Epic Games Store made a surprise announcement last week thatSaints Row: The Thirdwould be available for free on the storefront until September 2. TheEpic Games Storehas released a ton of free games, with new titles rotating in and out every week. The games given away by the Epic Games Store have ranged from smaller indies to big AAA titles, and have also covered a wide range of genres in an effort to attract customers.
The Epic Games Store also has spent a lot of money securing timed exclusives, and has already revealed thefirst free game Epic Games Store players can expect in September. The store typically gives away two games at a time, although it sometimes only offers one. The current offering wasAutomacheffrom publisher Team17, but the surprise addition ofSaints Row: The Thirdbrought the week up. The announcement was exciting, as there are many fans who loveSaints Row: The Third, and it being offered for free is a great way for fans or new players to jump in and check it out.
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Why Fans Love Saints Row: The Third
Saints Rowis an open-world series that closely resemblesGrand Theft Auto. However, the series has always prided itself on maintaining a more jovial and ridiculous tone.Saints Row: The Third, in particular, was the entry in the series that doubled down on more absurd aspects that had sporadically emerged prior. This led to the game having a crazy campaign and side activities filled with game shows about killing people, wacky characters, and insane character creation. There were some things thatSaints Rowas a series did better thanGrand Theft Auto, andSaints Row: The Thirdlargely doubled down on those aspects.
For many,Saints Row: The Thirdwas also a sweet spot for the series, as many foundSaints Row 4to take its absurdity a step too far.Saints Row 4saw the player character becoming President of the United States at the start of the game, before being abducted by aliens and put into the Matrix where they had superpowers. The superpowers made using many of the game’s guns feel underpowered and made driving painfully slow. This leftSaints Row: The Thirdas what some consider to be the high point of the franchise thus far, especially whenSaints Row: The Third Remasteredreleased last year.
What Saints Row: The Third Remastered Includes
As one would expect, the remaster ofSaints Row: The Thirddrastically improves upon the original game’s visuals. This includes not only dynamic 4k resolution but also a stable frame rate of 60 FPS. The remaster also includes improved texture fidelity that makes the cars and environments more natural and realistic. At the time of the game’s release, it did suffer some technical issues, but the game’s community seems to largely report those having been patched out. Some fans do still think that the improved graphics on the characters throughout the game look weird when compared to the originals, but the graphics and effects on some ofSaints Row: The Third’s wackier weaponsare drastically improved.
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Saints Row: The Third Remasteredalso comes with all of the DLC for the original game. This includes the larger expansionsGenkibowl 7,Gangstas in Space, andThe Trouble With Clones. Each of the expansions offers roughly an hour of additional gameplay. The three of them received a lukewarm reception upon release, but they do offer some fun additional missions, weapons, and abilities for players to mess around with. However, none of the missions in the expansions get very close to the quality ofsome of the bestSaints Rowmissions. The other DLC packs included focus on adding more vehicles, weapons, customization options, and abilities to the game. These include a wide range of options, suuch as a gun that shoots sharks and a pack themed around vampires.
Why Saints Row: The Third is Free
Saints Row: The Thirdreleased for free after a new reboot of the series was unveiled during Gamescom 2021’s Opening Night Live. The newest entry in the series seems to be trying to takeSaints Rowback to its rootswith a more grounded sensibility and realistic approach to gameplay. The new reboot has been met with some skepticism from fans, although there is surely more of the game that the developers are waiting to show off.
The developers ofSaints Rowhave said they will not back downamid backlash, and a follow-up to the reveal trailer did receive a warmer welcome with its focus on explaining what players could expect from the reboot’s gameplay. It will be interesting to see what else the newSaints Rowhas in store for fans of the franchise, and the team behind it has already revealed some exciting new features.
It will also be interesting to see where the Epic Games Store’s free game offerings go from here. The store’s free games program has been well received, and it doesn’t seem like Epic Games is planning on slowing down anytime soon. It could be that Epic Games will try to continue offering free games at a time when interest in the franchise is particularly high from a fresh announcement or update, or the store could go back to just giving away different games each week with no association to current announcements. Either way, theEpic Games Store has given away thousands of dollars in free gamesso far, and the strategy may or may not pay off in the long-run.
Saints Row: The Third Remasteredis available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
