Saints Row guide to help you build your criminal organization

This Saints Row guide covers all of the main areas you need to learn about, so if you follow the advice here you'll soon be earning stacks of cash, levelling up fast, and building a criminal empire that can rule over Santo Ileso. Money is key to building up the Saints so you can fund the required purchases to further your career, while picking up XP efficiently will give you a head start on unlocking the skills and upgrades to put your boss at the top of the food chain. If you're looking for help with dominating the criminal world of Saints Row, then here's everything you need to know.

Earn money to fund your criminal lifestyle

Saints Row cash transfer app income screen — (Image credit: Deep Silver)

When building up your criminal organization from scratch, you’ll need plenty of Saints Row money to buy what you need. Things like weapons, cars, side ventures, clothes, and upgrades aren’t going to pay for themselves! With our guide, we’ve got some tips on how to make money efficiently in Saints Row.

Get XP to level up

Saints Row XP level up farm — (Image credit: Deep Silver Volition)

Levelling up is done by earning Saints Row XP. Boosting your boss’ level will unlock new Skills for you to try out in combat and will give you access to certain upgrades for things like weapons. Missions are going to be your main source of XP, so check out our guide to read about the most XP-lucrative activities you can do.

All Skills and which ones to use

Saints Row skills pineapple express grenade — (Image credit: Deep Silver)

As you level up, you’ll unlock new Saints Row Skills – special abilities that can be used in combat that range from tossing out a frag grenade, to unleashing a devastating fire punch. Skills are where Saints Row starts to get wacky and are definitely some of the most fun aspects of the game, so we recommend that you try to unlock them quickly to try them out and build a suitable loadout.

The best weapons to use

Saints Row Friendly Fire gun shop machine pistol smg menu — (Image credit: Deep Silver)

As well as Skills, you’ll want the best Saints Row weapons in your inventory so that you can complete missions with your ideal loadout. You can buy and upgrade a large selection of weapons at Friendly Fire weapon shops around Santo Ileso, including assault rifles, SMGs, shotguns, an array of melee weapons, and even a stun gun.

Fast Travel

While you can get around in cars, Saints Row fast travel is a great way for zipping about Santo Ileso to reach missions. However, it’s not easy to use as fast travel points around the map need to be unlocked by finding and photographing particular landmarks. It’s a bit of an ordeal, so read our guide to ensure you understand the requirements to use fast travel in Saints Row.

Every Venture and the best ones to get

Saints Row ventures business empire — (Image credit: Deep Silver Volition)

Saints Row Ventures are going to be one of your main money-making schemes, earning you plenty of passive income just for playing, and unlocking plenty of other opportunities for new missions, activities, and rewards. There are lots to choose from though, so make sure you know exactly how ventures work in Saints Row and which ones you should prioritize.

Unlock the Insurance Fraud minigame

Saints Row Insurance Fraud Ragdoll injury minigame — (Image credit: Deep Silver Volition)

The renowned Saints Row Insurance Fraud minigame returns in this latest instalment of the franchise. If you want to unlock this bone-breaking minigame, you’ll need to invest in the Shady Oaks Venture. Furthermore, you can learn all about playing the minigame and getting a high score with our guide.

Change your appearance

Saints Row change appearance clothes face character customization — (Image credit: Deep Silver Volition)

There are fantastic character customization options for your boss, allowing you to change your appearance in Saints Row easily. Not only can you play around with a lot of appearance options, including the face, hair, body type, prosthetics, voice, emotes, and more, but you can also change these at any time using an app on your in-game phone. It doesn’t cost anything either, giving players plenty of freedom to shake up how their boss character looks.

Crossplay

If you’re looking to hop into some co-op, there is unfortunately no Saints Row crossplay, meaning you won’t be able to play with friends on PC or Xbox if you own a PS5, for example. There is, however, cross-generational play, so while you won’t be able to play with those on completely different platforms, you will be able to join players within the same platform family. Read our Saints Row crossplay guide for all the details on the limitations of cross-gen play, as well as how online co-op works.

Will Sawyer is a Guides Editor at GamesRadar+ with over five years of experience in writing online guides, news, and features, and has a BA (Hons) in Journalism. Starting as a freelancer, Will contributed to startmenu and Game Rant before joining the GamesRadar+ team in August 2021. Since then, he has written hundreds of guides about a huge range of games, with shooters and action games being his areas of expertise. Outside of writing about games, Will hops between multiplayer shooters with friends, such as Darktide and Helldivers 2, and delves into whatever has been on his backlog for far too long. He also tries to get through his never-ending Warhammer pile of shame of grey Tyranids, Aeldari, and Chaos Space Marines.