We have confirmation that Saints Row 2022 was originally going to be Saints Row 5 and exactly what the fans would've wanted before execs completely ruined it and turned it into the student loans cringe plot we got.
All the details on the OG version:
- Originally called "Saints Row Cinco", Would've been a sequel to Saints Row The Third
- The Original Saints members were all going to return as major characters
- SR4 would've been retconned as well as Johnny Gat's death in SR3, continuing from there, The Boss and crew would leave Steelport to take over Santo Ileso
- There would've been a secret mission where you confront and kill Dex
- Designed to appease old fans and check off all their requests
- The tone was going to follow a 20/80 rule, 20% SR3, 80% SR2 style
- Pierce's voice actor even recorded lines for the original version of this game
- After THQ Nordic acquired Deep Silver, They outright rejected the story and FORCED Volition to re-write the story
- THQ Nordic and Deep Silver put heavy restrictions on what the characters can say including swear words (in an M rated game fyi)
- Another version of the story got written that was a full reboot but kept all the original saints, no student loans storyline. This was also rejected by THQ Nordic
- Ultor would've returned instead of the Marshals
- Skill Tree was split into Wealth/Fame/Muscle
- Body Shields were going to return but removed due to Deep Silver calling it "too violent."
- Criminal Ventures originally were going to allow you to customize the city itself, with choosing businesses to place into the open world rather than being an activities screen like in the final game
- "Proclamation" system allowed you to put laws into your controlled districts, such as forcing a dress code or inacting stand-offs as a way to resolve arguments
- Full Cribs and customization to them all returned and got cut
- You could customize all cribs and the church that lets you place items anywhere you want
- Buying furniture from furniture stores would've been a feature
- NG+ was cut
- Cheats would've been an endgame feature unlocked by discovering and unlocking a secret massive genki pyramid and then useable in NG+, Final game shipped without cheats at launch.
- The larping mission originally was just one mission where you'd use real guns against them, the dev team was somehow convinced that the game could popularize larping and shipped the terrible larping missions in the final game
- All info comes from MrSaintGodzilla21 who was invited to Volition to see all of this in 2020
So to conclude, what could've been an AMAZING Saints Row game was ruined by cowardly THQ Nordic execs who were too scared of mature themes and forced SR5 into a joke of a reboot that resulted in the end of the franchise and the shutting down of Volition. what a waste. RIP Saints Row
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