Welcome to PlayStation LifeStyle’s Saints Row IV Challenge Guide. This guide will help you with completing the 66 challenges in the game to get “The Challenge King” trophy as well as unlocking some pretty sweet upgrades, weapons, and bonuses. Many of these correspond to trophies, and if you are looking for the full trophy guide, you can find it here. For sake of time and ease of reading I will only list out the highest challenge in each grouping (i.e. Only list ‘get gold medals’ in all activities, rather than also listing that you have to get silver medals).
–Complete All Other Challenges
Eventually you need to complete all 66 challenges and nine of them are simply for completing the other challenges. Easy.
–Blazin’ Gold Medals
There really isn’t a specific trick to the Blazin’ activity. You will be doing checkpoint based races against time using your super sprint. Practice makes perfect and after a few retries of each one of these, you should be able to get gold on all nine of them in no time. The gold medal time is 15 seconds for each course. Keep in mind that the checkpoints will stop the clock for a specified amount of time.
–Genki’s M.O.M. Gold Medals
This is one of the toughest activities in the game, especially the third instance of Mind Over Murder. Genki’s M.O.M. will see you using your telekinesis to throw people, cars, and Genki heads through their respective rings. Memorize the layout of the activity and set up a gameplan. Going in haphazardly will end with you in the silver bracket. You may need to retry multiple times to get a good feel for the course. Once you can execute each segment near flawlessly, you will end up completing it with plenty of time to spare.
–Insurance Fraud Gold Medals
Insurance Fraud is the extremely fun activity in which your intention is to be hit by vehicles and ragdoll to build up a fraud claim. Most of the gold medals require over a million dollars, which may seem impossible until you learn a little trick. Use your super sprint to run directly at a car and then hold R1 to ragdoll just before you hit it. This should send you sailing over the car and build up your adrenaline. If you get really good air, you can continue to ragdoll down the street of the city, building up a very large combo. Use distance, height and speed to your advantage. Don’t shy away from ending up half a city away from your starting point. Just keep holding R1 and ragdoll down the road, hitting vehicles where possible. Don’t sacrifice speed and distance just to hit a car though. If you are going fast enough, it is possible to maintain a combo and continue to ragdoll even when you hit the street. Roll into oncoming cars to pop you back into the air and repeat.
–On-Foot Mayhem Gold Medals
These activities include any mayhem challenges that require you to rack up damage while on foot. They will limit you to different weapons and powers for each one, and out of all of them, I had the hardest time with the stomp missions. The trick to the stomp mayhem is to not even use stomp at all. At level 26 you can purchase the ability to have a damaging wake for your super sprint. Even though all of the other powers and weapons are locked, you can still use the super sprint during this activity. I ran down the sidewalk of the streets and the resulting damage to people, mailboxes, sign posts, etc. combined with my combo that I built up while doing this, netted me the gold in no time.
For the rest of the mayhem missions, just make sure that you are maintaining a combo by damaging smaller objects as well as the larger objects. They may be easier to do after being fully upgraded at the end of the game.
–Super-Powered Fight Club Gold Medals
These activities pit you against various other super powered enemies in waves that you must defeat in a certain time frame using only your super abilities. For the easiest time, you will want to do this after you have completely upgraded all of your super powers. One super power that you shouldn’t overlook during these is the melee attacks. Dashing and tapping R1 near an enemy will perform a super melee attack on them, but don’t forgot about just pressing R1 to punch an enemy to death. With such a tight time limit, this is easily the fastest and most effective way to kill the enemies, especially the bosses in the final waves. You can also use telekinesis effectively on the fodder, though it tends not to kill on the first throw, so make sure to keep them close enough for a second toss. Watch your time and complete these fast enough to complete this.
-Vehicular Mayhem Gold Medals
For these, you will be placed in a vehicle and told to cause wanton mayhem, destruction and damage. Most of these are really easy. Just keep moving and shooting everything in sight. The ones that gave me problems for some reason were the UFO activities. For these, make sure that you are aiming for the marked red targets, as they will give you the most money. Try to stay low to the ground and never stop moving or shooting. If you are firing the guns, you will need to release the trigger and re press it after firing missiles, unlike the tank, which allows a continuous firing, even while shooting missiles.
