! This page contains unmarked spoilers. Administrivia/YouHaveBeenWarned!
!! Index: [[YMMV/SaintsRow All Games]] | ''[[YMMV/SaintsRow1 Saints Row (2006)]]'' | ''Saints Row 2'' | ''YMMV/SaintsRowTheThird'' | ''YMMV/SaintsRowIV'' | ''YMMV/SaintsRowGatOutOfHell'' | ''YMMV/AgentsOfMayhem'' | ''[[YMMV/SaintsRow2022 Saints Row (2022)]]''

The following entries have their own pages:
* [[ThatOneLevel/SaintsRow2 That One Level]]
* [[ThatOneSidequest/SaintsRow2 That One Sidequest]]
----
* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation:
** Shogo Akuji - an incompetent and idiotic gang leader whose father has to come in and clean up his mess, or a WellDoneSonGuy who wants his father's respect in his own way? Even his attack on Gat and the Boss at Aisha's funeral is only after he crosses an apparent DespairEventHorizon when his father not only mourns the death of Jyunichi, the man who basically replaced Shogo as a son to him but mourns because ''it leaves him with no one but Shogo to call family''.
** Dane Vogel, CEO of [[MegaCorp Ultor]] - CorruptCorporateExecutive or WellIntentionedExtremist? His EvilPlan is to arm the various gangs of Stilwater and sucker them into [[EnemyCivilWar killing each other off.]] Then he could [[VillainousGentrification move in and gentrify]] the [[WretchedHive projects district,]] making it a place people would actually want to live and making millions in real estate. However, his Masako mercenaries end up causing just as much damage as the Saints in the process, [[KlingonPromotion he has the board of directors killed for disagreeing with his plan,]] and his ultimate plan is [[KillThePoor to remove poorer "undesirable" people out of the projects.]]
** The Boss - An incredibly badass SociopathicHero who truly cares about their friends and would risk their lives for them, or a plain and cruel sociopath? Fan reactions are varied. It's telling that their {{Jerkass}} behavior was toned down for the subsequent games.
** Are the Saints still true to the ideal of being a lesser evil compared to the gangs they pit themselves against, or are they no different? Julius even points it out.
---> '''Julius:''' Don't you get it? The Saints didn't solve a goddamn thing. Drugs were still being pushed, innocent people were still getting killed...all we did was turn into Vice Kings that wore purple.
** During "Corporate Meltdown" in the Corporate Warfare DLC, Dex tries to reason with the Boss by saying that Eric Gryphon's "not who you think he is". It's left ambiguous if Gryphon is actually more nefarious than he appears, or if Dex is simply trying to save his own skin.
* {{Altitis}}: You can replay missions in the game, or go back and perform any number of side missions and diversions. Why is this important? As well as customizing your character's looks, you can also change their voice, and in game dialogue and reactions change depending on your choices, so the Boss can come across as aggressive, tender, or funny in the same scene, depending on how they look and sound.
* AnnoyingVideoGameHelper: For the most part, your recruitable AI buddies do a decent job at fighting alongside you... until they pick up an RPG. Then it's just a matter of time before they kill themselves (or you) with a rocket fired at somebody from point-blank range. They also automatically try to shoot through {{Human Shield}}s, which properly screws you in the fight with Veteran Child.
* AnticlimaxBoss: In any given mission with a BossFight, the hardest part is going to be actually getting ''to'' the boss, past his waves of {{Mooks}} (and, in several levels, attack choppers with missiles and depth charges or more mooks filing in at random intervals during the fight). The actual bosses are fairly easy to gun down, including the final boss, Dane Vogel. The lone exception is Veteran Child, and then only because he has Shaundi as a HumanShield, meaning you fail the mission automatically if she dies.
* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: Literally a game with music for almost everybody, including genres spanning from Music/{{Emo}}, to {{Gangsta Rap}} and early {{Trap Music}}, Indie Rock, DancePunk, {{New Wave|Music}}, {{Metalcore}}, modern day {{Thrash Metal}}, and even classical.
