Saints Row’s Story

Set a few years after the events of Saints Row 2, Saints Row: The Third once again places you in the shoes of the leader of the nation’s most infamous gang: the Third Street Saints. No longer content with merely being criminal masterminds, the Saints have leveraged their notoriety into celebrity status. Earning millions on Saints branded lunch boxes, bobble-heads, and “reality TV,” you and your gang are living the dream. But bad luck has the Saints crossing the path of the Syndicate, a legendary criminal fraternity with pawns all over the globe, and you find yourself thrust back into the world of sex, violence, and betrayal. Refusing to kneel to the Syndicate, you lead your crew to Steelport (a city that makes Sodom look like Topeka) with the sole purpose of tearing down their organization brick by bloody brick.

As if fighting the criminal illuminati wasn’t bad enough, the Saints are confronted by STAG—an elite government taskforce that has been sent to stop the gang wars by any means necessary. As tanks, carriers and fighters take over Steelport, the reality of the situation becomes apparent: The only way to survive is to annihilate the gangs and the military that stand in your way!

Welcome to Steelport

Saints Row: The Third takes place in the city of Steelport, an entirely new and original city. In Steelport you can buy anything, be anyone, and satisfy any craving—for a price. This city caters to the darkest of fantasies: S&M bars, designer drugs, human trafficking, sanctioned bloodsports and any other devious thing you can imagine.

But a city doesn’t drip with lust and greed on its own. The Syndicate, an elite organization composed of three of the world’s most powerful gangs (Morningstar, Deckers, and Luchadores), has molded the city in its own image, buying politicians, owning the police, and even placing their mark on the city’s skyline. To the inhabitants of Steelport there is no question: This city and all who live in it are property of the Syndicate.

Steelport was once a law-abiding and thriving blue-collar town. Its economy started to decay and the Syndicate recognized an opportunity to move in and take over. With their deep pockets and wide-sweeping powers of influence, the leaders of the Syndicate stepped in to reinvigorate and mold Steelport into what it is today. Every politician, public figure and high-ranking law enforcement official has been hand-picked by the Syndicate, and every means of the city’s income is meticulously monitored by the Syndicate’s lawyers and accountants.

Inhabitants can prosper in Steelport but they never, ever forget who really runs the town. If they do, bad things happen!

Map of Steelport

Steelport is roughly two-thirds the size of Saints Row 2’s Stilwater (not including the underground sections of Stilwater) but it is incredibly more dense! It is an island composed of four smaller, separate islands that are connected by bridges. In addition to its landmasses, the city is also divided into five districts. Each neighborhood is controlled by a gang, one of the three that make up the Syndicate, and each neighborhood is defined in tone and style by the gang that owns it.

Please click to enlarge

Campaign Game Flow

The Campaign is the main story of the game. It can be completed by a single player or as part of a co-op game. The first three missions serve as a prologue to introduce the player to the game’s mechanics. After Mission 3, players are free to move around the entire city, jumping back and forth between Campaign missions and various mini-missions called Activities, aspects of city takeover, and numerous types of Diversions, such as finding collectibles, completing challenges, and completing tasks in the Saintsbook.

The Campaign is a series of missions that follow a somewhat linear path. However, the mission tree often branches off into different story arcs and then resumes the main story when all of the branches are completed. There are two types of missions arcs that appear throughout the game. Main story arcs are simple branches with several missions that must be completed and then they converge with the main path. The character-specific story arcs appear all at the same time but they have certain points when they must be completed.

Main Story Arcs

The individual missions in each main story arc must be complete in order, but either branch can be followed. However, both branches must be completed to proceed on the main story path. For example, all of the STAG arc missions (32–34) must be done in order as well as Decker/Kinzie arc for missions 35–38. Both of these branches must be completed before proceeding to mission 39

Character Story/Activity Arcs

After Mission 14, three new character arcs appear that are composed of a series of Activities for each character. Any of them can be undertaken at that point, including the main story Mission 28. However each specific character arc, with all of its missions, must be completed before certain main story missions (Strongholds). The player is free to jump from any character arc as long as the missions for each character are completed before the required point on the main path. In other words, Zimos’ mission must be completed before Mission 29, Kinzie’s missions must be completed before Mission 37, and Angel’s missions must be completed before Mission 43.