Saints Row IV cover art

Saints Row IV

An open-world romp where the President of the United States gets superpowers inside an alien simulation.

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Here's the argument for where this game sits - disagree freely.
Match your experience?
EXECUTION5 /10READS1 /10VARIANCE2 /10OPTIMIZATION5 /10

the cheat-test profile

The four axes - the argument

Each axis is rated on its own - how far one cheat would trivialize the game here. They don't trade off; low on all four means the game is an experience, not a contest.

  1. Execution

    cheat: Aimbot - perfect inputs

    5/10

    Superpowered movement and shooting are fast but forgiving

  2. Reads

    cheat: Out-predict an adaptive opponent

    1/10

    Simulation enemies run fixed scripts

  3. Variance

    cheat: See what's hidden / map the RNG

    2/10

    Mild spawn and sandbox randomness

  4. Optimization

    cheat: A perfect solver / coach

    5/10

    Power upgrade paths trivialise the simulation once optimised

How to read this

Each axis is named by the cheat that would break the game along it. Execution is the hands. Reads is out-thinking an adaptive opponent. Variance is hidden information & RNG. Optimization is the solvable systems layer. A game's region is the top one or two axes.

These four aren't one rating split four ways - they're independent 0-10 questions. A 9 on one axis takes nothing from the others, and a game low on all four isn't missing data: it's telling you there's no skill here to cheat.

The basis is how the majority actually plays this game - not a niche mode or a personal run. For a game with very different modes (a story campaign versus ranked multiplayer), that's the version most people mean.

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Game details

Released
2013
Developer
High Voltage Software
Platforms
PS3, PS4, Linux, PC, X360, XONE
Modes
Single player, Multiplayer, Co-operative
IGDB critics
84/100
IGDB users
74/100
ShooterAdventureActionScience fictionComedySandboxOpen world