-Platforming Rift Gold Medals
You will be jumping to different targets to get points in these activities. As always, this will be easier fully upgraded. Aim for the middle of each platform and move quickly. The time bonus that you get for completing sections quickly can make or break your gold medal, especially on the harder instances. This is another one that may take a bit of practice, but should find itself finished soon enough.
–Speed Rift Gold Medals
Use the boost as much as possible. As soon as you have it available, use it and run into each of the barriers. Running into barriers while boosting gives you points and it is impossible to get a gold without doing so. Also make sure you are collecting the fragments to build and maintain your boost. These may take a couple of tries but should go down easy.
–TK Rift Gold Medals
You will need to use telekinesis to use the proper colored balls to destroy the targets. Speed is your friend here. Keep your combo high to get the maximum score from each hit. When the targets start shooting the balls at you, make sure to catch these and throw them back, rather than using the ones that are provided for you. It helps to have the ability to not ragdoll from explosions (from Insurance Fraud silver medals) as a lot of time can be wasted if a ball hits near you and explodes and you end up on the ground in a recovery animation. You should also have your telekinesis fully upgraded.
–10 Aliens Super-Kicked
Click L3 to super-kick. Do this to ten aliens to complete the challenge. If you are in the post-game, enter a shop and shoot a shopkeeper. You will gain instant notoriety and aliens will begin spawning for you to kill.
–1oo Death From Above Kills
You unlock this ability late in the game. Hold L1 while in the air to hover and target, and press R1 to rush towards the ground with a devastating punch. Death From Above kills only count within the shockwave of the attack, so although you can unlock a nuclear explosion for this ability, enemies killed in the explosion do not count for this unless they are very close to you. Make sure that you are getting enough height to make the attack powerful, but not so high that you can’t aim to be very nearby enemies. If you are in the post-game, enter a shop and shoot a shopkeeper. You will gain instant notoriety and aliens will begin spawning for you to kill.
–25 Miles Super Sprinted
Just use your super sprint to travel everywhere and you should easily have this challenge complete by the end of the game.
–10 Superpowered Beatdowns
To initiate a superpowered beatdown you need to be sprinting near the enemy and then hit R1. You will do a super melee attack that will often kill the enemy. Do this 10 times to complete this.
–1800 Seconds of Super Jump Air Time
Jump a lot. You really should probably have this by the end of the game or you’re clearly not enjoying it much. After ten minutes of time spent in the air from jumps, you will have this one done.
–30 Telekinetic Catches
You will need to fight Wardens to get this one. When a Warden throws something at you, use your TK to catch it. To get a Warden to appear, max out your notoriety by fighting and killing aliens. If you are in the post-game, enter a shop and shoot a shopkeeper. You will gain instant notoriety and aliens will begin spawning for you to kill.
-30 Telekinesis Kills
Use your TK in combat and you should be able to get this one done easily. You need to actually kill the enemy with TK for this to count.
-Throw 100 Enemies With Telekinesis
You don’t need to kill enemies for this one. Simply pick them up with your TK and throw them to work towards completing this challenge.
-10 Vehicles Super-Kicked
Walk up to any vehicle and press L3 to super-kick it. Another easy challenge done.
-10 Arc Lightning Hits
Both the TK and Buff abilities have lightning element upgrades. Use either of these in combat and you should get this. If you are in the post-game, enter a shop and shoot a shopkeeper. You will gain instant notoriety and aliens will begin spawning to help complete this.
-10 Enemies Mind Controlled
The Blast power has a mind control ability that can be unlocked. Use this on 10 enemies for an easy challenge. If you are in the post-game, enter a shop and shoot a shopkeeper. You will gain instant notoriety and aliens will begin spawning for you to kill.
-10 Fire Element Ignitions
Both the Blast and Buff abilities have a fire element. Use either of these in combat and ignite 10 enemies to get this challenge completed. If you are in the post-game, enter a shop and shoot a shopkeeper. You will gain instant notoriety and aliens will begin spawning for you to kill.
