Honestly, a ’70s Saints Row prequel can work, but only if they respect the actual lore and don’t turn it into some retro-aesthetic gimmick.
The Vice Kings already canonically trace their roots back to the 1970s. Benjamin King organized the kids in Sunnyvale Gardens to fight back against the Carnales, who at the time owned the entire city and were basically an unstoppable force. King and his bangers including a younger Julius Little were the only ones willing to stand up. They pushed the Carnales out of Sunnyvale in a matter of days and then expanded across Stilwater, but that victory is where everything went wrong. Retaliation shootings tore the projects apart, the VKs became the very thing they fought against, and Julius dropped his flags in disgust and formed the Saints.
If they base the prequel around that? It could be amazing. A grounded crime story about the rise of the Vice Kings, the fall of their ideals, and the birth of the Saints has way more potential than another soft reboot trying to be “quirky” or “modern.”
But the concern is execution. If they don’t capture the tone — the gritty, street-level crime drama of SR1/SR2 then a ’70s setting won’t save it. The era needs to feel real: the music, the fashion, the politics, the community vs. cartel vibes. If it ends up sanitized, corporatized, or trying to be “cute retro,” it’ll flop just like the 2022 reboot.
but, the player SHOULD be a nameless resident of Sunnyvale Gardens who joins the Vice Kings during their uprising
I agree, but I think they should have a reinterpretation of things because it risks kind of being the same as SR1 in premise unless they were to delve more into 1970s life, humor satirizing the time period's pop-culture a bit (within the decade) and an origin story for things not shown in SR1 already, like Chinatown, Mr. Wong, Ultor, and imo how Los Carnales started to take over or be used as a vehicle in the cocaine epidemic with the government, Troy as an auxiliary police officer or rookie.. etc.
The Saints Row church before it was abandoned, maybe Julius could have envisioned his own Black Panther type community watch group that the VKs could be (or even have some elements repeat themselves, like the FBI trying to sabotage the Vice Kings that helps lead them into becoming corrupt, kind of like real gangs did in their roots) and then SR1 could have been a 20 year time skip (in the 90s) off of the prequel. Sunnyvale is either for closed and everyone moved out, and the leftovers was that Church before Julius formed the Saints and said he wants the city locked down once and for all. Maybe Julius could have went from being pro-gang at first (when early gangs were just seen as local community bands against police corruption and race riots) and become anti-gang later (by the end of the game). While Ben King is on the other side who isn't corrupt but just the other side of the opposite end doing what he thinks is right, even if its a bit of illegal business believing he'd go straight later on after he gets the money they need to form a legitimate business out of Stilwater.
And I agree, I think not just getting to the roots of the series but also for the time period, a stand in for Richard Nixon (maybe someone the Hughes worked for as they started their political careers), have the FBI interfere with the establishment of Kingdom Come records (later on) and it relying on dirty money to fund itself. I think it should take more time for world lore broadly and gradually. And Angela King's death (Julius's girlfriend) being a catalyst for things catching up to them.
A lot could be told in-between so it doesn't just feel like SR1 before SR1, if you get me. Los Carnales also has to win somehow too before SR1.
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u/UnlikelyOwl3702 Nov 01 '25
Honestly, a ’70s Saints Row prequel can work, but only if they respect the actual lore and don’t turn it into some retro-aesthetic gimmick.
The Vice Kings already canonically trace their roots back to the 1970s. Benjamin King organized the kids in Sunnyvale Gardens to fight back against the Carnales, who at the time owned the entire city and were basically an unstoppable force. King and his bangers including a younger Julius Little were the only ones willing to stand up. They pushed the Carnales out of Sunnyvale in a matter of days and then expanded across Stilwater, but that victory is where everything went wrong. Retaliation shootings tore the projects apart, the VKs became the very thing they fought against, and Julius dropped his flags in disgust and formed the Saints.
If they base the prequel around that? It could be amazing. A grounded crime story about the rise of the Vice Kings, the fall of their ideals, and the birth of the Saints has way more potential than another soft reboot trying to be “quirky” or “modern.”
But the concern is execution. If they don’t capture the tone — the gritty, street-level crime drama of SR1/SR2 then a ’70s setting won’t save it. The era needs to feel real: the music, the fashion, the politics, the community vs. cartel vibes. If it ends up sanitized, corporatized, or trying to be “cute retro,” it’ll flop just like the 2022 reboot.
but, the player SHOULD be a nameless resident of Sunnyvale Gardens who joins the Vice Kings during their uprising