Saints Row's disappointing launch won't derail the future of the series

pcgamer.com:

The head of Deep Silver parent company Embracer Group admitted today that the recent Saints Row(opens in new tab) reboot didn't meet his expectations, but said that his long-term view of the series remains unchanged.

Saints Row landed with a bit of a plop when it arrived in August. Bugs were a big problem, and even before release the game was beset with predictable complaints that the new crew was too young, hip, and/or diverse. Being an Epic Games Store exclusive probably didn't help it gain word-of-mouth exposure on PC at launch. The Epic Games Store page for the game registers a 3.8/5 «Epic Player Rating,» that praises it as «Extremely Fun» and «Highly Recommended,» but also highlights a «Weak» OpenCritic rating aggregated from publications including IGN, Game Informer, and PC Gamer.

The real issue, though, is simply an overabundance of restraint in comparison to previous Saints Row games. An unavoidable turn of events for a series built on successive excesses, perhaps (the final boss of Saints Row 4: Gat Out of Hell was literally Satan), but still an issue for a franchise that introduced «dildo bat» to the gamer lexicon. 

«Compared to spraying sewage on mansions to lower property values or driving a car while being mauled by a tiger who sits in the passenger seat, the reboot's activities seem down to earth,» Jody wrote in our 60% review(opens in new tab). (As a reminder, a 60% score isn't bad under PC Gamer's review scale(opens in new tab): «There’s something here to like, but it can only be recommended with major caveats.»)

«Saints Row is always at its best when it cuts loose, when it goes full dubstep-gun stupid, and the reboot forgets that for long stretches. When it remembers, you get things like a storyline in