Saints Row IV

Overview

Saints Row IV is a 2013 action-adventure game developed by Volition and published by Deep Silver. It is the sequel to 2011's Saints Row: The Third, the fourth game in the Saints Row series, and the last main installment of the original series that began with 2006's Saints Row. It was released in August 2013 for Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, and later ported to PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Linux in 2015.

It is an open world action game with third-person shooter elements. The player explores a simulation of the fictional city of Steelport and plays story or side missions at their own pace. Most of the action is shooting and driving, with plenty of odd detours such as fighting crowds of zombies, tank battles, side-scrolling brawlers and using a dubstep gun to interrupt 1950s Americana. The player gets superpowers that greatly increase jump height and running speed, plus fire, ice and telekinetic attacks, and can upgrade them with data clusters scattered around town. The character editor lets the player build their own look, and there is a two-player co-op mode.

The story follows the player-created leader of the 3rd Street Saints, who is elected President of the United States after stopping a terrorist plot. Five years into the term, an alien empire called the Zin attacks Earth, destroys the White House and captures the Boss and most of the cabinet. The Boss is trapped in a simulation of Steelport, and with help from allies who hacked the simulation to give them powers, sets out to rescue the captured friends, escape the simulation and defeat the Zin leader Zinyak. The ending depends on how many optional Loyalty missions were completed.

Saints Row IV was the first game Volition made after Koch Media bought the studio in early 2013, following the bankruptcy of the series' original publisher THQ. The superpower idea came from Enter the Dominatrix, a cancelled expansion planned for The Third, which the team grew into a full sequel. The team chose to remove the previous game's phone-based navigation, replaced it with a quest log, and spent less time on graphics because next generation consoles were close. The in-game radio has seven stations and 109 licensed tracks, and the original score is by Malcolm Kirby Jr.

It came out in North America on August 20, 2013, and worldwide three days later. Pre-orders included a patriot-themed pack with flamethrower, dubstep and rocket launcher weapons, a bald eagle jet and an Uncle Sam outfit. A limited edition added a replica dubstep gun, a doomsday button and a Johnny Gat statuette, and a Game of the Generation Edition added a display case on top. The game was first refused classification in Australia, which effectively banned it, and was accepted after changes. Later summary editions, Game of the Century and National Treasure, bundled 20 and 29 DLC sets.

Critics gave it generally positive reviews. They praised the humour and character customization and criticized the lack of challenge, and several singled out its treatment of gender and the character of Kinzie Kensington. It sold over one million copies in its first week. Volition later released Enter the Dominatrix and How the Saints Save Christmas as DLC, and the standalone expansion Saints Row: Gat out of Hell followed in January 2015. A reboot titled Saints Row came out in August 2022.

Official trailer

Saints Row IV - Meet the President trailer (Official U.K. Version), Saints Row. Watch on YouTube

Gameplay

SAINTS ROW 4 | PS3 Gameplay, BenedictPlays. Watch on YouTube

Screenshots

Game details

Genres

Action-adventure, Open world, Third-person shooter

Developer

Volition

Publisher

Deep Silver

Series

Saints Row (fourth main game)

Composers

Malcolm Kirby Jr.

Designers

Scott Phillips

Writers

Jason L. Blair, Jeffrey Bielawski, Tony Bedard

Producers

Jim Boone

Modes

Single player

Yes

Local multiplayer

No

Online multiplayer

2

Release dates

Editions

Buy this game

Disc IDs

The serial printed on the disc and the case. It tells you which region a copy is from.

Trophies

Trophies71

Platinum possibleYes

Platinum

1

Gold

3

Silver

11

Bronze

56

Total

71

Points

1740

Difficulty

4 out of 10

Playthroughs for platinum

1

Platinum without online

Yes

Online trophies

0

Online note

psthc.fr lists no online trophies, and co-op is not needed for any trophy in the guides read.

DLC has trophies

Yes

Platinum includes DLC

No

DLC note

Two DLC trophy packs: Enter the Dominatrix (All Too Easy, for the first mission's Zinyak fight) and How the Saints Save Christmas (A Saint Gets a Gun). Kingpin, the platinum, needs every non-DLC trophy.

Missable trophies

1

Players with the platinum

6.9%

Grind

• Twenty-Twenty Vision: about 20 hours of total play
• Fist Meet Ground: 100 aliens killed with Death From Above

