“We’ve put a lot of resources into creating a more robust, emergent experience,” says Volition’s Drew Holmes. “Danny Bilson’s Hollywood expertise has been tapped to help us figure out what we want to do in terms of the narrative.”

Holmes is walking me through a pre-Alpha build of Volition's latest project, Saints Row: The Third. On screen, he's controlling a naked female character and assaulting one of Steelport’s elderly pedestrians with an oversized purple rubber phallus.

Of course, Volition hasn’t minced words and nor has the Saints Row franchise ever been one for blushing. Like all weapons in the third instalment, the “dildo bat” will have a unique “nut punch” that takes an awfully long time to lose its comedic, schoolyard appeal.

A sociopathic sandbox series, Saints Row is most easily conceived as a counterpoint to Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto games. Delighting in overblown pranksterism, Saints Row 2 was released shortly after the more prescribed criminality of Grand Theft Auto IV.

The contrast between the two titles has helped many gamers to draw a distinction between the terms “sandbox” and “open world”. If the latter term promises a more immersive experience, a sandbox title is a game in which the player is frequently left to make his or her own fun. Volition knows that in the case of videogames, fun can often mean orchestrating humorous or improbable deaths for a hapless population. Or, if you’re Volition, you call it “creating emergent experiences”.

“You’ll never feel uncomfortable about what you’ve done to someone,” concludes Holmes as he nonchalantly continues to batter the senior citizen – now writhing on the sidewalk, moaning and grasping at his crotch. And he’s right: the violence has more in common with the antics of Wile E. Coyote than the nail-ripping shocks of Saw.

But if Saints Row 2 is most fondly remembered for its long tail of random delinquency, it still contextualised the experience within a narrative. Saints Row: The Third will be no different. As the game opens, players will learn that The Saints gang has sold out and become an internationally recognised brand. They’ve diversified into energy drinks and even have a movie deal in the works.

The leading man for that movie is a method actor who fumbles a heist. Worse still, the Syndicate, a powerful confederation of gangs that is unhappy with both the Saints’ prestige and autonomy, controls all the banks in Stilwater. Philippe Loren, kingpin of the Syndicate, invites the player aboard his private airliner to make the Saints an offer: forgiveness and a position within the Syndicate for 60 per cent of their earnings.

Declining the offer sets the stage for some gratuitous action porn. Shooting his way through legions of gangbangers in garish neon pinks and purples down to the cargo hold, the player then jumps from the rear of the plane. What follows is a 360-degree shootout as the parachute-endowed player tries to catch up to freefalling fellow Saint Shaundi before everyone craters into the concrete of the game’s new setting: Steelport.

Left with nothing and stranded in Steelport, the player must rebuild the Saints’ tawdry criminal empire. How the player interacts with this David vs. Goliath narrative has changed. Where in the past the player had to accrue respect in order to unlock story missions, these are now chronologically available at any time. Instead, respect will be used to upgrade the player’s arsenal and to reshape the skyline of Steelport: as the Saints's control of territory expands, the player will be able to upgrade any stronghold through several iterations right up to a skyscraper.

Volition claims that this new turf will be much more interactive than Stilwater was, dynamically reacting to the player’s actions. Districts have distinct characteristics, perhaps only coming alive at night, for example.

Taking over Steelport is a fundamental part of the game. One avenue is the structured hooliganism of activities. Favourites from Saints Row 2 such as Trailblazing and Insurance Fraud are joined by new fare such as Professor Genki’s Super-Ethical Reality Climax. This is an absurd Japanese game show wherein the player tries to complete physical activities against murderous competitors. And drawing close inspiration from Talladega Nights, another activity charges the player with transporting a live tiger as it rides shotgun.

Engaging in flashpoints can also claim territory: wipe out a parking lot full of Luchadore gang members – say, with a tactical airstrike reminiscent of Modern Warfare – and the adjacent streets will be won for the Saints. Having done so, you’ll be able to get discounts, accumulate respect and purchase stores.

Stores also highlight Saints Row: The Third’s expanded character customisation options. “It was hard to make normal people in Saints Row 2,” says Holmes, “but easy to make freaks.” We gloss over just how this latest instalment addresses this problem by walking into a store called Let’s Pretend! – in the changing room, players can triangulate their physicality between skinny, fat and muscular.

It’s a nice touch for players who insist on being represented by a steroid-riddled gangsta shaped like an upside-down pear, but for my part, I’d rather terrorise the good people of Steelport dressed as an astronaut and wielding an engorged erotic aid.

Call me crazy. Or a gamer.