Saints Row (2022) beginner’s guide: Tips and tricks to get started

The Saints Row franchise is legendary for its intense, action-packed, humor-filled open-world gameplay. The series has unfortunately laid dormant for many years, but Deep Silver Volition has breathed new life into it with the arrival of the freshly rebooted Saints Row (2022). This modern take on the classic Saints Row formula introduces plenty of new ideas to keep the chaotic sandbox gameplay fresh, including a veritable arsenal of weapons, vehicles, skills, and abilities.

If you’re jumping into Saints Row (2022), our beginner’s guide includes five tips and tricks to help you ease into the world and become a master of Santo Ileso in no time. With you at the helm, The Saints are guaranteed to succeed.

Saints Row (2022) beginner’s guide: Complete story and side Missions

The story of Saints Row (2022) like won’t be the main draw of the game for anyone, but it’s still an enjoyable narrative following the adventures of a tight-knit group of friends. More than that, though, the missions through which the story is delivered are not only great ways to become familiar with the world of Saints Row (2022) and its features and game mechanics, but also to accrue plenty of cash, XP, new toys and tools, and much more.

Even if you’re only interested in the latest Saints Row game for its open-world sandbox, I still recommend participating in the story solely for the rewards on offer through Mission completions. At the very least, play through the story until you and your friends have vacated their prior jobs and have banded together to form The Saints. Once you’ve unlocked the Empire Table and are able to construct Ventures to expand your criminal empire, you should have plenty of experience and the entire world of Santo Ileso open to you.

Missions are split between side quests, Loyalty Missions that improve the abilities of your companions and your bonds with them, and main chapters that progress the story. Each of these kinds of Missions can provide any number of rewards, such as new cosmetic items for your character, an assortment of weapons and vehicles, and much more. Several Missions also reward huge chunks of cash, which can be used to purchase anything you want (or to invest in Ventures for increased passive income).

Saints Row (2022) beginner’s guide: Invest in your Ventures

In Saints Row (2022), expanding your criminal empire happens by investing in and constructing Ventures all over Santo Ileso. These Ventures are all unique business, and range anywhere from a drug distribution organization disguised by food trucks and a laundromat specializing in crime scene cleanups to a high-end fashion design firm and even a LARPing castle paradise. It costs a lump sump to establish each Venture (anywhere between $30,000 and $1,600,000), but they all generate passive income that continually puts additional cash into your pocket.

Once you unlock Ventures, I suggest investing as much of your cash as possible in them. The more you invest in Ventures, the more passive income you’ll be generating as you play. By the time I completed the story of Saints Row (2022), I was earning nearly $300,000 every hour from my Ventures (and still had several I hadn’t even built, with more I hadn’t upgraded). Ventures pay for themselves over time and then some, and make it easier to earn the money necessary to buy cosmetic items, upgrades, new weapons and tools, and more.

You can also invest further time into Ventures to increase their passive income and earn other rewards. Each Venture dominates an area of Santo Ileso, and exploring that area to eliminate Threats from enemy organizations can massively increase that Venture’s hourly income. Each Venture also features a number of unique quests such as tracking down valuable cars, causing as much mayhem and destruction as possible to sell weapons, throwing yourself into traffic to generate fraudulent insurance claims, and more. Completing these missions can earn you immediate cash and XP rewards, as well as unique rewards of cosmetic items, collectibles, weapons, vehicles, skills, and more.

You can even unlock new abilities through Venture quests, like the ability to have your favorite car delivered to you anywhere in Santo Ileso, or the ability to immediately start a fight with any of the enemy factions in Saints Row (2022). Completing every Venture mission earns you a huge chunk of cash (sometimes immediately fully paying off the money invested into the Venture) and XP, and can further increase the hourly income of the Venture to even greater heights. However you decide to play Saints Row (2022), investing money and time into your Ventures is a good idea.

Saints Row (2022) beginner’s guide: Use your Skills and Perks

Character Upgrades from previous Saints Row games have taken on a new form in Saints Row (2022), and are now split between Skills and Perks. Both of these features are player customizable, and can help you gain a crucial advantage over your enemies. It’s no longer possible to become an immortal bulletproof god of unlimited strength, but you can certainly become more adept at slaughter and destruction.