• Kingpin Unlock all Trophies in Saints Row IV. Platinum 7.86% of players
• Zero Saints Thirty Complete 'Zero Saints Thirty'. Bronze 92.93% of players
• Destroyer-In-Chief Complete 'The Saints Wing'. Bronze 89.82% of players
• There Is No Pancakes Complete 'A Pleasant Day'. Bronze 88.34% of players
• Woah. Get your first Super Powers. Bronze 74.65% of players
• Don't Panic Complete 'The Real World'. Bronze 67.52% of players
• Ghost in the Machine Download a new ally into a robotic body. Bronze 58.67% of players
• Didn't Need to See Him Naked Complete 'Matt's Back'. Bronze 54.13% of players
• Blast from the Past Complete 'A Game of Clones'. Bronze 46.55% of players
• About Time! Complete 'Welcome Back'. Bronze 44.79% of players
• Betrayed Complete 'All Hands On Deck'. Bronze 42.65% of players
• Poodle Skirt Complete 'Hello Teacup'. Bronze 41.46% of players
• Keymaster Complete 'Batteries Not Included'. Bronze 39.62% of players
• Imperator Complete 'Grand Finale'. Silver 37.54% of players
• Saints & Sensibility Complete 'Grand Finale' after completing all Homie missions. Gold 29.45% of players
• Half Way Home Complete all open world gameplay in two districts of the Simulated city of Steelport. Silver 29.83% of players
• How It Should Be Complete all open world gameplay in the entire Simulated city of Steelport. Gold 28.74% of players
• The Full Kinzie Do everything you can for Kinzie: Quests, Loyalty Missions... everything. Bronze 32.77% of players
• Paranormal Bromance Do everything you can for Matt: Quests, Loyalty Missions... everything. Bronze 30.79% of players
• The Face of the Saints Do everything you can for Pierce: Quests, Loyalty Missions... everything. Bronze 26.81% of players
• The Two Shaundis Do everything you can for Shaundi: Quests, Loyalty Missions... everything. Bronze 30.31% of players
• Machine Man Do everything you can for CID: Quests and... everything. Bronze 33.91% of players
• On Her Saint's Secret Service Do everything you can for Asha: Quests, Loyalty Missions... everything. Bronze 30.6% of players
• Benjamin [CENSORED] King Do everything you can for Ben: Quests, Loyalty Missions... everything. Bronze 25.96% of players
• Actor-Turned-Politician Do everything you can for your Veep: Quests, Loyalty Missions... everything. Bronze 38.59% of players
• Bouncin' with an Old Friend Do everything you can for an old friend: Quests, Loyalty Missions... everything. Silver 26.6% of players
• And I Ran... Super Sprint for 250,000 meters. Bronze 30.09% of players
• Don't Look Down Be airborne during Super Jumps for a combined 10 minutes of gameplay. Bronze 69.04% of players
• Chill Out Freeze and Shatter Kill 100 Aliens with the Freeze Blast Super Power. Bronze 30.83% of players
• Pounding the Pavement Kill 150 Aliens with the Stomp Super Power. Bronze 10.44% of players
• Here! Catch! Kill 100 Aliens with the Telekinesis Super Power. Bronze 15.35% of players
• Bringin' the Heat Kill 100 Aliens using the Fire Buff Super Power. Bronze 14.99% of players
• Fist Meet Ground Kill 100 Aliens with the Death From Above Super Power. Bronze 10.98% of players
• Experimental Tech Kill 25 Aliens with each: Dubstep, InflatoRay, Bounce Gun, Disintegrator, Abduction, and Black Hole. Bronze 11.58% of players
• Maximum Stopping Power Upgrade one weapon to the max. Bronze 37.09% of players
• Where's My Cape? Purchase all Super Power upgrades. Bronze 19.41% of players
• I Am Become Death Kill 1000 Aliens with any combination of Super Powers. Bronze 9.15% of players
• The Challenge King Complete ALL of the Challenges. Silver 8.7% of players
• The Whole Story Find ALL Audio Logs. Bronze 19.33% of players
• Better This Way Customize the style of all the weapons on your radial. Bronze 28.46% of players
• Back in the Day Spend 2 hours outside of missions with past Saints Row characters as your homies Bronze 16.67% of players
• Switch Hitter Play for at least 2 hours as a male character AND 2 hours as a female character. Bronze 18.73% of players
• First of Many Buy your first Upgrade from the Upgrade Store. Bronze 75.23% of players
• Zoo Keeper Kill 25 Wardens. Bronze 13.39% of players
• You Chose... Poorly Surrender when given the chance. Bronze 33.54% of players
• Ooo A Piece of Candy! Find 100 Data Clusters. Bronze 62.16% of players
• A Real Cluster.... Find 100% of all Data Clusters. Silver 17.71% of players
• Elementary Choose a new element for all of your superpowers. Bronze 22.9% of players
• Epic Jump Quest Jump from the roof of 3 Count to the Nuke Plant, without touching the ground or other rooftops. Bronze 13.7% of players
• Fourth and Forty Spend over 40 hours in the Simulation. Gold 13.65% of players
• Saintified Create and share a character online. Bronze Needs online 31.96% of players
• All Too Easy Kill Zinyak in less than 5 minutes in 'Save the Planet'. Bronze 33.52% of players
• Indomitable Complete 'Meet the Dominatrix' without dying. Bronze 30.37% of players
• Rigging the Race Destroy all the rival pony carts in 'At the Races'. Bronze 11.52% of players
• Health Inspector Destroy all the green polyps inside Paul in 'Pop His Top'. Silver 12.43% of players
• Bow to the Boss! Kill the Dominatrix in 'Escape the Dominatrix'. Silver 30.24% of players
• Friend of the Raptors Complete all five missions. Silver 30.13% of players
• Hello Little Friend Get 250 kills with the Minigun. Bronze 9.65% of players
• OMGWTFBBQ Get 100 kills with the Flamethrower. Bronze 9.58% of players
• Ultimate Hot Potato Get 100 kills with the Grenade Launcher. Bronze 9.7% of players
• Walking the Dinosaur Spend 30 minutes with Raptor Ned as your homie. Bronze 10.87% of players
• ...A Saint Gets a Gun Ring all the bells in town in 'Miracle on 3rd Street'. Bronze 22.33% of players
• Minty Fresh! Lick the candy cane barricade all the way through in 'The Fight Before Christmas'. Silver 20.07% of players
• Get that Kid to a Psychologist Find all the snowmen vignettes in the North Pole. Bronze 11.44% of players
• He's Still on the Naughty List Deliver a present to Zinyak in 'The Santa Clawz'. Bronze 11.57% of players
• *BEEP* YOU, CLAWZ! Complete all three missions. Silver 28.86% of players
• Our Gift to You Find the present in a holiday mission. Silver 17.77% of players
• Dear Santa Find all the letters to Santa in the holiday missions. Bronze 15.9% of players
• A World Without Christmas Complete the holiday text adventure. Bronze 11.02% of players
• A Very Genki Holiday Complete all instances of Genki Holiday. Bronze 12.33% of players
• Make a List, Check it Twice Complete all instances of Naughty and Nice. Bronze 13.75% of players

