Saints Row 2 finally getting fixed for modern PCs

After years of being a crashy pain in the arse, Saints Row 2 is finally getting fixed up to play nicely on modern PCs. Developers Volition announced last night that they've found the source code to their cheery open-world murder simulator after years of wanting, so they can give it much-needed love. 2008's game is probably my favourite Saints Row, a wacky take on GTA coming just as GTA IV went all tediously self-serious, though of course I recognise Saints Row 4 is the best superhero game. It's a right mess at the moment, mind, needing fan-made fixes and mods to run even half-decently. Bring on the updates!

Volition explained on last night's stream that the PC source code had been out of their hands because the port was made by another studio. They've been trying to get the source back for years and have now finally got in touch with someone who worked on the port way back when and was able to get ahold of it in some mysterious way. Now, hooray, Volition have given the go-ahead to fix it up.

Senior community developer Mike Watson explained, "The four main things that we're working on are: performance; stability, fixing a lot of the crashing and issues; integrating Steam networking, so co-op will work again and multiplayer; and then also adding the DLC, which was console-only and now we're putting the DLC for PC as well."

The two DLC packs we didn't see on PC are Ultor Exposed and Corporate Warfare, which together added new story missions, new co-op shenanigans, and more character customisation bits.

Volition are currently focused on making a new Saints Row, a game which is an enigma for now, so this just a wee side-project for a two-man team. It's being worked on by Volition's Mike Watson and contractor Thomas Jepp, who were both notable Saints Row modders too.

No firm word yet on when the fixes will be ready but I'm delighted to hear this.