-100 Freeze Shatters
Using your Blast or Buff freeze elements to freeze enemies and shatter them. I found it easiest to use a melee attack or weapon to get the shatter kill. If you are in the post-game, enter a shop and shoot a shopkeeper. You will gain instant notoriety and aliens will begin spawning for you to kill.
-10 Gravity Float Kills
You can unlock a gravity float element for your stomp attack. Use it and kill 10 enemies who are floating. If you are in the post-game, enter a shop and shoot a shopkeeper. You will gain instant notoriety and aliens will begin spawning for you to kill.
-75 Ground Stomp Stuns
This challenge does not require kills. Use your stomp power in combat and it should stun any enemies within the radius. If you are in the post-game, enter a shop and shoot a shopkeeper. You will gain instant notoriety and aliens will begin spawning for you.
-10 Enemies Health Stolen
The telekinesis ability has a life-steal element that can be unlocked. Use it on 10 enemies for this challenge. If you are in the post-game, enter a shop and shoot a shopkeeper. You will gain instant notoriety and aliens will begin spawning for you to kill.
-10 Shrunken Enemies Squished
The stomp power has a shrink element that can be unlocked. Shrink enemies with it and then run around to squish them for this challenge. If you are in the post-game, enter a shop and shoot a shopkeeper. You will gain instant notoriety and aliens will begin spawning for you to kill.
-250 Bounce Rifle Kills
Self explanatory. It helps to have the Bounce Rifle fully upgraded. If you are in the post-game, enter a shop and shoot a shopkeeper. You will gain instant notoriety and aliens will begin spawning for you to kill.
-250 Dubstep Gun Kills
Self explanatory. It helps to have the Dubstep Gun fully upgraded. If you are in the post-game, enter a shop and shoot a shopkeeper. You will gain instant notoriety and aliens will begin spawning for you to kill.
-150 Targets Abducted
Use the Abducto-matic to call a beam of light that takes your enemies away. After 150 enemies are taken away to be probed, you’ll complete this challenge. If you are in the post-game, enter a shop and shoot a shopkeeper. You will gain instant notoriety and aliens will begin spawning for you to kill.
-250 Targets Blackholed
Use the Black Hole Launcher to create tears in the space-time continuum that suck your enemies in and destroy them. Send 250 enemies to the unknown for this challenge. If you are in the post-game, enter a shop and shoot a shopkeeper. You will gain instant notoriety and aliens will begin spawning for you to kill.
-100 Enemies Disintegrated
Use the Disintegrator to… well… disintegrate your enemies. Easy enough. If you are in the post-game, enter a shop and shoot a shopkeeper. You will gain instant notoriety and aliens will begin spawning for you to kill.
-50 Inflato-Ray Kills
Use the Inflato-Ray to inflate and pop enemies. This does not include kills caused by the pop, if you have that particular upgrade. This only counts each enemy that is inflated. If you are in the post-game, enter a shop and shoot a shopkeeper. You will gain instant notoriety and aliens will begin spawning for you to kill.
-250 Mech Suit Kills
A lot of these will come via the main game, but after you beat the game the ability to call in the Mech Suit is unlocked. If you are in the post-game, enter a shop and shoot a shopkeeper. You will gain instant notoriety and aliens will begin spawning for you to kill. Call the Mech Suit and complete your challenge.
-30 Tentacle Bat Beatdowns
Self Explanatory. Use the Tentacle Bat to kill 30 enemies. If you are in the post-game, enter a shop and shoot a shopkeeper. You will gain instant notoriety and aliens will begin spawning for you to kill.
-Destroy 100 Alien Vehicles
This should be easy to figure out, but this does not include any human style cars. These have to be alien vehicles of any kind. This includes space ships and the small single-alien turret vehicles that some aliens drive. If you are in the post-game, enter a shop and shoot a shopkeeper. You will gain instant notoriety and aliens (with vehicles too) will begin spawning for you to kill.
