Volition’s Saints Row 4 upgrade was meant to be a make-good, but it broke the game instead
Players report issues with saves, mods, and crashes in the Re-elected Edition.
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Remember this year’sSaints Row? Volition would probably prefer that you didn’t, which might go some way to explaining why the studio recently decided toupgrade everyone’s copy of Saints Row 4to its full-fat Re-elected Edition, containing all the game’s story and cosmetic DLC and even introducing cross-play between Steam, Epic, and GOG versions of the game.
Unfortunately, that upgrade seems to have backfired, and players now report a myriad of bugs with their new version of SR4. Both the Saints RowSteam forumsandsubredditare filled with players complaining of broken saves, crashes, and mods failing to function. It’s also received a few hundrednegative Steam reviewssince the update. If it’s succeeded in washing the taste of Saints Row (2022) out of players' mouths, it’s only because it tastes even worse.
Deep Silver, SR4’s publisher, says it’s looking into the problem, and urges anyone experiencing bugs they haven’t already seen reported to get in touch with viaits website. For now, a helpful Steam user has written upa guide to revert to a pre-upgrade versionof the game, but be warned it’s a bit of a labour-intensive process.
It’s certainly a shame. Unlike its successor, SR4 was an excellent game. Rich McCormick scored it 90% in hisSaints Row 4 reviewall the way back in 2013 (you know, a decade ago), complimenting its “heartfelt love for the medium” of videogames, in contrast to GTA’s filmic pretensions. Hopefully it’ll be fixed sooner rather than later. It is, after all, the last great game Volition made.
In other Volition news, the studio recently found itselffolded into Gearboxafter the lacklustre response to this year’s Saints Row. Volition’s parent company, Embracer Group, sold the merge as a move to give the studio an “experienced management team in the US,” and “create future success”. Not off to a great start, but in fairness, the new management has probably barely had time to get through the door.
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One of Josh’s first memories is of playing Quake 2 on the family computer when he was much too young to be doing that, and he’s been irreparably game-brained ever since. His writing has been featured in Vice, Fanbyte, and the Financial Times. He’ll play pretty much anything, and has written far too much on everything from visual novels to Assassin’s Creed. His most profound loves are for CRPGs, immersive sims, and any game whose ambition outstrips its budget. He thinks you’re all far too mean about Deus Ex: Invisible War.
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