Saints Row: The Third is a 2011 action-adventure game developed by Volition and published by THQ. It is the sequel to 2008's Saints Row 2 and the third installment in the Saints Row series. It was released on November 15, 2011, for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360, and May 10, 2019, for the Nintendo Switch. A remastered version of the game, titled Saints Row: The Third Remastered, was released by Deep Silver on May 22, 2020, for the PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One, March 5, 2021, for Stadia, May 25, 2021, for the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S, and July 29, 2021, for Luna, and was announced for release on Android, iOS and iPadOS by Feral Interactive for October 29, 2026.
The game is set in the fictional city of Steelport and continues the story of the 3rd Street Saints, once again placing players in the role of the gang's leader, who is fully customizable. Years after the events of Saints Row 2, the Saints have grown from their humble origins as a street gang into a large media and consumer empire with their own brand, while many of the gang's members have become celebrities and pop culture icons. After being stranded in Steelport, which is firmly ruled by an international crime organization known as the Syndicate, the Saints must rebuild their forces once more to take over the city and defeat the Syndicate, as well as S.T.A.G., a violent paramilitary contracted with restoring order to Steelport.
Development of Saints Row: The Third began in late 2008, shortly after the release of Saints Row 2. There was high staff turnover from the previous Saints Row team, with only one-fifth of the final 100-person staff having worked on a previous title in the series. They aimed to improve on the series by giving the game a coherent tone, and found it in films such as Hot Fuzz and the game's signature sex toy bat.
The game received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised its general zaniness and customization options. Criticism was aimed at the new setting, which many critics felt was flat and underdeveloped compared to the previous games' Stilwater, and the lackluster humor. On the contrary, others thought the game perfected the Saints Row formula. It was a nominee for Best Narrative at the 2012 Game Developers Conference, an IGN Editor's Choice, and a recipient of perfect scores from GamesRadar and G4. A complete edition including the three downloadable content packs was released in 2012, and its planned Enter the Dominatrix expansion became the game's sequel, Saints Row IV, released in 2013.
Gameplay Saints Row: The Third is an action-adventure game played from the third-person perspective in an open world, such that players explore an unrestricted environment. Similar to the premise of the previous Saints Row games, the player's goal is to lead the Third Street Saints gang to overtake its rival gangs in a city-wide turf war. While the protagonist is the same, the game introduces a new setting, the city of Steelport, with its own three gangs: the Morningstar, Luchadores, and Deckers, together known as the Syndicate. To further complicate matters, the government's Special Tactical Anti-Gang unit (STAG) is summoned to quell both organizations. Saints Row: The Third is the first in the series to intertwine the narratives of its three-gang structures, and presents the player with story-altering decisions.
The series has been considered a clone of Grand Theft Auto that later positioned itself as more "gleefully silly" in comparison. In combat, players select weapons from a weapon selection wheel, including pistols, submachine guns, shotguns, and rocket launchers alongside special weapons such as UAV drones and a fart-in-a-jar stun grenade. Player melee attacks include running attacks such as DDTs and a purple dildo bat. Players may use vehicles to navigate the city, including a hover jet (known as the F-69 VTOL) and a pixelated retrogame tank that are unlocked through story missions. Once special vehicles are unlocked, they are in unlimited supply and can be delivered directly to the player-character's location. Player actions are intensified with what Volition calls the "awesome button", where for example the player will divekick through the windshield into the driver's seat of a car. The main story campaign missions can be played alone, or cooperatively either online or via System Link offline. Some elements are added to the campaign for the second player. There is no competitive multiplayer, but a "wave-based survival mode" called Whored Mode supports up to two players.
Players customize their characters after the introductory mission. Player character bodies, dress, and vehicles can be customized, as well as home properties. Players can additionally share their character designs in a Saints Row online community. Apart from the main story missions, there are optional diversions to make money and earn reputation, such as Insurance Fraud, where players hurt themselves in traffic to maximize self-injury before a timer expires, or Mayhem, where players maximize property destruction in a limited amount of time. Some of these diversions were introduced in previous Saints Row games. Activities serve the plot and are positioned as training the player-character or damaging the Syndicate. They can also be repeated. Outside of structured diversions, players are free to make their own fun by purchasing property, shopping for items, finding hidden sex doll and money cache collectibles, and wreaking unsolicited havoc. There are also "flashpoint" gang operations that grant respect when disrupted. Attacking others increases the player's notoriety level, as depicted with stars.
