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How to gain XP fast in Saints Row

Leveling up in Saints Row is crucial to your success. The first handful of missions only throw a few enemies your way, but by the end of the game, you’ll be facing off against hordes of opponents equipped with overpowered weapons. Thankfully, there are plenty of ways to earn XP and quickly level your character — earning new skills and enhancing your stats along the way.

Here are the fastest ways to gain XP and level up in Saints Row.

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Follow the main story

A player viewing mission details using their smartphone in Saints Row.

The main story is, without a doubt, one of the best sources of XP in all of Santo Ileso. If you’re not running into trouble with your current slate of missions, it’s in your best interest to keep chugging along and knocking out every quest available to you. If one is a bit challenging, there are almost always a few alternatives you can undertake to help boost your level.

Ride Shotgun

The Riding Shotgun icon on the Saints Row map.

Just about everything you do in Saints Row grants you a bit of XP, but few are as lucrative as the Riding Shotgun side quests. These missions can be found throughout Santo Ileso (just look for the blue icon on your map) and grant you big XP boosts upon completion. Better yet, they task you with shooting down dozens of enemies — which gives you an additional source of XP.

Complete Challenges

Completing Challenges unlocks Perks (passive abilities) for your character and grants you XP. A list of available Challenges can be found by heading to the Missions app on your smartphone, then toggling over to the Challenges tab. Some of these will take a while to complete (so keep them in the back of your head while exploring), but others can be finished in just a few minutes. They also give you some hilarious goals to work toward and help show off everything available to you in Saints Row.

Relax with some Hidden Histories

Not in the mood for looting and shooting? Check your map for the Hidden Histories icon. These locations have you wandering around scenic viewpoints and interacting with various objects to earn XP as you learn about the history of Santo Ileso. They’re a nice change of pace from the usual over-the-top action and are a decent source of XP.

Upgrade your weapons

A player navigating the weapon upgrade menu at Friendly Fire.

This one doesn’t technically grant you XP but instead makes it easy to tackle high-level content. Since completing missions is a great source of XP, upgrading your weapons frequently means you’ll be able to complete your objectives in record time. It also makes it easy to mow down legions of enemies — which grants XP for every kill. In other words, upgraded weapons allow you to quickly complete tasks that reward you with XP.

Just play the game

The Boss shooting at police in Saints Row.

Saints Row is remarkably generous when it comes to XP handouts. Just about everything you do will grant you a bit of XP, whether that’s driving around recklessly and performing stunts or hunting down enemies and kicking them off your turf. Find an activity that you don’t mind repeating for an hour or so, and you’ll likely earn tons of XP along the way.

Jon Bitner
Jon Bitner is a writer covering consumer electronics, technology, and gaming. His work has been published on various websites…
All Curveball locations in Dead Island 2
A pipebomb with kaboom written on it.

Your bread-and-butter method for dispatching the undead in Dead Island 2 will always be the strongest blunt or bladed melee weapon you have on hand. There's certainly no shortage of shovels, knives, gardening equipment, and even swords to choose from, but you can also mix things up with some throwable items as well -- and we don't just mean throwing your weapon. Curveballs, as the game calls them, are more like skills that can be equipped than weapons since they work on a cooldown timer rather than ammo. Your character can only hold two at once, but there are 13 in total to experiment with. You'll be given one by default, but the rest are up to you to collect. Here's a full list of all the Curveballs in Dead Island 2 and where to find them.
How to get all the Curveballs in Dead Island 2