Space and patches

Space neededAbout 6.8 GB

Update patch317 MB

Version 01.06, the latest Sony hosts.

These are the patches Sony still hosts for this disc ID. The game's real history can be longer.

DLC

Two mission packs, a free weapon pack and a long run of costume, weapon and vehicle packs, plus a Season Pass that covered the two mission packs.

Items

Name	Date	Adds	Price	Obtainable today
GAT V Pack	2013-09-17	Johnny Gat inspired weapons and character customization options.	Free at launch, US$2.99 today	Yes
Enter the Dominatrix	2013-10-22	Five missions, new weapons, vehicles and homies, an alternate story where the simulation is hijacked by the Dominatrix. Carries 10 trophies.	US$6.99	Yes
How the Saints Save Christmas	2013-12-10	Three missions about rescuing Santa Claus, new weapons and vehicles. Carries 10 trophies.	US$6.99	Yes

Playable today

Playable offline todayYes

Campaign, online co-op and all DLC still work.

Online

Online servers runningYes

Plays offlineYes

Online co-op for two players and the character upload still work on PS3.

Services

Service	Status
Online co-op and character upload (PS3)	running

Reception

Aggregates

Outlet	Platform	Score	Scale
Metacritic	PS3	76	100

Critics

Outlet	Score	Scale
IGN	7.3	10
GameSpot	7.5	10
Eurogamer	8	10
Polygon	9	10
Destructoid	9.5	10

Staff and cast

Staff

Role	Name
Producer	Jim Boone
Designer	Scott Phillips
Programmer	Ryan Spencer
Artist	Stephen Quirk
Writer	Jason L. Blair
Writer	Jeffrey Bielawski
Writer	Tony Bedard
Composer	Malcolm Kirby Jr.

Cast

Character	Actor
The Boss	Troy Baker, Kenn Michael, Robin Atkin Downes, Laura Bailey, Diane Michelle, Sumalee Montano or Nolan North
Shaundi	Danielle Nicolet
Pierce Washington	Arif S. Kinchen
Johnny Gat	Daniel Dae Kim
Keith David (himself, Vice President)	Keith David
Benjamin King	Terry Crews
Zinyak	JB Blanc
Kinzie Kensington	Natalie Lander
Matt Miller	Yuri Lowenthal
Asha Odekar	Rebecca Riedy
Jane Austen	Eden Riegel

Notes for collectors

• The game was first refused classification in Australia, which effectively banned it, and was accepted after the offending content was changed.
• Enter the Dominatrix started as an April Fools joke for Saints Row: The Third in 2012 and grew into this game. The leftover content was released as the first mission pack.
• The Saintified trophy asks you to create and share a character online.
• The PS3 disc has three regional disc IDs: BLUS31205 for North America and BLES01889 and BLES01954 for Europe.
• Patch 01.03 is the biggest on Sony's server, at about 938 MB, and the later patches are listed as separate packages rather than one rolled-up file.

Credits

Publisher

Deep Silver

Developer

Volition

Released

2013-08-20

Age rating

ESRB M

Disc ID

BLUS31205

Region

US

Time to beat

about 15.5 hours

Copies in the shop

• Saints Row IV (PS3) CA$14.99