Rarely do I ever have the honor of calling AAA titles "art house," but I believe that Saints Row IV deserves this title. Yes, it doesn't look that much different from the previous game graphics-wise. Yes, it's a massive departure from the beginnings of the series.

But that's missing the point. The reason they were able to make such an incredible video game is BECAUSE they didn't focus on graphics. The reason this game is such a proper art house gem is BECAUSE it's a departure from the series and the genre as a whole.

-- SPOILERS BELOW --

You start as the president of the United States. Within a few hours, the planet fucking explodes and you're one of the last humans alive on an alien space ship. You have to enter a Matrix simulation to try and take down the aliens from the inside of their network.

Already you can see just how different this game is from anything else in the genre. As you drive (or fly) around, everything is glitched out. Walls, cars, and people will "digitalize" before your eyes. Most of the people you see in the simulation aren't real, they're just generated by the system. The sky is always dark.

At first, it's all very lonely. But as you progress through the game, you discover contacts in the form of people from the previous games in the series. I feel like a lot of the enjoyment from this game can be extracted from playing the previous games first, it's unfortunate that a lot of people had this one as their one and only introduction to the series.

All of these elements combine to create a really unique atmosphere. The reason I call this an "art house AAA title" is because of the risks they took and the sheer audacity of it. It's all over the place and in a good way. Underrated masterpiece.