* CriticalDissonance: Critics tend to regard the game as being SoOkayItsAverage at best and [[UnintentionalPeriodPiece outdated]] at worst, often preferring the [[DenserAndWackier off-the-walls style of the later two games]]. In contrast, the fandom regard this as the best game in the series for its vast amount of features, particularly in its much more vast clothing options, and having a middle ground between realistic and wacky.
* CrossesTheLineTwice: Yes, some of Boss' actions in the sequel are pretty bad, but like the rest of the game, [[RefugeInAudacity they're so over the top you can't help but laugh and/or cheer.]]
** One standout example in the story is Mr. Sunshine's RasputinianDeath. Sunshine [[{{Determinator}} refusing to die]] even after he's been riddled with bullets? Not exactly that funny. Boss becoming ''[[YouHaveGotToBeKiddingMe exasperated and annoyed]]'' at Sunshine's refusal to die? Okay, that's a well-earned chuckle. Boss [[OffWithHisHead decapitating him]] and promptly disposing of his head ''on the assembly line of a slaughterhouse?'' Now it's hilarious!
** This bit of dialogue in Good D after [[MoralEventHorizon Gat buried Shogo alive]] in the previous mission:
---> '''Gat:''' ''(Armed with two [=SMGs=] while Boss is merely using a pistol; he reloads them after unloading the magazines on some cans for target practice)'' I hope that fucker's still screamin'...\\
'''Boss:''' [[LampshadeHanging I'm pretty sure Shogo's dead by now...]]\\
'''Gat:''' ''(Not satisfied, he pulls out a ''light machine gun'' out of {{Hammerspace}})'' A guy can dream, right?
* DesignatedHero: The Playa's handling of the Brotherhood arc is... questionable. While there wasn't much doubt that there would be bloodshed after rejecting Maero's offer, Playa draws first blood - in unusually personal ways, first by kidnapping Donnie and forcing him to sabotage Brotherhood trucks, something which both damages the friendship he has with Maero and which almost gets Donnie killed - only to ''then'' horrifically scar Maero's face with radioactive ink, after going to fairly extreme lengths to get it to boot. Mind you, there hadn't been any actual gang warfare at this point, this was all petty revenge for feeling slighted by Maero's offer.
* DemonicSpiders:
** Tornado attack helicopters. They have homing missiles that will destroy most vehicles in one hit and anything less formidable than a Bear APC in two. They are perfectly capable of firing said missiles at the Boss even when they aren't in a vehicle (such hits are universally fatal), and (even assuming you have a weapon capable of taking one down) you usually won't even be able to see the damn thing until it's already fired off at least one of them at you. As of this writing, there are five missions listed under ThatOneLevel on this page, and three of them are so designated because they involve being attacked by Tornadoes.
** Any enemy in cars. They '''will ''not''''' hesitate to run you over, sometimes several times in a row. And no matter what you do or how much you upgrade, you can always be killed by being knocked on the ground by a Brotherhood truck and shot by their buddies. Don't think you can hop in a car and get away either, because most of them are just as good a driver as you are. Feel like trying to go man to man with a carful of homies? Too bad, because they've got forty cars with at least two gunmen each.
** Some missions will have enemy cars (police or otherwise) do a suicidal crash into yours in an attempt to run you off the road and even in an improved Bear (which is tough but fairly slow), this can be incredibly obnoxious.
* EvenBetterSequel: The series pretty much just went from ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAuto'' clone to rollercoaster ride of gangbanging fun with an improved story, more to do and much more customization.
* EvilIsCool: Arguably the main draw of the game; it's a DenserAndWackier take on the typical trappings of [[DamnItFeelsGoodToBeAGangster idealized gangsters in fiction]], and the game encourages players to abuse VideoGameCrueltyPotential in as many ways as possible. [[WebAnimation/ZeroPunctuation Yahtzee]] claimed that the player character is basically a Franchise/{{Batman}} villain.