Skills are earned by leveling up (you gain XP from any number of tasks, like killing enemies, completing Challenges, finishing Missions and Ventures, and more) or from certain missions. Skills are split between permanent upgrades to your health and Flow (more on that below) and unique abilities you can call upon in the midst of battle.

These abilities are diverse, and include more mundane skills like proximity mines, grenades, and high-powered weaponry to ridiculous feats like fire punches, quantum barriers that let you shoot through walls, temporarily increased strength and help, and more. You can assign up to four of these Skills at a time and use them by consuming Flow, which you earn by performing well in battle and killing enemies. Skills can turn the tide of battle in a pinch, so be sure to remember to equip them and check regularly to see whether you’ve leveled up and unlocked a new one.

Perks, on the other hand, are passive bonuses and abilities. Perks are split between various rarities and power levels, and players can purchase additional Perk slots to equip more at a time. These Perks are unlocked by completing Challenges, and can make your character passively more powerful (or make doing certain tasks more convenient or easier). Perk bonuses include picking up cash and ammo from greater distances, improved hip fire accuracy, the ability to retain Flow even between battles, and much more.

There are a plethora of Perks from which to choose, although you’ll have to steadily unlock them by completing the army of Challenges in Saints Row (2022). Still, the combination of Skills and Perks can make your character significantly more powerful, and allows you to finetune your playstyle. Whether you’re a high-accuracy gunslinger, demolitions expert, melee demon, or anything else, Skills and Perks can take your loadout and abilities to the next level.

Saints Row (2022) beginner’s guide: Unlock Fast Travel points

As you explore the diverse regions of Santo Ileso, you’ll notice the map populate with various activities and tasks, including Shops (which allow you to buy new cosmetic items, weapons, and upgrades), Side Hustles (which allow you to earn quick cash through mini-games), Venture missions (which allow you to upgrade your Ventures while earning cash and other rewards), and Discoveries (which include a wide variety of random tasks and jobs). As you discover some of the game’s biggest landmarks, you may also notice Fast Travel Photo locations appear on the map.

Rather than unlock Fast Travel by giving you new safehouses or by simply discovering safe locations, Saints Row (2022) tasks players with hunting down potential Fast Travel locations and taking a photo of a prominent landmark in the area using the in-game Camera. If you grow tired of traversing across Santo Ileso, unlocking these Fast Travel points can massively decrease travel times.

You’ll first have to discover the Fast Travel Photo locations around the map by exploring Santo Ileso, and then use the Camera (located in the Phone) to snap a picture of the location described on the map. After that, you’ll be able to find that Fast Travel location at any point on your map and move there instantly (as long as you’re not in combat or otherwise can’t Fast Travel).

Saints Row (2022) beginner’s guide: Pick up fallen cash and ammo

In Saints Row (2022), you’re guaranteed to kill a lot of pixelated NPCs in your quest to make The Saints the greatest criminal organization in all of Santo Ileso. That quest requires huge amounts of cash and just as much ammo, however, meaning you need to find it wherever you can. In the latest Saints Row game, enemies regularly drop decent wads of cash and boxes of assorted ammo after their demise, and collecting these fallen gifts is actually a great way of ensuring you always have ammo and a few bucks in your pocket.

Quickly running around a battlefield in the aftermath of every fight almost guaranteed a few thousand dollars and enough ammo to restock most, if not all, of my expended supplies. I never once had to spend money replenishing my ammo at shops, and comfortably completed the story of Saints Row (2022) solely by collecting ammo from fallen enemies. Early in the game, cash dropped by departed foes also assisted in the earliest Venture investments, upgrades, and cosmetic customizations.

A Perk you can unlock later in the game by completing Challenges, known as “Loot Grab,” makes nearby cash and ammo gravitate toward you, making it easier to collect. With this Perk, I was even able to earn fresh money and additional bullets within the safety of a vehicle. It’s well worth your time to spend a few seconds after each battle to collect, as the earnings quickly pile up throughout your time in Saints Row (2022).

Taking over Santo Ileso

For those looking for mindless entertainment in a mayhem-filled open world, Saints Row (2022) delivers alongside the greatest Xbox games. It’s not always a perfect experience, but there’s plenty of fun to be had in Santo Ileso with The Saints. Utilizing these tips and tricks, you’re guaranteed to feel right at home during the entire explosive adventure.