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Controversial open-world GTA 5 rival is free for 24 hours

If you're quick, you can get a free copy of the Saints Row reboot, one of the more controversial open-world titles to launch in years.

Image of woman standing in a street as a building explodes behind her.

In 2022, the Saints Row reboot dared to revive a series that has long lived in the shadow of the Grand Theft Auto franchise. Unfortunately, it received heavy-handed criticism and controversy over its gameplay and open-world parts, marking it below average in most gamers’ eyes. Although, if you were curious about Saints Row and wanted to try it out, you can score a free game copy, but you have to be quick.

The Epic Games Store has revealed the Saints Row reboot as its latest free game that users can download – no strings attached. The open-world game will only be available to scoop up within a 24-hour window, so I’d recommend jumping on this quickly if you want the title. You have until 10:00 am EST on Sunday, December 31, to pick this up.

In this revitalized Saints Row, players will step into Santo Ileso, a wildly vibrant fictional city in the American Southwest. In a world teeming with criminal activity, you and a group of friends embark on your own delinquent ventures, building an empire and fighting for control. As wild as that description sounds, this is on par with the Saints Row series, boasting wacky side activities and wild setpieces in a sandbox world.

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The Saints Row reboot packs the biggest sandbox to date for the franchise, but its staggering size wasn’t enough to cull its lukewarm reception. Players on Reddit called it “meh” and “so dull,” pointing at its unexciting gameplay loop and polarizing quirky writing. Since then, Saints Row has become more enjoyable, according to some players

New DLC fills in the world map with good content, the gameplay feels better, and it’s less buggy than before. Naturally, the core issues of its storytelling and elsewhere won’t change, but Saints Row appears to be in a more acceptable place now.

That said, if this isn’t your cup of tea but you’re craving open-world games, check out our best open-world games on PC or switch things up with the best FPS games to play right now.

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