* GameBreaker:
** It's very easy to get a Bear, an armored vehicle with mounted minigun, early in the game, and mod it for extra durability and speed. This becomes an [[InfinityPlusOneSword infinity+ 1 ride]] for the many situations it's available in.
** Get through the Red Light District Escort mission, and you'll gain the ability to have any vehicle in your garage delivered to you, even during some activities like Drug Trafficking and Mayhem. On its own, useful. With an APC in your garage, it's practically cheating.
** It's pretty easy as soon as you finish the tutorial to go do the "FUZZ" missions and grab both the Kobra (read: automatic pistol) and unlimited ammo for it, effectively turning it into a DiscOneNuke. It becomes even more of a Game Breaker once you're able to [[DualWielding dual-wield]] them, mowing down anything but bosses in just a few shots.
** Though it will take quite a while, completing every single assassination request in the hitman activity will grant the player unlimited rifle ammo. While this already makes most early missions a breeze, once you get either the [[InfinityPlusOneSword AR-50 XMAC or the AR200 SAW]] you'll be ready to take on pretty much any mission in the game. What's more, this actually also applies to the sniper rifle, despite being in the heavy weapon slot.
* GoodBadBugs: Sometimes, in the final mission, "...And a Better Life," if you don't lift off in the helicopter and instead run around resolutely refusing to engage with the attack chopper that comes for you, said chopper will eventually just fly away and not be replaced with subsequent versions when you get back into your helicopter and attack the Phillips Building. Again, the effectiveness of this is hit-or-miss: sometimes, the choppers go away for the rest of the mission, sometimes only for a couple of minutes. Either way, a [[ThatOneLevel teeth-grindingly difficult level]] may be somewhat eased.
** There's another bug where said helicopters may just blow themselves up in some manner.
** During the final Ronin mission, the game expects you to fight Kazuo Akuji in a climactic swordfight in a burning boat. That said, the player can also lure Akuji into areas of the ship that are on fire, where he'll quickly burn to death and end the mission. For those who dislike the swordfighting mechanics exclusive to the Ronin missions, this can be a huge relief.
** In the Fight Club activities, the player is prevented from grabbing ahold of enemies who will push them away in order to facilitate a fair fight, as said enemies cannot grab them, either. However, should an enemy be holding a weapon when this happens, they will drop it leaving them wide open for rush attacks when they would likely clobber you otherwise.
* GrowingTheBeard: The first game, while generally seen as good, is often seen as a {{Narm}}ier version of ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoSanAndreas''. The second game has much better gameplay (think ''San Andreas'' 2.0, compared to ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIV'''s realism) and a very creative flow to its side missions, and watching your player character change from a blank-slate yes man to an over-the-top {{sociopathic|Hero}} leader is very engaging.
* HesJustHiding: Some fans needed a lot of convincing that [[spoiler:Aisha really did get [[OffWithHisHead decapitated]].]] Despite the fact that [[spoiler:Gat giving Shogo Akuji the chance to walk away from her burial service]] would be ''extremely'' out-of-character if he wasn't truly bereaved. This seems to be a theme among some fans given the same can be said for [[spoiler:Julius (who [[BoomHeadshot gets shot in the head]] on-camera), Lin (who drowned in the trunk of a car in the last game), and even Shogo (who gets BuriedAlive) and his father (who's left with a sword through his shoulder, pinning him down on a boat moments before it explodes)]].
* HilariousInHindsight:
** Maero telling the Boss to go to hell at the end of the last Brotherhood mission goes from being serious and dramatic to hilarious with the release of ''VideoGame/SaintsRowGatOutOfHell'', where the Boss is kidnapped by Satan and actually goes to hell at the very beginning of the game.
** The "Shaundi Intelligence Network™" after [[Series/JerseyShore The Situation]] actually apparently had one in a show that didn't debut until a year later.