-Destroy 100 C.I.D.S
Focus on this in the post-game, as there is a mission in the main game that will have you destroying a ton of C.I.D.S. When you raise your notoriety, you should see an orange icon appear on your mini map. Chase this down and mash triangle when you are close to it. This is a Golden C.I.D. kill that lowers your notoriety, but still counts as a C.I.D. kill. Farm these in the post game to complete the challenge. If you are in the post-game, enter a shop and shoot a shopkeeper. You will gain instant notoriety and a Golden C.I.D. will appear.
-Destroy 60 Murderbots
This should come over the progression of the main game and loyalty missions as there are plenty of Murderbots. If not, they will spawn in the post-game as well. If you are in the post-game, enter a shop and shoot a shopkeeper. You will gain instant notoriety and aliens (and Murderbots, at higher notoriety) will begin spawning for you to kill.
-Destroy 30 Portals
Portals are orange balls out of which aliens spawn. You will see these all through the game, and yes, they can be shot and destroyed. A fully powered shotgun can take one out in a couple of shots. If you are in the post-game, enter a shop and shoot a shopkeeper. You will gain instant notoriety and aliens will begin spawning from portals for you to kill.
-Kill 1000 Aliens
You should easily have this before the end of the game, unless you don’t care about humanity that is. But no, really, you should kick some alien ass and get this one crossed off before closing time.
-Kill 30 Wardens
You will not fight 30 wardens naturally through the course of the game. In fact, you will likely fight a lot fewer than this. To get a warden to spawn, you must increase your notoriety to the maximum level. I recommend not purchasing the faster notoriety decay upgrade in order to make this a bit easier. For easy notoriety, go into a shop and shoot the shopkeeper. Notoriety will instantly increase and aliens will begin to spawn. Continue to kill them and cause havoc and it will continue to rise. Once it’s at max, a warden will appear.
-20 Minutes of Alien High Notoriety Time
Seriously, you should be pissing off the aliens enough that you have 20 minutes of high notoriety 12 minutes into the game. As combat scenarios usually raise your notoriety to where it is counting for this, you shouldn’t even have to worry about this one and will have it before the curtain call.
-50 Aliens Taunted
A bit confusing at first, but have no fear. HOLD DOWN the left directional button to do a taunt. You must be very close to an enemy for it to count. You will know that it worked if you see it count a taunt in your combo. If you are in the post-game, enter a shop and shoot a shopkeeper. You will gain instant notoriety and aliens will begin spawning for you to taunt.
-39 Audio Logs Collected
Audio logs are placed on the map after rescuing each character. By completing a side mission for Matt Miller, you can unlock an ability to have collectibles show up on the world map. If you can’t see any more audio logs on the map, but you have not collected them all, then you have not progressed far enough in the story to have them all show up yet.
-2,500,000 Feet Traveled in Alien Vehicle
Perhaps the most boring of the challenges, because that is a lot of feet, and you will hardly ever use vehicles to get around. I had to do this in the post-game using the Void ship that I had unlocked during the game. I just flew back and forth over Steelport for hours letting the distance rack up while I worked on writing my review for the game, knitting, looking at pictures of kittens. This method requires minor attention because when you hit the edge of the map the ship enters hover mode automatically and must be re-set to fly across the city. Godspeed sir or madam.
-4 Miles Traveled in Mech Suit
Most of this will be gotten in the main game, but when you complete the game you gain the ability to call in the Mech Suit. Call it in and travel around the city to finish this up.
-8 Text Adventures Collected
Text adventures are collectibles around the simulation that tell Zinyak’s story. By completing a side mission for Matt Miller, you can unlock an ability to have collectibles show up on the world map and should be able to find these easily.
-120 Minutes Spent With Homies
Call your friends and spend a little bit of time with them. They deserve it after the hell you’ve dragged them through.
-36 Zinyak Statues Destroyed
Zinyak statues are spread around the map and can be destroyed with a few hits from most powers and weapons. By completing a side mission for Matt Miller, you can unlock an ability to have collectibles show up on the world map and should be able to find these easily.
Let me know in the comments if this challenge guide helps you and if you have any questions, comments or suggestion email me at [email protected] or hit me up on Twitter @FinchStrife.