We'll list off the Curvballs, their locations, and their effects in the order you should naturally come across them while playing Dead Island 2. If you miss one, you can always fast travel back to the area to collect it later. While you can only have two Curveballs equipped at any time, you can swap them out no matter where you are, so feel free to try them all out and change up your loadout depending on your current situation.
Meat Bait
Given as part of the story by Carlos in Emma's house, this lets you throw out a chunk of meat that explodes on impact into a pool of meat(?) that attracts all nearby zombies to it.
Shuriken
On your way to the Halperin Hotel, the Shuriken are lodged into a car door directly in front of you. Using these throws out three Shuriken in a horizontal spread that travels a short distance before falling. They don't do a lot of damage, but can stagger and even remove limbs if you aim them well.
Chem Bomb
This is the second unmissable Curveball and is given to you inside the Halperin Hotel to put out a fire. It is good for more than just fire control, though, since you can use it to make zombies wet and susceptible to electricity.
Caustic-X Bomb
Keep your eye out for "The Rav-Ages of Caustic-X" sidequest if you want to add this to your arsenal. Completing this quest will reward you with a bouncing bomb that deals some damage, but is mainly used for applying the Melting status on zombies and leaving behind damaging acid.
Electric Star
You'll be taken to the Brentwood Water Reclamation Project plant during the "Justifiable Zombicide" mission. While there, make sure to snag the Electric Star sticking out of the safety sign on the fence. If you missed it, you can also purchase it from Rodriguez later on. This Curvball is a straight upgrade over the Shuriken since it functions exactly the same, but is electrified.
Pipe Bomb
While going through the checkpoints between Beverly Hills and Monarch Studios, keep an eye out for an open crate with the Pipe Bomb in it on one of the tables. This is a basic timed explosive, so toss it into a group for maximum damage.
Molotov Cocktail
When you're brought into the Brentwood Sewer during "The Heart of Darkness" mission, the Molotov will be in the office next to the Filtration Access and Servicing room. If it wasn't obvious, this flaming bottle will light any zombie hit with it on fire, plus leave a lingering patch of fire on the ground.
Electric Bomb
This is another Curveball tied to finishing a sidequest, this time the "Jo's Rainy Day Stash" quest. Think of it as a Pipe Bomb, only replace the explosion with a dome of electricity that is great for stunning groups.
Flashbang
You'll need to pony up $2,500 and buy this Curveball from Rodriquez once you've completed the "Cremains of the Day" sidequest. What you get is a weapon that inflicts Traumatized on zombies, meaning they're stunned and available to be counterattacked.
Sticky Bomb
Bring Dougie at the Serling Hotel $1,500 and he'll part ways with the Sticky Bomb. This is just your old Pipe Bomb, but now it will stick to any surface -- or zombie -- it hits.
Bait Bomb
This is another item Dougie will sell you, this time only after you beat "The Search for Truth" main mission. For just $3,500, you can get what is essentially your Meat Bait and Pipe Bomb stuck together. Zombies will all close in on the bomb before it detonates
Nail Bomb
For the final Curveball you need to invest your cash in, you can buy the Nail Bomb from Ezekiel for $1,500. This is a simple explosive, but with the added benefit of inflicting Bleeding on anything it hits.
Military Grenade
Once you complete the "Boz Makes a Bang" sidequest for Hana, which you can only get after beating "The Rav-Ages of Caustic-X" and "Dez and the Mother of Satan" quests, you will be given the final Curveball in Dead Island 2. This high-explosive detonates on impact no matter what, which could be a good or bad thing depending on the situation. It isn't all that much more powerful than any other explosive, but the utility of it not having a timer makes it useful.

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How to get fuses in Dead Island 2
A group of survivors looking stressed and annoyed.

eThere are going to be tons of things blocking your progress when trying to escape LA in Dead Island 2. Aside from the, you know, hordes of zombies, you will find plenty of gates and doors that need power to open. Most can be worked around by installing a battery or circuit breaker, but some require something else. Fuses aren't required at any point in the main story, but instead are limited keys that hide away some of the game's best loot. If you've been spotting all these gates and garage doors taunting you to open them, but lack the fuses to do so, we'll tell you how you can get your hands on some in Dead Island 2.
Where to get fuses in Dead Island 2

Unlike batteries or circuit breakers, fuses won't be found anywhere on the map while exploring. Instead, the only way to get these electrical devices is to purchase them. Obviously, your local hardware store isn't open for business anymore, so your options are limited to the vendors you come across such as Carlos in Emma's house or Ezekiel on The Pier. No matter who you get them from, you're going to be paying a premium. Each fuse costs $1,500, and the sellers usually only hold a few at a time. Even if they had the stock and you had the cash, your character can only hold three fuses at a time before needing to spend them to get more.

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Exoprimal: release date, trailers, gameplay, and more
A group of players fights a T-Rex in Exoprimal.

Warning: There's been a crisis detected. You might call it a dino crisis, but Capcom won't. Exoprimal may look like the long-awaited revival of the Resident Evil spinoff series that replaced zombies with dinosaurs for a new twist on survival horror, but it's not. It's a new IP entirely.

Revealed at the March 2022 State of Play showcase, Exoprimal was a very unexpected announcement from Capcom. We didn't know what to expect going into the showcase, let alone that Capcom would be there with a brand new game. Unlike its other popular ongoing series and recent output of new IP, Exoprimal appears to take itself a bit less seriously, judging by the trailer and premise -- and it looks like a ton of fun. While it might not be the next Dino Crisis as some had hoped, here's everything we know about the chaotic dinosaur-filled shooter game Exoprimal.

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