Santo Ileso is a strange place. That’s only natural, because it is the setting for another Saints Row. The latest is a reboot to the franchise but keeps some of the weirdest detail — crazy vehicles, bizarre references hidden in the game world, and returning icons from developer Volition’s past. There’s an overabundance of Easter eggs in this game, and we’re going to try and document all the strangest things we’ve found. If you thought one alien monolith wasn’t enough, how about two alien monoliths?
To quickly browse through the Easter eggs, check out the table of contents above and jump to any of the titles that interest you. We might’ve gone overboard in our analysis of the Red Faction Easter egg — there’s a lot to learn in this alternate-reality timeline!
More Saints Row (2022) guides:
5 Hilariously Weird Unlockables To Get First | 10 Little Details, Controls & Interactions | How To Make Money Early | All Secret Vehicles & Lost Wheel Collectible Locations | Best Car & Helicopter Locations | Gold Garbage Truck Location | Gargantua Monster Truck Location | How To Get A Tank | All Hidden History Locations | Game-Breaking Bug Fix | All Shooting Gallery Locations | All Fast Travel Landmark Locations | How To Complete Car Challenges | Secret Ending Guide
All Collectibles | Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3
All Discovery Locations | 100% Completion Map
The Singing Bush
The Singing Bush isn’t just an Easter egg, it’s a collectible you can add to your HQ. By taking a photo of the Singing Bush, located on the small island in the far south of the map, you’ll add it to your collectibles. If you place the Singing Bush in your HQ, it will continue to sing Wild West songs at an annoyingly high-pitched squeal.
The Singing Bush is a character from The Three Amigos — a film that’s also referenced in Saints Row with their signature hip-thrusting motion. Check out the Singing Bush scene here. No, we weren’t able to find an Invisible Swordsman. Yet.
Comb The Desert
Another piece of Classic Film Trivia, you can find a giant comb in the southwest desert of Santo Ileso. This giant comb (and the tiny man next to it) are an ode to the Mel Brooks Star Wars parody film Space Balls. You can’t tell me otherwise. Just check out the original scene here.
The Golden Dumper | Easter Egg
One of the weirdest vehicles you can unlock is the Gold Dump Truck — and you’ll get it for dumpster diving. There are four dumpster locations you need to “dive” into to get the parts. Get all four parts, and you’ll have a solid gold trash truck you can drive around town. Not exactly our idea of a cool vehicle, but it crushes other cars easily. Check out the locations below to unlock it yourself.
Alien Monolith | Easter Egg
Ever wanted to visit an alien monolith? Now you can! The monolith is located in an empty field in Badlands South — just check the map location screenshot to find it yourself. The Monolith is a black metal obelisk with four floating rocks around it. Look behind it and you’ll find some cryptic graffiti and an inflatable sex doll. This thing has to be a reference to 2001: A Space Odyssey — an alien monolith appeared in the film, pushing the apes to evolve. Looks like the people of Badlands South are a lot less impressed with this alien artifact.
And there’s a second alien monolith in the middle of nowhere on the edge of the map in the Badlands South area. What is this thing? Is this from Evangelion? Someone help us out here! Check out the location on the map and see for yourself.
Cabbit Storage | Easter Egg
Located in the northwest of Old Town East, you can find a giant cabbit doll in one of the rental storage rooms. The Cabbit is a recurring Easter egg in the Saints Row series, first appearing in Saints Row 2 — the Cabbit was a distinctive enemy from developer Volition, Inc early console RPG The Summoner. The giant cabbit doll doesn’t really do anything, but it is a nice reminder of simpler times when all we needed for happiness was a janky western RPG on the PS2.
Citizens React To Your Emotes | Easter Egg
A tiny easter egg that’s incredibly easy-to-miss. If you use certain emotes at citizens as you walk around, they’ll react in different ways — we’ve seen them cheer after giving a thumbs up, and boo when we share a lewd gesture. Give them a try — not all of them seem to work, but enough do that we’re throwing this down as a fun mini-Easter egg.
Sidewinder Creek Narrator Let Loose | Easter Egg
At Sidewinder Creek, one of the Hidden History sites located in the northwest area of Rojas Desert North, the typical boring narration has a fun little twist — the Narrator reveals he’s about to be fired, so he’s going out with a bang. He complains about working 20 years for the park service, talks about dirty deals in the area, and threatens to blackmail anyone if they’re getting rid of him — he knows where the bodies are buried. Check out the location marked in the screenshot above to hear the full rant.
Red Faction Uprising | Easter Egg
The Red Faction Easter egg actually begins in Smelterville West, at the Frank’s 80/20 Brewery — one of the several Hidden History locations. Finding the site and listening to the narrator, we won’t learn anything about the actual Red Faction uprising, but we will learn that it happened, and that Ultor was involved!
The Ultor Corporation are the mining company villains you (briefly) work for in the original Red Faction — and later the corporation becomes the main antagonist in Saints Row 2.
- From Frank’s 80/20 Brewery, we’ll learn that the Ultor Corporation purchased the local mining company in the 1990s.
- Ultor upgraded the mining facility with a nanotech lab and an orbital laser-defense system. Sounds like them!
- The Red Faction uprising occurred in 2001 — the same year the Red Faction video game released on PS2.
So, what’s the deal with the Red Faction? Why did it happen in the history of Saints Row (2022)? In the original game, the miners were treated like slave labor on the planet Mars, forcing the workers to unite and fight against the totalitarian corporation.
The rest of the story is found at the Red Faction Memorial Park in Marina West. There’s a brewery here that even has the Red Faction fist logo! So, let’s break down exactly what happened in this history.
- In this backstory, miners working for the Ultor Corporation went on strike to end inhumane working conditions and human experimentation (?!) — details from the original game! Except this one is on Earth instead of Mars.
- The Red Faction uprising date was March 22, 2001 — the day the original game released.
- Like in the story, an elite squad of mercenaries were sent to end the Red Faction uprising — and the ensuing massacre caused the company to go bankrupt, selling off the mining operation and endings its Mars launch aspirations.
This is a pretty deep cut for fans of the series, and it is always exciting to see more Red Faction news — the developers are fully on the Saints Row train, but maybe we’ll see more for Red Faction in the future? After the awesome Red Faction: Guerilla, we’re hungry for more destruction.
This game is packed with jokes — but we’re aiming only for the true Easter eggs. Secrets and special hidden objects you can easily miss that might not make sense in the logic of the game world. These are the funny details we’ve found so far. There are many more, so check back soon to see what else we find.
