Saints Row character creation: How to create and customise your Boss
Including details on how to edit your character once the game is underway
How can I edit my character in Saints Row? The Saints Row franchise has established a reputation for providing its players with deep character creation screens that let you customise parts of the body you probably never even think about, in ways you never knew you wanted. Like the idea of spending hours tweaking the exact inner ear fold angle of your solid-gold-skinned Boss? Saints Row has got your back. Happily, the 2022 series reboot has continued the tradition, as we saw in the Boss Factory demo that launched back in June.
On this page we'll give you an overview of every aspect of your Saints Row character which can be customised, and when and how you can edit or change your character after the initial character creation screen.
Saints Row character creation
You'll first encounter the Saints Row character creation screen a few minutes into the opening cutscene. Here, you'll be able to completely customise your Boss's physical appearance under the following categories:
- Bosses: Here you can select from some preset appearances for your character, or import saved creations from the Boss Factory.
- Body: Build, Figure, Chest Size, Groin Size, Prosthetics, and Modesty. (The latter allows you to customise your nudity settings for the game — you can force underwear, toggle nipples on and off, or choose from a wide selection of humorous stickers to cover your character's essentials.)
- Skin: Skin Types, Skin Tint, Muscle Definition, Veins, Glossiness, Body Scars, and Skin Details.
- Hair: Hair Style/Color, Glossiness, Facial Hair, Eyebrows, and Eyelashes.
- Head: Head Shape, Forehead, Brows, Ears, Eyes, Nose, Cheeks, Mouth, Teeth, Jaw, and Chin. You also have the option here to toggle Symmetrical facial features off, allowing you to customise either side of your character's face independently.
- Face: Complexion, Wrinkles, Face Scars, Accessories, and Makeup.
- Tattoos: Head, Arms, Torso, Back, and Legs. (Note that this category will be empty upon initial character creation; see "in-game customisation" below for how to give your character tattoos.)
- Personality: Voice, Emote 1, and Emote 2.
However, it's worth knowing that you'll be taken to the character creation screen for a second time once you finish the tutorial mission. This is nominally the point where you get to choose a starting outfit for your Boss, but you can in fact edit any aspect of their appearance at this point too. So, if something about your character wasn't working for you once you saw them in-game, you at least have an early opportunity to change them. But now you also have the opportunity to customise their clothing under the newly-unlocked Outfit category, which includes:
- Head: Helmets, Hats, Upper Face, and Lower Face.
- Upper: Shirts, Jackets, Necklaces, Underwear, Hands, Wrists, and Wingsuit.
- Lower: Underwear, Bottoms
- Feet: Socks, Shoes
- Full Body: Full Body outfits
You can also customise the colours and material of each item of clothing, and many clothing items are layerable with items from different sub-categories (i.e. shoes and socks, jackets and shirts).
Saints Row in-game character customisation
Saints Row is pretty happy to let you change up your character's looks at any time. By going into the phone menu (press TAB on keyboard / back button on gamepad) and selecting the Style app icon, you can re-enter character creation and change every aspect of their physical appearance or clothing under the categories outlined above.
However, some customisation options are quite limited by default: you only have a few items of clothing in each category to select from, and (at least in the preview build I played) you can't give your character any tattoos to begin with.
In order to expand your character's wardrobe, you need to purchase them from outdoor markets, clothing shops, and tattoo parlours around the city. Luckily, these will pop up on your map the first time you get near to them, with distinctive icons illustrating each shop's purpose. You'll have the option to equip your purchases right away, and they will also be added to the relevant area of the character customisation screen for future use.
Rummaging through golden dumpsters (also indicated on the map) is another source of clothing items, as well as medium-sized money boosts and other little bonuses. The game assures you that these are definitely awesome fashion statements, and absolutely not something so laughably bad that they couldn't even bring themselves to charge you fake money for it in a video game. But since the point of Saints Row is arguably to make the most ludicrous-looking Boss possible, you definitely shouldn't neglect this source of, erm, recycled clothing chic.
Now that you've created your Boss, be sure to check out our guide to the best perks in Saints Row, as well as the best skills in Saints Row and how to level up fast to acquire them. If you're hoping to show off your glorious creation to your mates, we've also got a guide to Saints Row multiplayer you might like.