What Could The Next Saint’s Row Possibly Be?

There will be another Saint’s Row game. It will probably be released on PC and consoles. You most likely will be able to create a character as well. And that’s about all I feel confident in saying about the next Saint’s Row game. Saint’s Row is a strange series. It started out as a Grand Theft Auto clone with a fairly serious story about gangs and loyalty. This semi serious clone eventually evolved into a series filled with aliens, demons, super powers and zombies. (Well technically Saint’s Row 1 had a zombie in it, so maybe the series has always been a bit strange.) Each Saint’s Row game seemed to up the ante. Each one was crazier than the last until we reached a point where the characters were fighting aliens in a computer simulation after winning the presidential election. Then after that they took the series to Hell. What could they do next? Go bigger? Reboot? Restart? Spinoffs? Spoilers by the way are going to be everywhere in here, so if you haven’t beat Saints 1,2,3,4 or Gat out of Hell and don’t want to know who dies, lives, etc, don’t read beyond this point. (Also go play those games, they are pretty damn great.) At the end of Saint’s Row IV the entire earth has been destroyed. This seemed to be an ending that would effectively end the series… until Gat Out of Hell came out. Gat Out of Hell tells the story of how Johnny Gat gets sucked into Hell to save The Boss. Stuff happens and eventually God owes Johnny Gat a favor. Yeah, this series about gangsters and drug dealers has become a weird epic... thing. Anyways, this leads to five possible endings and some of these endings could lead to the future of Saint’s Row. So lets look at the possible futures of the Saint’s Row franchise.

 Option #1: Saint’s Row 5

One of the endings of Saint’s Row Gat Out Of Hell has Johnny Gat and The Boss and their crew finding a new planet to live on. The only problem is that this planet is under the control of a supposedly powerful and large alien army. So if the Saints want this planet they will have to destroy the alien army in charge. This could be a great setup for Saint’s Row 5. Instead of rebooting or remaking Volition, series creators, could just do the next game. But on an alien planet. A new planet with weird aliens, abducted humans and strange new weapons, this could be a hell of a playground. A large alien city filled with new things to kill and new drugs to take could lead to a super fun game. (Unless you have the Australian version, in which case the drugs just won’t be there. Sorry.) But Gat Out of Hell already showed that the Saint’s formula is starting to get tired. So if this is the route Volition goes, I hope they change things up and do something fresh and new with these characters and the series. I don’t want another Saint’s Row 3 reskin like 4 and Gat Out of Hell were.

Option #2: Saint’s Space (Saint's Row in space) 

Maybe instead of landing on a new planet the Saint’s can travel the universe Star Trek style. Imagine a Saint’s Row game set in a giant section of the galaxy. Visit new planets, kill some aliens and maybe even meet some new alien character who would join your crew. The idea of moving Saint’s Row into space might seem crazy, but honestly this series is all about crazy. This franchise is at its best when it’s doing crazy, over-the-top, weird shit. Exploring space and finding aliens and blowing up planets and starting fights in alien bars, all of this sounds like the perfect continuation of the Saint’s Row series. The Boss becomes The Captain and explores the galaxy in his or her's unique way. Plus they could do Mass Effect jokes, Star Trek and Star Wars parody bits and even a few more Red Faction Easter Eggs perhaps. Saint’s Row in space could easily become a mess of a game, but it would probably be a beautiful mess of a game.

Option #3: The Time Traveling Saints (The Saints get a time machine)

