20 Disappointing Video Games That Didn't Fulfil Their Potential
11. Saints Row (2022)
The Saints Row franchise tells an unfortunate tale of a developer flying too close to the sun. With the series starting as a fairly generic GTA clone, it started to differ from GTA by leaning far more heavily into street gang warfare and comedy with Saints Row 2. The series reached an all-time peak with Saints Row 3, feeling like the developers at Volition finally cracked the case with what makes Saints Row its own beast to be reckoned with. But unfortunately, it goes all downhill from here.
Learning all of the wrong lessons from Saints Row 3, Saints Row 4 dived even further into comedy and lost a lot of the fans of the original trilogy. No resemblance to street gang warfare was to be found, with you now playing as the President of the United States and gaining superpowers after the world gets invaded by aliens. We know, it was a leap. Some gamers loved Saints Row 4, but many missed the more serious tone of the second and even the first game.
After Gat Out Of Hell and whatever Agents of Mayhem was, Volition decided to go down the route of a full-on reboot. Promising to deliver on going back to the series roots, there was a lot to get excited about. However, as soon as the first few trailers were released, it was clear Volition had once again missed the mark.
Rather than 'dumb fun' comedy, the game was packed full of cringeworthy moments that had us wincing with every line delivery. Every character was unlikeable, the map was dull and barren, and the game just didn't feel like the Saints Row we know and love. On top of that, it was a broken, buggy mess at release, with a few critics noting that the game was "barely playable". As a result of the game's reception, both critically and commercially, Embracer sadly closed down Volition in 2023. Giving the developer no real opportunity to try and fix the mess they made, or try and remedy the franchise with a sequel that actually gave fans what they want.
What could've been a promising new start to Saints Row ended up as an unfortunate story that's all too familiar in the modern gaming world. With gamers everywhere begging for a new GTA, it really could've filled that void.