Anti-Climax Boss: The Final Boss, the Nahualli, is built up throughout the game as an Inexplicably AwesomeOne-Man Army with a cool and collected demeanor. However, the actual climactic fight is rather disappointing, consisting of a "Get Back Here!" Boss chase through a bunker full of minions (where the only notable thing about fighting him is that he can use takedowns just like the player), followed by a rather uninspired boss fight against an attack helicopter, and then finally a quickdraw duel that's decided by a single button press Quick Time Event.
Audience-Alienating Premise: Although the game intended to revisit the series' roots following the Denser and Wackier direction taken by The Third and IV, it ended up being a tough sell. Longtime fans were put off by a continuity reboot that focused on a younger college-aged cast turning to crime to pay off student debt with no returning characters or references to them, while non-fans found the story and writing to be clichéd and underdeveloped, along with the numerous performance optimization issues on PC and consoles. The game's divisive reception led to Volition being sold to Gearbox Software before it shut down a year after the release.
Awesome Music: Like in Saints Row IV, you can use the game's Playlist app to play your favorite music while on foot. The music selection is pretty vast, covering various different genres, so there's enough to go around for everyone. As for the music itself, here's but a few examples.
The series' return to form in the CG reveal trailer is scored by The Prodigy's (featuring Public Enemy and Manfred Mann) "Shut 'Em Up". Sadly, the song itself is nowhere to be seen in the actual game, unlike GTA V's trailer songs.
The main theme itself really encapsulates the fresh start that the game is aiming for... and in a New Old West style, no less.
Nuclear Blast fans, rejoice. For there is an entire radio station filled with some of the label's best hits.
Breather Level: "Edith's Vision Journal", Unlike most other business venture missions which have you in conflict with police or enemy factions, driving under less than ideal circumstances, or just causing general mayhem, Edith just sends you on a scavenger hunt around Santo Ileso to photograph objects with specific textures from which she will derive special materials for you to customize your gear.
Cliché Storm: Many reviewers and players accused the main cast of being this amongst other criticism, with the overall plot itself faring little better. If anything, the main cast themselves are rather underdeveloped (though not completely flat), and the less said about the villains, the better.
Critical Dissonance: The game received mixed reviews from professional reviewers who felt that the game is an average open world action game with nothing groundbreaking in it, but an almost universally negative player reception who found the game to be poorly-written and too different to the series' previous entries, alongside criticisms regarding bugs and performance issues.
Demonic Spiders: Just like their spiritual predecessors (STAG), Marshall Defense in general provides some of the toughest encounters in the game. Their advanced weaponry is liable to tear you to shreds in a matter of seconds and their vehicles are also built tough (meaning you'll be going to Friendly Fire very often to stock up on RPG ammo), so if you plan on opening Ventures in their territory (which is the Western half of the map), it's better to save them for last. Their Gunslingers and Gatling Gunners are especially infuriating - the former because of their very deceptive Doppelgänger Attack and the latter, well... take an already tanky enemy type, give it Power Armor, More Dakka, and you're gonna have a bad time.
Evil Is Cool: While most of the villains in the game come off as painfullybland, The Nahualli proved to be one of the better received characters even among detractors of the game. This is thanks to his suave and professional demeanor that proves to be a badass killing machine only The Boss is able to rival. His main mark against his character is that His reasoning for betraying the gang was seen as poor and his anti-climactic boss fight as mentioned above.
Fan Nickname: Doug Dimmadome (owner of the Dimmsdale Dimmadome) for Atticus Marshall, the CEO of Marshall Defense Industries.
The Handcannon .44. Hey, it's in the name, it's bound to be good, right? Of course it is. While the drawbacks include a sluggish rate of fire (at least until upgraded) and only six rounds in the chamber (surprise surprise), its damage output and accuracy greatly makes up for thisnote Its Signature Ability, the Magnum Rounds, only help make it that much better, since this turns into the .45 Shepard from Saints Row: The Third. That is to say, it pushes most targets back and inflicts some AoE damage. . What pushes it into this category is the fact that it's availableveryearly into the game; well before you acquire the Church, in fact. And god help Marshall or the Panteros if you go Guns Akimbo, too...