** The "Would You Rather" ad mentions BASE jumping and joining a fight league, both of which are in ''[[VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIVTheBalladOfGayTony The Ballad of Gay Tony]]''.
** The DumbassTeenageSon of a foreign crimelord having one of the loved ones of a OneManArmy criminal of Asian descent killed out of spite, then antagonizing said one-man army further, which directly causes his death, and that of his father afterwards? Are we talking about Shogo Akuji or [[Film/JohnWick Iosef Tarasov]]? Bonus points for Shogo [[TemptingFate telling his father that he can "finish what I started" by murdering Johnny]], which is similar to what Iosef says about John.
** In "Bad Trip", while high, Female Voice 2 asks Shaundi [[ShipTease whether she thinks Pierce likes her]]. In [[VideoGame/SaintsRowTheThird the next game]], Female Voice 2 (Russian instead of Afro-American) is a {{Yandere}} towards Pierce.
* HoYay: The General and Mr. Sunshine. There is also The Boss and any of the lieutenants, depending on their gender.
* JerkassWoobie:
** Shogo Akuji to some fans. While he is an incompetent gang leader and a SmugSnake at times, all he wanted to do was impress his (even more so incompetent) father, who outright shows disdain for him and favors. [[TooDumbToLive Then he decided to attack]] [[BullyingADragon Aisha's funeral.]]
** Same can be said for Maero throughout the Brotherhood storyline. He was content to engage in petty thievery to fund supping up his monster trucks, getting tattooed by his guitarist best friend, and had a girlfriend he could rely on. Then he decided to make that 20-80 offer...
* MemeticLoser:
** The Quasar is an [=SUV=] in the game that, while it is a well-performing car, is ''infamous'' for being very rare to find, since it has a small chance of spawning only in the Downtown area.
** Donnie. The guy can't catch a break. First he gets a gun in his face while mourning Lin. Then he's forced to sabotage his own gang's vehicles, almost getting him killed. Then he's cornered by the Boss ''again'', being beaten to a pulp for information about Carlos.
* MemeticMutation:
** "Equip the detonator."[[labelnote:Explanation]]The line is most infamous due to a glitch in the second mission of the Brotherhood story arc, which involves blowing up the gang cars with the help of Donnie. The detonator won't show up unless the player goes to the weapons store and swaps a different melee weapon. Thankfully, this was later patched.[[/labelnote]]
** I have some pictures that I would like to show your audience if you don't mind.[[labelnote:Explanation]]A quote said by Dane Vogel on [[ShowWithinAShow The Anna Show]] during the game's opening cutscene, where he showcases Ultor's renovation of the Saint's Row district. The line is ubiquitous in YouTubePoop-esque videos, particularly those by WebVideo/{{MasakoTeam}}, where Dane is [[CargoShip shown to have an obsession with showing his pictures off]].[[/labelnote]]
* MoralEventHorizon:
** For the ''PlayerCharacter'' after "Revelation". Before that point, you can easily convince yourself that you're doing it to stop the violence, return order to the streets, and potentially slow down or stop the drug trade. After the player murders Julius, though, it really sets in that your character does not care about any of this - the city is theirs, and they're going to keep it no matter what. And to top it all off, before you kill him, Julius basically tells you that you've become just as bad as the gangs you fought in the previous game, which is why he dismantled the gang in the first place. Oh, and if you didn't do that, you throw a random bartender into gunfire and blow her corpse up to escape a Masako hit squad.
** Dex also counts, as he decides to try and do both of them in.
** Shogo Akuji crosses it when he orders Jyunichi to kidnap Aisha, who winds up killing her when she tries to warn Johnny and the Boss. To make things worse, he betrays Jyunichi in a fit of pique and tries to personally kill the Boss and Gat at Aisha's funeral. He fails and winds up being buried alive for his troubles by Johnny and the Boss... not before being on the receiving end of a ''vicious'' NoHoldsBarredBeatdown from Gat.
