Rifts are like challenges in Saints Row 4. You do these challenges to destabilize the simulation, and also because they reward you with cache and experience points. There is a total of eight rifts in Steelport, and they’re divided into three kinds.
The first are called Platforming rifts, and they pretty much require you to do as the name implies. Mario-style, you’ll have to hop from floating platform to floating platform and score as many points as you can in order to get Bronze, Silver and Gold rating.
Landing in the middle of a platform gives you 2000 points, while landing on the edge only nets you 500. You get bonus points for completing a section quickly, as well as 100 points per second left on the clock when you’re finished.
Next we have Speed rifts, which are straight-up races. You’re automatically sprinting along a three-lane track and need to collect bits of data while avoiding the obstacles the Zin put in your way.
Blue data is worth 100 points, and purple data is worth 500 points.
Telekinesis rifts require you to use your psychic powers to grab and launch logic bombs at the firewalls on the towers. The firewalls flash different colors and need to be struck with a logic bomb of the appropriate color.
You have a point multiplier in this challenge, and hitting a tower right in the center gives you 5x (10x is the max) a direct hit while at 10x multiplier will get you from 10,000 to 15,000 points.
For more help on Saints Row 4, read our Blazin’, Fightclub and Fraud Guide.
Platforming Rift #1 – Salander
Medal requirements:
- Bronze – 50,000
- Silver – 70,000
- Gold – 85,000
This is the first rift, and as such is not very complicated. It’s a pretty straightforward path. Doin’t skip any of the platforms. While you might get an early segment clearance bonus, it will rarely outweigh the points you lose by skipping platforms.
Speed Rift #1 – Arapice Island
Medal requirements:
- Bronze – 60,000
- Silver – 120,000
- Gold – 170,000
This is your first speed rift, so it won’t be very difficult either. However to make things easier, here are some tips. Activate your data burst ability just before you run into a long string of data orbs to maximize your bonus. If you can use it to also resist the Zin on bikes simultaneously that’s a double benefit for you.
Telekinesis Rift #1 – Henry Steel Mills
Medal requirements:
- Bronze – 100,000
- Silver – 400,000
- Gold – 500,000
This is surprisingly difficult for your first TK rift.
The targets will be floating panels that return fire when you attack them. As such, it would be foolish to assault all of them as the counter-fire will overwhelm you. Focus on taking them on one or two at a time, and start from the outside targets first, working your way in.
Don’t always be concerned with throwing the bombs accurately, sometimes you need to just catch them and throw them away to keep yourself alive. Remember to aim for the center, and avoid the blasts yourself.
Platforming Rift #2 – Loren Square
Medal requirements:
- Bronze – 74,000
- Silver – 140,000
- Gold – 210,000
This platformer is a little more difficult than the last one, but the tricks are minor to be honest.
Honestly most of the difficulty comes from the length of the track. First of all, there will be a platform very early on where you need to run over some triangular red buttons around the perimeter in order to turn them blue before proceeding.
Secondly, there will be a part of this course where the platforms are invisible and only appear when you land on the platform before it.
This will slow your speed significantly but there you few other options, taking a leap of faith can often leave you hanging as you realize that you leapt in the exact wrong direction from where the next platform was going to appear.
Speed Rift #2 – Bridgeport
Medal requirements:
- Bronze – 80,000
- Silver – 220,000
- Gold – 264,000
This speed rift is a little different from the last one in that you’ll have to make use of the jump key a lot more. Much of the data you need to acquire is found in midair. Make free use of Data Burst in this race, as you want to destroy many of the obstacles in this one.
It’s not too difficult to have a good uptime on Data burst for this rift and keeping it up at the right moments will let your burst bonus clock in on some really nice figures. Keep hitting those five-figure bonuses and you should do alright.
Telekinesis Rift #2 – Rosen Oaks
Medal requirements:
- Bronze – 100,000
- Silver – 200,000
- Gold – 280,000
This is fairly easy if you managed to do the first one. Of the three locations, the first one is laughably easy as the towers don’t hurl logic bombs at you. The second isn’t difficult either, you just need to aim a little better as the targets are a bit further apart.
The last one becomes harder, as there are eight targets for you to hit.
Try to focus on the ones that are throwing bombs at you, and not on the ones that are inactive. The last target is pretty far away, so you’d better know your physics if you want to arc the bomb correctly!
Platforming Rift #3 – Zinyak Island
Medal requirements:
- Bronze – 65,000
- Silver – 120,000
- Gold – 195,000
This is the first platformer that’s actually pretty tough. And you need to hit all the platforms to get gold. Here’s how to do it most efficiently; First go around the first group of platforms, then drop to the bottom row and go up the other way, zigzagging in the middle as you near the checkpoint.
The second part has three speed zones. Take the low road first, then head back using the second route, and then back again to the end using the third.
The third section is the toughest. Again, you should move in a zigzag pattern and hit as many of the platforms as you possibly can. Don’t charge up the super jump for long, just long enough to make it to the next bulls eye or you lose time on the clock through airtime.
If you find you still have some time when you’re nearing the tower but not enough points, veer off along the string of platforms to the right. This will award you a lot of points but circle you around to the base of the tower again. As soon as you have about 193,000 points just wall sprint up the side of the tower.
Speed Rift #3 – Wesley Cutter International
Medal requirements:
- Bronze – 80,000
- Silver – 160,000
- Gold – 190,000
A rather tough race, this one has more obstacles than the first, more jumps than the second, and the data streams are generally tougher to get to. There are far more pits this time, and the pattern is much more erratic.
Fortunately since the course is so long, you have quite some time to amass the points tally you need for gold.
Just remember to activate the burst when obstacles come up and prolong it by grabbing data. I would advise against attempting to get at the purple data near the edge of the pits since those can lead to your downfall very easily.