The .585 Safari Express Rifle. It may be a single-shot weapon (requiring the Boss to rechamber the round after every shot, much like the Sniper Rifle from GTA III), but its damage and accuracy is absolutely ridiculous, often taking out most enemies with a singleheadshot - including Specialists. Its Signature Ability essentially makes it the Rifle equivalent of the Handcannon .44, mentioned right above.
The Pineapple Express. It's one of the few things in the game that's an Instant Kill against even Elite Mooks. On top of that, if you aim the poor bastard carefully, they can even take out a few other mooks with them, too. Pretty impressive for what's essentially the first Skill unlocked in the game.
Quantum Aperture. Once you unlock this, you won't really be using any of the other Skills in the game (apart from maybe Pineapple Express). Not only does this allow you to see enemies through cover, but you can also shoot them through any surface (and we do mean any surface - including solid rock). This is especially handy against the Idols' Elite Mooks, who love to throw your bullets back at you, and especially helpful for sniping drivers out of their cars, particularly tank drivers.
Genius Bonus: Overlaps with Bilingual Bonus as well, "Santo Ileso" means "Unscathed/Unhurt Saint" in Spanish. Seems rather appropriate considering this is a fresh start in a new continuity for the Saints. Additionally these Saints aren't driven by fear or vengeance. They just want to make ends meet and enjoy the good things in life. The original saints had various problems and grudges that drove them to be gangbangers. Here they just happened to be some skilled individuals who also happen to lack a certain amount of morals surrounded by people who few would weep for if they happened to die.
The game's physics can lead to some amusing moments. For example, take a Crisis sports car, ram a coach bus from behind, and watch as it's either launched into the air or hurled several feet ahead of you!
During "Take Me To Church", you can encounter a rather amusing bug where Kevin and Eli are randomly waving their arms in a circular motion (a la OrochiYashiro) while the usual exchanges between them and the Boss take place. Do try your best not to laugh when it happens.
Harsher in Hindsight: The story’s emphasis on empire-building with a good amount of business lingo thrown around gets thrown into an ironically pitiful light, as the game’s lackluster reception would prove to be a key factor as to why its developer, Volition would shut its doors in 2023.
The Boss remains a violent, yet charming and quick-thinking Villain Protagonist. Starting off as a mercenary working for Marshall Defense Industries, they show off a propensity for thinking on the fly, pulling off feats such as capturing the Nahualli and stopping Los Panteros' antique smuggling convoy, but get fired by Atticus Marshall after prioritizing protecting lives over securing a valuable artifact while thwarting a museum robbery. The Boss and their friends then decide to start their own gang: the Saints. Using a stolen briefcase full of land deeds, the Boss gradually expands the Saints into a sprawling criminal empire, financing illegal activity all over Santo Ileso, all while showing off other instances of ruthless resourcefulness such as infiltrating Marshall's Frontier Prison with trickery and defusing a bomb planted by the Idols before using it to destroy their yacht. But despite their lack of mercy for their enemies, the Boss is fiercely loyal towards their allies, treating even the low-ranking Saints with respect and going to great lengths to help their closest friends, up to assisting them in taking their own vengeance when they wish to on multiple occasions.
Myra Starr is a professional and cordial Marshall Defense Industries director, standing in contrast to her arrogant boss, Atticus Marshall. When the Boss saves Starr’s life and is fired for not prioritizing an artifact, Marshall tells Starr to her face that she’s expendable, at which point Starr plots to undermine him. When Marshall tries to buy out the Saints through a clause in the Boss’ contract, Myra explains to the Boss how killing Marshall won’t get them anywhere; instead they opt to oust Marshall by corporate sabotage, at which point Myra will take over as CEO. As per Myra’s plan, the Boss hijacks an AI controlled tank Marshall intended to promote, going on a public rampage that ruins Marshall’s reputation, and turns his shareholders against him. At the Board meeting, when the vote is tied, Myra presents the Boss as the deciding voter, which sees Marshall either killed or fired from his own company. Taking over the company, Myra keeps her promise to free the Saints from the clause, but warns them not to further interfere with the company.
