The heavily anticipated reboot of Saints Row has finally arrived, and fans are already going wild with it. The new Saints Row is fully aware of what fans wanted from it, as it includes intense action, weird and occasionally unhinged humor, and even an expansive character creation system that offers a ton of bizarre choices and styles.
There's a lot to love and enjoy about the new Saints Row, and though it is currently dealing with some rough bugs and glitches in the early days after its release, that won't always be the case. With time, Saints Row could easily become one of the best games of the entire year. With all that in mind, here are some tips and tricks for how to become the best boss of the Saints.
Stay on the Main Story Path for a While
The new Saints Row, much like its predecessors, has a massive open-world map with a ton of things to explore and do. The game definitely remembers what makes open-world games fun. However, it's actually more in the player's best interest to stick with the main story missions for the first few hours. Players should at least finish the mission called "Networking" before heading off the beaten track. This is because many of those early hour missions unlock a lot of features and content, from important locations like the Saints Row HQ to special features like better weapons and ventures. Playing out the story for a while will actually feed back into that random exploration that a lot of players love to do.
Upgrade a Variety of Weapons
Players will naturally unlock a lot of weapons through the normal course of playing through Saints Row, including sniper rifles, assault rifles, and shotguns. However, players shouldn't rely on these basic weapons to get them all the way through to the end of the game or some of the more difficult Challenges. Players who find themselves stuck at a certain part of the game should keep an eye out for the gun store, called Friendly Fire. At Friendly Fire, players can upgrade all their guns and melee weapons or buy new, more powerful weapons that can be upgraded to be even stronger.
Obviously, each player is going to have their own favorite weapon or two, and players should absolutely focus on upgrading those first when they can. However, players shouldn't completely neglect the guns that they don't like as much, as some missions and challenges require players to use a specific weapon. Players who have upgraded the weapons that they don't normally use, even just by a little, might find themselves in a much better position than those who only focus on upgrading one or two guns.
Complete Challenges and Receive Perks
Players will quickly discover that they access main missions through their smartphone, but this is also where players can find their list of Challenges. These Challenges, many of which are common, mundane tasks that a player is bound to do through the course of Saints Row anyway, are very crucial to character growth. Upon completing Challenges, the player will be awarded special Perks. These can then be equipped for some great game-changing bonuses, including increased XP and dual-wielding handguns.
More Challenges are unlocked as the story progresses, giving players another reason to hold off on free roam for a while. However, once players do start getting into free-roaming, they should focus on completing as many Challenges as they can to find the right Perks that work for them and their style of play.
Take Advantage of Criminal Ventures
Criminal Ventures are one of the most important and useful features found in Saints Row. With Criminal Ventures, the player can buy up businesses and then gain passive income all throughout the rest of the game. This passive income very quickly covers the loss from the original purchase, especially as it stacks across all 15 Criminal Ventures. Each one can also be upgraded to gain even more money.
Near the end of the game, when players need better guns and cars, the money that is constantly being earned from Criminal Ventures will more than cover the costs of what the player needs. It is worth noting that the passive income from Ventures only grows while the game is actually running. However, with so many things to do and see in Saints Row, the wait time to earn that last bit of needed cash should fly by for players.