it wouldn’t be an entirely accurate thing to say. One of its most beloved characters is Johnny Gat, a character of East-Asian descent who is just as important, if not more so, than the actual protagonist. Then there’s Shaundi, a girl that you save all the time in 2, but quickly becomes a badass to the point of scaring the shit out of everyone in Saints Row: The Third and Saints Row IV. Other characters like Pierce Washington and Kinzie Kensington are also well-written, with the latter joining Gat in their very own spin-off DLC, Gat Goes To Hell.
Of course, it’s easy to include these characters – but it’s a whole other thing to treat them with respect. Yet the series does do so, with each game introducing something new and pivotal to the character’s development. For example, Gat’s death in Saints Row: The Third is what triggers Shaundi to take charge and kick ass, but it doesn’t make her one-note. She’s still obviously grieving and the people around her respect that. Pierce too is considered a bit of a joke of a character at first, but he becomes an integral member of The Saints, and a true friend to the Boss. He’s also a talented musician and businessman, often handling PR and to be frank, without him it’s very likely The Saints would be bankrupt.
I don’t have the time to go through each and every cast member, but it’s not hard to see why queer players drift to Saints Row. The Saints are a gang known for not respecting authority and wanting to stick it to the man, and while they do have a mid-life crisis about that in 3, they quickly come to realize that it doesn’t matter where they are or what they’re doing, as long as they have one another, then it’s all good. They may not give a damn about the world, but they give a damn about their own, because they’re family. And if there’s one thing queer people can respect and relate to, it’s a game with a found family.
Outside of its cast though, Saints Row is an inclusive series because even its 2008 character creator was leagues ahead of even recent RPGs like Dragon Age: Inquisition and Cyberpunk 2077. Not only could you just choose a voice that was typically ‘male’ or ‘female’, it didn’t actively punish you for presenting yourself the way you want to and, to make it even more clear how much this character creator absolutely rules, it even let you be fat. Not many character creators do that without throwing in a dig now and then.
For as much as gaming has improved over the years, it’s almost funny at how ahead of the curve the Saints Row series has been with each game it’s released. It made me feel more comfortable in my own skin, and for a game to do that? Well, that deserves celebrating
I just hope the developers working on Saints Row know where it shines, and that the reboot doesn’t lose what made the series so special for marginalized players.
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