The Los Panteros Explanation One of the new gangs in Santo Ileso, Los Panteros (Spanish for "The Panthers"), which are a return to form to the gangs of the first two games, have spawned various jokes and call backs about The Carnales from the first game, where Troy referred to them as "The Los Carnales" ("los" meaning "the" in Spanish), prompting Dex to correct him with simply, "The Carnales".
Doug Dimmadome Explanation Another running gag with one of the new gangs is Atticus Marshall's overall appearance invoking Doug Dimmadome from The Fairly OddParents!. Between the ten-gallon hat and the fact that the MDI building resembles a cowboy boot, it's not hard to see the comparison.
It's not GangstaExplanation One of the most frequent complaints that pop up about the game is the fact that the new crew is, apparently, "not gangsta" enough; referring to how they don't look anything like the Gangbangers from the first two games.
Obvious Beta: The game launched in an extremely buggy state.
Commonly encountered bugs include frequent crashes (both hard and soft), various issues that can force one to restart a mission, assorted animation and physics issues, problems with enemy AI, and a bevy of Co-op bugs that can make it almost unplayable.
One particularly annoying bug would make starting up the game a chore, as the launcher would often display an error message during loading, requiring an unintuitive workaround to start the game.
While the game uses the same engine as The Third, it is not particularly well-optimized (even on the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series S/X), with an extremely short render distance leading to distracting pop-in. The PC version performs better, especially in lower configurations, if ran with the Directx 11 executable instead of the Directx 12 and Vulkan executables.
Obvious Judas: Nahuali being the traitor doesn't surprise the playerbase in the slightest. Who thought that an unhinged psychopath with a mean streak and little-to-no redeeming qualities would remain loyal to your cause?
Some complains about how the game has less Vulgar Humor overshadows that the well-received Saints Row IV distilled the crude jokes to the point of almost none in favor of being Reference Overdosed.
Amidst the criticism that the game’s Younger and Hipper main cast who are initially motivated by money and student loans doesn't fit the gangster theme of classic Saints Row, it's interesting to recall that the beloved Saints Row 2 featured an entire gang, the Sons of Samedi, whose grunt work was primarily done by young college dropouts. On top of that, Shaundi (one of the most popular characters in SR2) was in her early 20s and apparently a college student, while Carlos and Pierce were ambiguous but appeared to be similarly aged.
Padding: Unlike the previous games where the cities are large but compressed enough so that you won't get overwhelmed, Santa Ileso is far larger with every facilities being more distant with each other. Combined the fact that the entire thing is a vast nothingness inbetween with facilities peppered around every now and then to break the monotony, and you got a city that's a slog to traverse even at high speed.
Paranoia Fuel: The "Wanted" application, it's an app where people would mark bounty targets for Boss to assassinate for cash, acting as a spiritual successor to the hit list from the first three Saints Row titles. While of the most bounty targets are Asshole Victims, what places it in this territory is that — imagine being an ordinary bystander, minding their own business (or even an upstanding citizen who doesn't even do wrong), when suddenly some sociopathic Jerkass decides it's a good idea to mark that person for assassination simply because they don't like their existence (no matter the slight) or just For the Evulz, and suddenly that person will be hunted by those for the bounty, outright confused as to why there's suddenly a hitman out for their life. Not even the app's creators are safe from being marked for assassination, especially if the one being marked is dead serious in threatening them to call off the hit.
Play the Game, Skip the Story: With the plot just being reused clichés with typical character tropes and predictable story beats, the gameplay itself (while not without some bugs) is still very solid. The Side Hustles, Ventures, and especially the customization being the game's cream of the crop and, whenever it's working as intended, the co-op is still as fun as you'd expect in a Saints Row title.
Rescued from the Scrappy Heap: The Shaft Tow Truck (and the Tow Truck diversion as a whole) got this big time. In Saints Row 2, an achievement was tied to it that, to keep it short, was notoriously difficult (see that game's page for more details). In this game, however, owing to the improved handling model and the ability to put a towing cable on almost any land and especially air vehicle (preferably a much faster and more maneuverable car like the Attrazione, for example), the equivalent Venture, Wuzyerz Repossession, is nowhere near as difficult as the Tow Truck diversion from SR2.