At the end of Saint's Row IV it is revealed that Zinyak had a time machine and was using it to grab people he liked from Earth's past, people like Jane Austen. (Who narrated the game, yeah this series is kinda crazy.) This could easily lead to a Saint's Row set in a different time period. Maybe we see Steelport in the 1800s or we go to ancient Rome. I could easily see the Saints having way too much fun traveling through time. In fact we get a tease of this at the end of Saint's Row IV. Some cartoon images during the credits seem to show what the Saints do with time travel. The Saints visit the Great Wall of China, hang out with Betty Ross and help Columbus find the new world. Maybe all this fun catches up to them and they screw the timeline up. It could be cool to explore a city that is filled with multiple time periods and all of it is blending together and causing problems. Or maybe send the Saints back to different eras to fix the screw ups they created. However a time traveling Saint's Row game would work,  it almost seems like a guarantee that it will be a weird and crazy experience. We could also introduce even more famous people from the past. I feel like Frank Sinatra wouldn't mind hanging out with the Saints. Or have Queen Elizabeth the first doing shots with them. The possibilities are nearly endless with a time machine. You could even probably resurrect some past Saint's Row characters. You would have to be careful to not cause a paradox of course. Or maybe...you know what, that would probably be the exact thing the Saints would end up doing. And the crazy mess that creates could be fun to try and fix. Or maybe make worse.

Option #4: The Row (The Saint’s Row Reboot)

One ending that you can get in Gat Out Of Hell shows Johnny and the other Saints as detectives in a police station. And personally that sounds interesting. Really interesting. Imagine an open world Saint’s Row where you play as a badass police officer. Maybe a former criminal or maybe not. Either way rebooting the Saint’s Row franchise and making the Saint’s cops could be a fun way to completely change the feel of the series. Instead of shooting cops and gangsters, you take down criminals and protect the city. But not like a normal cop. The Boss and the Saint’s are far from “normal”. Imagine stopping a speeder by using a rocket launcher and a motorcycle. Even better if the game doesn’t punish you for your antics and instead cheers you on. Sure making the Saints cops could lead to a boring game compared to some of the previous games, but it could open up a whole new box of options for the creators to work with. New toys and missions and story possibilities. Plus you know they would have some doughnut jokes. And some great police mustaches.

Option #5: Saint’s Row (The Remake)

If we ignore the endings shown in Gat Out Of Hell there are countless other possibilities. One such possibility is a full on remake. Imagine taking the story of Saint’s Row 1 and 2 and retelling it with a better engine, more crazy options and just better overall gameplay. The early Saint’s Row games were a bit rough around the edges and sometimes felt cheap or quickly made. Now that the series is huge and popular, Volition could remake the first two games with more time and with all the lessons they have learned making the other games. They could take the story in new directions and change some events from previous games. Remaking the first two games could be seen as a lazy thing to do, but I actually find it exciting. Look at how good Mortal Kombat (2011) was. That game was just a retelling of the first three games and took the series back to its roots, while at the same time improving the gameplay, graphics etc. A new Saint’s Row that does a similar process could be a really great idea and a big success. They could bring old fans back, introduce new fans to the series and fix any mistakes they made in the past or add back content they wished they could of put into the first two games.

Option #6: “It Was All A Dream..”

There is another option the series could take. They could pull a Dallas and just hand wave away everything that happened as a dream. Saint’s Row 5 could start with The Boss waking up from a nap after the events of Saint’s Row 3 and they could go from there. This option is a bit of a crappy thing to do and will no doubt be met with some criticism. But if Volition handles it well they could turn it into a running joke in the game. They could also do other “dreams” as spin off games and maybe even entirely new genres. Have a smaller digital game released that was a fighting game with the Saints. Maybe a weird driving game. All of these could be “dreams” The Boss is having. (Insert your Inception joke and BWWWOOONG here.) The “All A Dream” option could be a good way to retcon the series without destroying the earth or erasing everything from the past. And maybe The Boss could foresee some events and change the future. Like the next Saint’s Row game could have a whole section where you go and kill Zinyak before he even reaches Earth and even save Johnny.

The Future's So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades

All of these options and more are possible. Of course only time will tell what we actually get. Will the next Saint’s Row be a space adventure, a police game or maybe something none of us can even guess. Who knows? Well, I guess people at Deep Silver and Volition. They probably know. But besides them who knows. Not me for sure. Regardless, I’m excited for the next Saint’s Row game. Few franchises change as much as the Saint’s Row series has. From a GTA clone with gangsters to an epic alien war to a literal meeting with God, there always seems to be a constant with the Saint’s Row games. Crazy. Crazy things you probably weren't expecting.