*** Likewise, everything after "Deal with the Saints" was left up to Jyunichi, and Shogo only betrayed him to the Saints after his father all but removed Shogo from power and placed himself at the head of the Ronin with Jyunichi as his right hand.
** The Brotherhood's crossing of the horizon is an interesting case. They kidnap Carlos, and chain him to the back of one of their trucks and drag him across town, face-first, which definitely gives you motivation to wipe them out. However, it's the main character who drew first blood by putting radioactive waste in Maero's tattoo ink and making him TwoFaced. Had he not pulled that little stunt, this could have never happened. Granted, Maero's offer was a terrible, terrible deal for the Saints, but still... Oh, and you avenge Carlos by kidnapping Jessica and locking her in the trunk of her car, driving the car to a monster truck rally that Maero is participating in, and parking the car so that he unknowingly crushes his beloved girlfriend by landing on the trunk after a jump. And if that wasn't enough, the Boss shows up as soon as Maero gets out and tosses him Jessica's keys so that he can open the trunk and see her mangled corpse for himself, all while sneering "When you look in the trunk, just remember that you should have offered me more than 20 percent."
*** The Boss cripples a tattoo artist's hand with fireworks, ruining his livelihood as a scrimshaw ''and'' a musician, even though ''he isn't involved with the Brotherhood in any way save being a scrimshaw for Maero.'' He even explicitly says that Maero doesn't tell him anything because he doesn't want his best friend to get mixed up in gang violence.
** And so we have one from each gang, there's DJ Veteran Child from the Sons of Samedi. He was already a talented, award-winning DJ, but because he wanted some good weed, he became one of the top members of the gang. He didn't seem all that violent initially (even confused) but was more than willing to remorselessly abuse and kill his ex-girlfriend Shaundi as well as the Boss so he can save his own neck. As Shaundi so succinctly puts it after the Boss kills him:
--->'''Shaundi:''' My ex-boyfriend's a dick.
*** When you go and rescue Shaundi the various Sons will scream to kill the girl, further enforcing that of all the gangs are much, much worse than the Saints, and Shaundi's fears of them are very valid.
* NarmCharm: Most of the Boss' actions in the second game are so [[RuleOfCool over-the-top]] you shouldn't be able to take them seriously, but they are also [[VillainProtagonist so unflinchingly brutal]] that they manage to be effective nonetheless.
* NeverLiveItDown:
** Carlos' death and other Saints that have died even when Boss had nothing to do with it are laid at their feet a lot.
** It is almost impossible to discuss the Boss without bringing up their more infamous actions, such as having Jessica kidnapped and crushed to death, and whether or not they count as a sociopath because of it. This caused ''The Third'' to make the Boss more AffablyEvil in nature as well as poking fun at the Boss' previous nature in future games.
* OneTrueThreesome: Female 2 seems to ship Boss/Pierce/Shaundi.
* PlayerPunch:
** Aisha's murder during the Ronin arc, especially if you played the first one. The little... game... the Brotherhood plays with Carlos during their arc. Veteran Child taking Shaundi hostage during the Samedi arc. This game loves cleaning the player's clock.
** Killing Julius in the hidden mission. Granted, The Boss had good reason, but so did Julius for doing what he did. It's not like he was trying to kill The Boss after they woke back up either. The whole dialogue that transpires before you put a bullet in his head will probably make a lot of players feel a bit of HeelRealization.
* PortingDisaster:
** The game was ported to the PC by a subsidiary of Creator/CDProjektRED, before they were well-known for triple-A games. The game suffered from ''enormous'' draw distance issues - try driving a regular car at top speed and one may almost immediately get stuck in an area that hasn't loaded yet. None of the [=DLCs=] made it to the PC, either, because by the time any of it even came out for consoles, Volition had essentially fired the porters from the project and declared it hopeless. The controls (where keys can and will become sticky if held) and audio quality in this port are also really poor. Luckily, there are mods to fix many of these issues (''Gentlemen of the Row'' is very popular) and improve the audio quality, but even the mods can't guarantee that the game will run on any particular set-up, with even high end hardware made years after the game's release didn't help. The PC version was then ported to Linux, with the exact same problems as above.