The game's melee system, specifically how the melee system is based around finishers, which lock you into a mini-cinematic that takes way too long to comfort and left you vulnerable to gunfire afterwards. Compared to Saints Row: The Third or even the first two games, unarmed combat and melee weapons as a whole feel very clunky and slow to play, somehow being worse than even the original Saints Row title, which is especially baffling since there's an entire Venture in this game that revolves solely around hand-to-hand/melee combat.
The driving, specifically how the car steers. The game attempts to implement some realism during driving by making steering your car a bit more rigid and requires some calculation, but it only makes steering around so clunky and slow that you had to be constantly drift/powerslide around just to get a good turn, even on normal driving speed and in a slower cars. Considering that most of the game will be spent on driving around the wide map, you'll get sick with it pretty fast, and that's not including the bugs that plagued the game since release. Patches are made to iron out the bugs and made the steering a bit less clunky and faster, but the damage had already been done.
You have to complete a few missions before you have the ability to have your owned cars summoned to you. And after you unlock it, you have to sit through slow loading menus every time you want your car to be summoned to you, unlike the near instanteous menus of the previous games, particularly The Third and IV
So Okay, It's Average: The general reception among critics/professional reviewers and fans who didn't outright hate the game. There can be fun to be had with the varied activities, selection of weapons, and the trademark in-depth customization, but it is brought down by the dated feel of the whole thing while still lacking several aspects that even the first two games had, as well as the number of glitches (which are still prevalent even after a year's worth of content updates). The story, meanwhile, is passable at best despite having some cool moments.
The CG reveal trailer was met with strong backlash from the fandom almost immediately after it went live. Some of their criticisms include the main cast being replaced by new characters (with many comparing their appearances to Hipsters), the zaniness of the later games being kept (though nowhere near as absurd as IV or Gat Out of Hell), the game's humor being far less vulgar, and fan expectations for a "Saints Row 5" not being met. In addition, the PC version was confirmed to be another timed exclusive for the Epic Games Store, which is a hot button issue for games.
While the Ultimate Customization Trailer created a lot of positive buzz around this game, the Boss Factory character creation demo undid much of that, as many players felt that its options were lacking compared to what the trailer promised. In particular, many of the sliders felt as if they had less impact than they should (particularly the changes to body type, which assumed a single, androgynous body and so had far less variability on gender) and hairstyle choices were limited.
Tear Jerker: The mission "Neenah's Car" ends on a surprising downer of a note: after Los Panteros steal Neenah's project car, which she's been working on for years, she's very desperate to get it back. You get in a bunch of fights while searching for it, and in the end learn that Sergio took it to the quarry. Neenah has an Oh, Crap! moment as she realizes what this means: Sergio doesn't just want to use the car to race, or send it to a chop shop where the pieces can be put back together afterwards; he wants to throw it off a cliff and watch it be destroyed beyond repair. You get there just in time for Neenah to watch in horror as he does exactly that. She then explains why the car is so important to her: it used to belong to her mother, who passed away from cancer, and it was the only memento of her she had left after moving to America. Neenah then swears that she will have revenge on Sergio for this.
The Bright Disposal Venture isn't so much difficult as it is tedious and repetitive. All you have to do is just find a truck full of toxic waste and drive it back. Simple, right? A majority of the time, yes, it is. Unless you're particularly unlucky, however, graze a rival gang car or the police and they'll start shooting at you, where if a stray bullet hits the barrels, you'll have to haul ass back before you lose them all. The problem there is that the truck itself handles like a boat and is very slow, making the task of accelerating up to the necessary speed to avoid spillage difficult. Even the slightest dip in the road can set the barrels off, let alone getting grazed by another car. The game originally required 13 tries to complete this minigame, with the trucks being all over the map and having at least a few that required driving across the map entirely. Most of them will be inevitably very far away from all the potential business sites (especially the ones in the Badlands and the southern Rojas Desert that have no paved roads and steep dirt tracks). A later update made it so you only need 5 total to get full completion with the rest being bonus money if you do them, which mitigates the difficulty slightly.