Saints Row: The Third introduces experience levels and weapon upgrades to the series. Most actions in the game come with incentives in the form of money and respect (reputation). Money buys land, weapons, and other upgrades, and respect is a kind of experience point that can unlock player abilities like "no damage from falling" or "infinite sprint", as well as upgrades to the player's computer-controlled gang member support. In turn, players receive further incentive to nearly miss car collisions, streak naked through the streets, shoot others in the groin, blow up Smart cars, and kill mascots in ambient challenges to earn more respect. Lack of respect does not hinder story progress, as it did in previous games. Player progress and unlocks are managed by an in-game cell phone menu that also lets the player call for vehicle deliveries and non-player character backup. The computer-controlled support will dialogue with each other.
Plot Three years after the events of Saints Row 2, the 3rd Street Saints have merged with the Ultor Corporation to become a media and consumer empire with their own brand. While robbing a bank in Stilwater to promote an upcoming film about themselves, the Boss (Troy Baker, Kenn Michael, Robin Atkin Downes, Laura Bailey, Tara Platt, Rebecca Sanabria or Steve Blum) and the Saints' top lieutenants, Shaundi (Danielle Nicolet) and Johnny Gat (Daniel Dae Kim), encounter unanticipated resistance on the job, which ultimately leads to them being arrested. The group is bailed out by Phillipe Loren (Jacques Hennequet), head of an international criminal enterprise called "the Syndicate" that owned the bank they robbed, and held as captives aboard his jumbo jet. After refusing Loren's deal to give him most of their profits in exchange for their lives, the Saints stage a breakout, though Gat is forced to sacrifice himself to allow the Boss and Shaundi to escape. In response to the incident, Loren orders the Syndicate to attack the Saints, and ensure that their empire is destroyed.
Shaundi and the Boss land in the city of Steelport, firmly ruled by the Syndicate's three divisions: the Morningstar, a sophisticated gang led by Loren and his lieutenants, twin sisters Viola (Sasha Grey) and Kiki DeWynter (Megan Hollingshead), who dominate the gun and sex trades; the Deckers, a hacker gang led by Matt Miller (Yuri Lowenthal), who dominate the city's cyber black-market; and the Luchadores, a Mexican wrestler-themed gang led by Eddie "Killbane" Pryor (Rick D. Wasserman), who operate their own casino and deal steroids. After Saints lieutenant Pierce Washington (Arif S. Kinchen) arrives with backup, the Saints secure a hideout and go after Loren's operations, ultimately killing him inside his own skyscraper. In the process, they rescue Oleg Kirrlov (Mark Allen Stuart), a former KGB agent being forcefully cloned to provide super-soldiers for the Syndicate, who helps them track down other allies: ex-FBI agent Kinzie Kensington (Natalie Lander), who seeks to disrupt the Deckers; veteran pimp Zimos (Alex Désert), who lost his business to the Morningstar; and Angel de la Muerte (Hulk Hogan), Killbane's embittered former wrestling partner.
Killbane steps in to succeed the late Loren as leader of the Syndicate, and soon kills Kiki in a jealous rage when she refuses to take orders from him. Out of anger, Viola defects to the Saints and helps them finish off the Morningstar. Meanwhile, the lawlessness in Steelport leads to the federal government approving the deployment of a task force to combat it: the Special Tactical Anti-Gang initiative (S.T.A.G.), led by Cyrus Temple (Tim Thomerson) and supervised by Senator Monica Hughes (Tasia Valenza), the widow of the Saints' old nemesis Richard Hughes. Armed with highly advanced technology, S.T.A.G. puts the city under martial law until order is restored. During this time, the Saints focus on the Deckers, with the Boss acquiring items needed by Kinzie to allow access to the Deckers' network with a virtual avatar. Once inside, the Boss battles Matt's avatar and defeats it, forcing Matt to retire his gang and leave the city. With only the Luchadores left, Angel and Viola suggest humiliating Killbane during his next major wrestling match, resulting in him going on a rampage across Steelport after he loses.
While pursuing Killbane amidst the chaos, the Boss is informed that Shaundi, Viola and Mayor Burt Reynolds (himself) have been kidnapped by S.T.A.G. and taken to Steelport's most prominent monument, which has been rigged with explosives. At this point, the player must choose between continuing the Boss' pursuit of Killbane, or trying to stop S.T.A.G. In the canon ending, the Boss rescues their allies and prevents the monument's destruction, resulting in the Saints being hailed as heroes and Monica Hughes withdrawing S.T.A.G. after its actions become severely questioned by the government. The Saints decide not to pursue Killbane, who has fled Steelport, and instead resume their consumer activities, focusing on a new film called Gangstas In Space that stars the Boss. If the player alternatively chooses to pursue Killbane, the Boss ultimately kills him, but Shaundi, Viola and Reynolds die when S.T.A.G. destroys the monument, which the Saints are framed for. The Boss exacts revenge and destroys S.T.A.G.'s flying aircraft carrier, before declaring Steelport an independent nation under the Saints' rule.
Development