*** However, during an 11th-Anniversary stream for the game in October of 2019, Creator/{{Volition}} announced that they had found the source code that had been lost and are working on a patch/rerelease to try and turn the porting disaster into a PolishedPort, fixing many performance issues, integrating several features of the ''Gentlemen of the Row'' mod (since its creator was one of the people involved with creating the patch) and even adding the [=DLCs=] to the game. As the project is a two-man job working outside of office hours, with one of those two having since passed away two years in and Volition itself being shuttered another two years after that, time will tell if the AuthorsSavingThrow works.
* SacredCow: Widely considered the best ''Saints Row'' game, being a SurprisinglyImprovedSequel to the original and differentiating itself from ''GTA'' by being DenserAndWackier, while still remaining reasonably grounded and serious at times (unlike ''VideoGame/SaintsRowTheThird'' and ''VideoGame/SaintsRowIV'', which pushed the wackiness to ridiculous levels and dropped any pretense of realism, to [[BrokenBase divisive results]]). As such, fans will often not take kindly to criticism of this game, unless the complaints are specifically about [[PortingDisaster the disastrous PC version]].
* ScrappyMechanic:
** The radio station "99.0 The Underground" is a college radio, so it has a limited range. Unfortunately, said range is incredibly tiny, with a clear signal only covering about a quarter of the map, making it impossible to listen to it on a consistent basis. Luckily, Scratch That sells the songs that play on the station, allowing you to create the playlist yourself.
** Some of the [=NPCs'=] comments can get highly annoying, but the ones that stand out are how much your character smells if you wear a particular outfit too often. While this is a means to get the player to change clothes often, this also means that you can't have any favorite outfits often as you can't seem to wash them in the game. It gets annoying being told that you stink and you can't change that in game.
** Sidequests having six stages in them is tedious at best, especially for the more difficult ones such as the Heli Assault sidequest. The sequels did away with it by breaking up single sidequests of six stages into two separate versions of a single sidequest with three stages each, making it much more convenient.
* SerialNumbersFiledOff: The first was noted for being a total ''GTA'' clone. Yet the second game got praised for doing it well, and taking some of the elements further.
* SequelDisplacement: Number aside, the first game was given average reviews and is only available on one console (even later attempts to rerelease it are solely in the realm of backwards-compatibility for future Xbox models). This game grew a Music/ZZTop beard and went multiplatform, thus expanding the fandom.
* SignatureScene: The ending cutscenes to “Red Asphalt” and “Rest in Peace”, with the former having the Boss do a MercyKill on Carlos after being brutalized by the Brotherhood and the latter having Gat peforming a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown on Shogo and then [[BuriedAlive burying him alive with the help of the Boss]]. These are often used as examples for the first two games’ tone compared to later entries in the series, with the former being a ''massive'' PlayerPunch and TearJerker and the latter being both [[CatharsisFactor cathartic]] and [[NightmareFuel horrifying]].
* SpecialEffectFailure: The nurse in the opening cutscenes' shirt doesn't stay consistent between the cutscenes played before and after the Boss is customized.
* StrawmanHasAPoint: '''''Julius.''''' Did Troy really expect him not to be killed if he tried to convince The Boss, his protege, to stop? Though given the Boss just shrugged and let Troy off for being TheMole, it seems it was the fact that Julius ''[[ItsPersonal personally]]'' betrayed them that offends the Boss. Troy also made up for this to an extent by keeping Boss on life support for 5 years and stopping the prison guards from regularly beating up Johnny.