Planet Saints for similar reasons as Bright Disposal right above. This time, instead of the trucks being conveniently parked for you, now you have to deal with actually stealing them yourself. Which is easier said than done when the AI speeds upthe second they see you. And, well, once you steal the first four trucks, from there on, every time you steal one of Bianca's trucks, you instantly get Level 2 Police Notoriety. And given how you're tasked with stealing trucks that, again, aren't particularly great handling-wise, try to imagine the tedium you'll endure when trying to complete this Venture. Thankfully, you can make the task of stealing the trucks much, much easier by using a helicopter equipped with a crane, grabbing the truck, and flying straight to Planet Saints. ...At least the payout's actually worth it, though.
KAKTS by default isn't too bad. All it takes is just calling each of the gangs (and the cops) and surviving until you take out the Miniboss. From there, all that's left is to take to the skies in the wingsuit and place the jammers in the radio towers. Doesn't sound so bad... until you remember that means having to contend with Marshallat maximum notoriety. And if it wasn't apparent from the Demonic Spiders entry above, they won't make it easy in the least.
Another example that's less difficult and more tedious, the First Strike Dojo. Owing to the game's lackluster melee mechanics (see above in Scrappy Mechanic), you'll be finding yourself mashing the attack button endlessly or spamming Takedowns every chance you get just to get the whole thing over with. Mercifully, you only have to do this five times, unlike the above Ventures.
None of the characters from the original series - most of all Johnny Gat - are returning in this installment (not even Alternate Counterparts of them like with AoM) at all. Take three guesses on the fanbase's reaction to this - the new crew especially.
The developers claiming that the game will not have as much Vulgar Humor as the previous ones was seen by some as a sign that the game will be sanitized and more politically correct, which has not been received well by a portion of the fandom who enjoyed the rude, irreverent tone of the series' past installments. The apparent Bowdlerization of some store names seen in some trailers, with Freckle Bitch's being shortened to just FB's and Rim Jobs being turned into the Spoonerism Jim Rob's, is brought up as an example of the humor being Tamer and Chaster - in fairness, "Jim Rob" so happens to be the name of the man who owns the place in this continuity, and you personally provide some assistance toward setting his business up.
Just like Hector and Phillipe, Sergio. Much like the Syndicate crime boss, he manages to pose a personal threat to one of your main members (Neenah) and is even set up to be a major player in the plot... and then he's unceremoniously killed by the Nahualli before you can even get the chance to pay him back for all the shit he put you and Neenah through.
Of the main trio, Kevin and Eli get the least amount of focusand development compared to Neenah. Whereas her storyline is very intriguing and surprisingly emotional, Kevin and Eli don't really get much in comparison in their respective storylines. Eli especially since his story arc practically goes nowhere until the Dustmoot portion of the game; and even then, that isn't much to speak of. It doesn't help in Kevin's case that the Idols simply aren't as personal of a threat to him like Sergio was to Neenah as the Idols and Collective as a whole are generallypretty flat, feeling more like filler compared to the Panteros and especially Marshall.
Nominally, KAKTS Radio is a radio station, so you might expect it to get added to the list of stations you can play in the car, or for the other stations to come into play as you develop it. Neither happens, and its only function besides generating income is to make it harder for enemies to call in reinforcements.
On paper, getting to do Heists for the Let's Pretend Venture in this game is a certified Crowning Moment of Awesome, right? Especially if they're in the same vein as Heat or Ocean's Eleven. In practice, though? A brief wave attack followed by a literal checkpoint race as the cops are chasing you. If that isn't disappointing in the slightest, we don't know what is.
Uncertain Audience: One of the goals of the reboot was strike to balance between the more down-to-earth nature of the first two games and the Denser and Wackier tone of the third and fourth ones, but it largely failed to appeal to either side of the established fandom. Fans who preferred the tone of the first two games criticized the reboot for still largely retaining the zanier tone taken by the later games while still arguably having even fewer serious moments. On the other hand, the side of the fanbase that liked the third and fourth games felt that the reboot toned down the cartoonish aspects so much that it came off as bland in comparison. Then, of course, both sides loathed the game for not having any returning characters in favor of a new cast that only captured the hearts of a few.
. Sadly, the song itself is nowhere to be seen in the actual game, unlike GTA V's trailer songs.