Kaser Focus: Go marching in

If you don’t know this about me, I’m a huge fan of Saints Row. For a series that started out as a blatant Grand Theft Auto ripoff, it somehow grew beyond that (probably because, unlike GTA, the writers of Saints Row have watched things that aren’t Heat, The Godfather, and The Wire). Satire is a difficult literary convention at the best of times, especially in games, and Saints Row comes the closest to it out of any game series I’ve ever played.

When I heard they were rebooting the series, I was excited. And then the first trailer dropped, and it was… not great. It’s not that the trailer was bad, but it didn’t have the series trademark wit and silliness. It tried — sweet Christmas, it tried. But nothing about the weedy hipsters in the trailer recalled the Saints’ rascally energy. I did the only thing a fan could do: I wrote an essay about it, then withdrew into my burrow to hibernate.

This week, Deep Silver and Volition released a new showcase that showed a bit more of the new game, and it was exactly what I’d been waiting for. We got a look at the in-game customization options, and, while the satire is still in question, it feels like a Saints Row game.

Another positive piece of news is that we’re getting a few more games to fill out the summer. EA and Codemasters announced F1 2022 for July. Xenoblade Chronicles 3 has been bumped up to July 29. Before then, Sonic Origins will launch on June 23. Just today, Nintendo announced that Splatoon 3 would be out on September 9, just out of summer. Considering this part of the year was looking pretty anemic up to now, it gives me some confidence.

A few new games were revealed this week. Amy Hennig’s Skydance New Media is making a Star Wars game, and I’m excited to see her return. I was looking forward to her (sadly cancelled) single-player title at a time when the only Star Wars game on the horizon was Battlefield. Blizzard also revealed the new expansion for World of Warcraft, called Dragonflight. We got a new look at Skate 4 (admittedly, that wasn’t revealed but leaked). We also saw some new VR games at the Meta Quest showcase, including a new Ghostbusters game.

What’s with all the new Ghostbusters stuff? This is the second Ghostbusters game announced in a month, the other being Illfonic’s Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed. Is Ghost Corps on a tear to keep the series relevant or what?

Anyway, just a reminder to everyone that GamesBeat Summit is next week! Join in for the live event, where you can watch me, Dean, Mike, and Jeff talk to people who’ve made way more games than us!

What to play this week

New on subscription services:

• Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion (Xbox Game Pass)
• Sonic The Hedgehog Spinball (Nintendo Switch Online)
• Shining Force 2 (Nintendo Switch Online)
• Space Harrier 2 (Nintendo Switch Online)
• God of War (GeForce Now)
• Lila’s Sky Ark (GeForce Now)
• Terraformers (GeForce Now)
• Twin Mirror (GeForce Now)
• Lumote: The Mastermote Chronicles (GeForce Now)
• MotoGP22 (GeForce Now)
• Space Punks (GeForce Now)
• EQI (GeForce Now)
• Warstride Challenges (GeForce Now)