* SurprisinglyImprovedSequel: Although [=SR1=] got mostly decent reviews, it was generally regarded as "just another [[VideoGame/GrandTheftAuto GTA]] clone", with an overall reception split between "This is a cheap GTA ripoff" and "This is a cheap GTA ripoff... but they made some improvements and it's actually not that bad." In contrast, the sequel has gained almost universal critical acclaim (even [[WebAnimation/ZeroPunctuation Yahtzee]] absolutely adores it) and been regarded as not only far better than the original, but also a worthy rival to the ''GTA'' series by many. This was no doubt helped by [=SR2=] happening to take the [[CrazyIsCool batshit insane]] route at the same time GTA IV started to [[BrokenBase divide]] critics for taking a more [[SeriousBusiness restrained]] [[DarkerAndEdgier approach]] to the WideOpenSandbox "crim sim".
* SuspiciouslySimilarSong: The theme of ''FUZZ'' sounds a lot like ''Bad Boys''.
* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: The Corporate Warfare storyline ends up with the Boss vowing to track down Dex and eliminate him for his treachery. Many fans were disappointed that ''The Third'' ditched this storyline with nary a mention of Dex, only resolving it with a sidequest that involves continuously killing Dex's husk in ''Gat Out Of Hell'' that many felt was anti-climatic. Half the problem here is that the storyline ''was'' supposed to conclude with ''Saints Row: Money Shot'', which would have included a mission where you assassinate Dex - the problem being that ''Money Shot'' [[VaporWare never came out]].
* ToughActToFollow: ''Saints Row 2'' is seen as the best game in the series, due to it being seen as a SurprisinglyImprovedSequel, how vast and diverse Stilwater is, [[SidetrackedByTheGoldSaucer the numerous side activities]], its massive customization options, and for being DenserAndWackier than the competing ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAuto'' series as it was in the middle of a controversial turn towards more realism. While the following games in the series are generally seen as good in their own rights, many argue that they [[{{Flanderization}} cranked up the wackiness too much]], cutting out the moments of genuinely dark drama that made the story of [=SR2=] so compelling. Other complaints include the removal of the brief story cutscenes before activities and side-missions (leaving them devoid of in-universe context or explanation) and moving the series to the less-diverse and smaller city of Steelport.
* TooBleakStoppedCaring: Not as bad as other examples, but there are people who are put off by the Boss being a violent {{Jerkass}} throughout most of the game, and openly wondering whether they're still worth rooting for. The scene where they confront Julius solidly highlights this, when Julius [[WhatTheHellHero calls them out for their antics]] and states that the Saints have become no better than the other destructive gangs they were originally founded to oppose. The Boss just states that they don't care, because Stilwater is theirs, and they'll do whatever they want, before shooting Julius in cold blood. That said, it's worth noting that Volition took note of the fans' complaints and [[AuthorsSavingThrow replied]] by making the Boss increasingly less sociopathic and more comedic in later games, to solidly establish their series as the SpiritualAntithesis to ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAuto'', which also suffers from this problem.
* UnintentionalPeriodPiece:
** The game canonically takes place in [[NextSundayAD 2011]] (five years after ''VideoGame/SaintsRow1''), but because it only actually came out two years after ''Saint's Row'', the setting feels more like [[TurnOfTheMillennium 2007-2008]], especially with the fashion, music and cultural references.
*** The inclusion of emos, HollywoodHomely nerds, and scene-esque punks as random pedestrians around Stilwater.
*** In-game music is bought from Scratch That, a record store chain battling against illegal downloading, and civilians can be heard commenting about new cars having CD players.
*** 89.0 Generation X's playlist is mostly [[EmoMusic emo rock]], a genre that heavily fell out of favor in the public eye in the early stages of TheNewTens. Several of the bands featured on the station, such as Music/MyChemicalRomance, Music/HotHotHeat, Minus The Bear, and Music/PanicAtTheDisco have split up over the years, although the first reunited in 2020.
*** One of the artists featured on The Krunch 106.66 is Music/AsILayDying, a band who would eventually wind up in controversy six years later, when its frontman was arrested for attempting to hire an undercover police officer to murder his ex-wife, and break up for a few years as a result; had that happened before the game came out, it would have been impossible, especially for a game like this, to include one of their songs without the controversy getting at least a mention.
