Saints Row IV: Re-Elected

The Saints’ leader has reached the White House when an alien invasion tears the group out of ordinary reality and into a simulated Steelport. As the President, you use superhuman movement, unusual weapons and the crew’s help to disrupt Zinyak’s control and fight for humanity’s freedom.

Saints Row IV begins with a major change in the Saints’ fortunes: their leader, the Boss, has become President of the United States. That position does not last long as a conventional political story. Alien commander Zinyak invades Earth, captures the Saints and confines them inside a simulation modeled on Steelport. The city resembles a familiar open-world setting, but its rules can be bent by the people controlling it. The Boss works with the surviving crew to break the simulation’s hold and oppose Zinyak’s empire. Missions move between street-level gangland action, science-fiction disruptions and deliberately exaggerated set pieces, so the President’s job quickly becomes a fight to free humanity rather than govern it.

Simulated Steelport provides the space between those missions. Its roads still carry traffic and its shops still offer places to visit, but alien control has made the city a system the Saints can interfere with. Hacking a store changes what it offers and can turn civilians toward the Saints; climbing an alien tower changes its control state and opens another foothold against Zinyak. Crew requests send the Boss to destabilise parts of the simulation through different tasks, from combat and destruction to challenges built around the city’s unusual rules. Those objectives give the open map a campaign function: activities and disrupted infrastructure make the alien occupation visible while giving the player reasons to leave the next story marker and explore nearby blocks.

Movement is the most important change to the usual city routine. The Boss can build a running start, charge a super-jump to reach rooftops, then glide across blocks instead of following every road by car. Upgrades strengthen the jump and extend the usefulness of gliding; a high leap can also lead into a forceful ground impact that scatters nearby pedestrians and vehicles. Super-speed makes streets and open stretches of the map quicker to cross, while vehicles remain available when a mission or preference calls for driving. Data clusters are scattered around buildings and bridges, and collecting them supplies the currency used to improve movement and powers. The loop links traversal to progression: reaching elevated routes exposes more clusters, and upgrades make later crossings faster and more flexible.

Superpowers also change combat. The Boss can use elemental blasts such as ice, or telekinesis to lift and throw objects and enemies, alongside attacks that make a landing or close-range strike more disruptive. Powers can be selected and improved, while an arsenal of firearms and alien weapons provides a direct alternative when a fight calls for sustained shooting. Weapon customisation adds another layer to that loadout, letting the player alter the appearance and presentation of weapons. The contrast between powers and guns is useful in missions that move from a crowd of enemies to a tougher alien opponent: a blast or thrown object can interrupt the group, while a firearm handles targets that remain in the line of fire. The result is a combat loop built around switching tools as the simulation pushes back.

The crew aboard the Saints’ ship gives the campaign its people and its next objectives. Kinzie Kensington helps the Boss organise operations against the simulation, while returning Saints such as Johnny Gat and Matt Miller connect the alien crisis to the series’ earlier gang conflicts. Rescuing companions brings them back into the crew’s orbit, and character-focused loyalty missions let the player spend time with individual Saints while advancing the campaign. These jobs sit beside the main missions and the activities spread around Steelport, giving the player more than one way to spend time between major story beats. Their requests also frame the simulation as something that can be weakened piece by piece, rather than a backdrop that changes only when the main plot reaches its next cutscene.

The Re-Elected edition packages the main Saints Row IV campaign with 25 downloadable-content packs, including the episodic story expansions Enter the Dominatrix and How the Saints Save Christmas. They add separate story material to the base conflict with Zinyak rather than turning every event into one continuous mission chain. The edition also includes themed content packs such as the Presidential and Commander-in-Chief packs, plus the Dubstep Gun (Remix) pack. This makes the release broader than the original campaign alone: players can move through the President’s struggle in simulated Steelport, then access additional episodes and equipment included with this edition. Its central play remains the open-city loop of story missions, crew operations, collectible data clusters, powers and weapons, with the bundled episodes providing distinct additions around that foundation.

Customisation carries over from the Saints’ earlier city life into the simulation. The player can shape the President’s appearance and clothing, then apply a separate customisation system to weapons, so equipment can have a chosen look as well as an upgraded combat role. Cars can also be customised, though the new movement abilities reduce how often a player needs to drive between markers. These options are useful between missions: shops hacked in the simulation can provide new clothing and weapon choices, while the character and arsenal remain tied to the player’s preferred presentation. It gives the President a personal identity amid the large-scale alien story and lets familiar Saints-style customisation sit alongside the newly dominant powers.