Volition and Deep Silver have revealed new gameplay from Saints Row, and its shows that there’s still a little wild madness in the game, despite the more grounded nature of the reboot.
The new “Welcome to Santo Ileso” trailer, which you can watch below, is a seven-minute long introduction to the Saints Row reboot, with developer insights as well as a healthy showing of gameplay. While the overall vibe of the game appears to be closer to Watch Dogs 2, there’s definitely some of Saints Row’s more weird personality here. Enemies can be seen firing laser guns, and explosive helicopter battles and picking beef with huge, militarized international corporations is more akin to the Saints Row games of the past than the more serious-ish GTA games.
The city’s motto is also “Keep it strange”, which suggests that there will be weirdness, even if it’s not on the absurd levels of Saints Row 4 and its superpowers and alien invasions.
The trailer also offers a closer look at the main characters, as well as their adversaries. The Saints is a group of four friends headed up by The Boss, a customisable character controlled by the player. While The Boss has been shown to be a woman by default, the trailer does show a brief glimpse of character customisation options, and shows that a male protagonist can also be chosen, as well as a variety of body types.
The Boss is joined by Eli, an investor looking to make The Saints an enterprise rather than just a group of criminals. Nina is the group’s mechanic and getaway driver, and Kevin is a persistently shirtless wannabe chef. Volition emphasises that the group has “heart”, suggesting a sort of Fast & Furious family vibe for the reboot.
The Saints will butt heads with at least three different enemy factions, each of which has its own territory in Santo Ileso. Marshall is a huge international corporation that employs strategic assassins and high tech equipment – including laser weapons – and intends to secure areas and lock you down. Panteros, meanwhile, is a much more rough-and-ready gang that have bruiser-style troops and attack with melee and heavy weapons. The final group shown in the trailer are the Idols, a bunch of anarchists wearing deadmau5 style helmets that defeat their foes using overwhelming numbers and swarm tactics.
For more from Saints Row, check out our first preview, the first trailer, and the developer's reaction to the initial fan backlash.
Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Entertainment Writer.