*** The technology as well fits the mid-2000s. The Boss owns a blocky, first-generation smartphone with limited internet access (with a Goldenpages {{Expy}} being featured as a way of contacting businesses, and the only other extra use they get for it is as a GPS), while other characters, including Shaundi, are seen holding flip phones. Blocky laptops and computers are also seen around Stilwater. One sidequest also has the Boss enter an internet café, which were already on their way out by 2008.
*** UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror is referenced various times in weapon stores, with the Brass Knuckles commercial referencing the term 'freedom fries' and post-9/11 patriotism.
*** The presence of the AR-50 XMAC can be seen as a dated aspect, as the [=XM8=] was ubiquitous in games (and occasionally movies) made between the mid-2000s and early-2010s before game developers started looking to even more recent and actually-produced and adopted weapon systems like the FN SCAR and Kriss Vector as a quick and easy way to symbolize "the future".
** The Company of Gyros restaurants, as ''VideoGame/CompanyOfHeroes'' and ''Saints Row'' are no longer under the same publisher following THQ's bankruptcy (Relic going to Creator/{{Sega}} while Volition was acquired by Creator/DeepSilver).
** Tera Patrick's inclusion in the ''Ultor Exposed'' DLC and promotions for the game. Patrick retired from porn shoots later the same year. It's especially apparent for PC players, as the DLC was unavailable on PC except via bare-bones porting attempts which didn't include cutscenes or characters for well over a decade, meaning by the time the upgrade patch actually comes out most players probably won't even know or remember who Tera Patrick is.
** One of the sidequests involves the Boss impersonating a police officer for a parody of ''Series/{{COPS}}'', a show whose popularity was waning during the time period. In one case, the Boss does it to highlight PoliceBrutality for a lawyer, before the 2010s would see several high-profile cases of police brutality and 2020 would see the cancellation of the show for this very reason.
* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: In the epilogue level, the Boss' shooting of Julius, right after Julius states that he tried to kill the Playa back in the first game because he saw that the Saints were becoming just another terrorizing gang instead of cleaning up the city as he'd intended is supposed to be the Boss crossing the MoralEventHorizon by shooting their former mentor, and we're supposed to sympathize with Julius. However, looking at the events of the first game closer, Julius' antics come across as less well-intentioned than he presents them. He never tried to kill any of the Saints apart from the Playa - not even [[BloodKnight Johnny Gat]], who you'd think would be the Saint who most warranted being killed, instead getting sent to jail for trying to kill Troy. Also, for most of the original game, the Playa had no visible influence on the direction the gang took in its entirety, apart from in the loosest sense of propelling the Saints upward by pulling the other, more overtly evil gangs down while doing what other people told him to do. Also, despite Julius naming the Playa his right-hand man towards the end of the game, everything they did after that they were forced to do because Julius was arrested in the same cutscene he promoted the Playa in, and Alderman Hughes manipulated them into murdering his political rivals in exchange for Julius' freedom. At that point, Julius' actions look less like IDidWhatIHadToDo by killing a psychopath before he destroyed the city, and more like having a predetermined notion of what the Playa was like without Julius' influence, and then, when the Playa proved that [[TrueCompanions they still cared about other people than themselves]], blowing them up [[DisproportionateRetribution for not following his script]]. In other words, Julius was [[BlamedForBeingRailroaded blaming the Playa for being railroaded]], and the Boss shooting him is more justified revenge - indeed, [[CreateYourOwnVillain their betrayal at his hands in the first game may have been what turned them into a more ruthless gangster in the first place]].
* TheWoobie: It's hard not to feel sorry for Donnie. After losing Lin in the previous game and still mourning her death, he's then forced at gunpoint by The Boss to betray Maero as part of a massive CycleOfRevenge that already isn't [[VillainProtagonist painting The Boss in a positive light.]]
----