Enter the Dominatrix has been a long time in the making, initially planned as DLC for Saints Row The Third before being expanded upon, and for the best part, assimilated into Saints Row IV, before weirdly enough getting announced as one of two DLC packs for Saints Row IV
Presented as a TV special in which the Saints reminisce about the original version of Saints Row IV that was left on the cutting room floor, guest staring Donnie who was later cut from the game. Enter the Dominatrix provides gamers with an alternative take on the Zin invasion in which Zinyak is the least of the Saint’s problems as the simulation is taken over by a powerful AI known as the Dominatrix and her army of sex slaves.
As you would expect hilarity ensues as the Saints poke fun at the game’s own design process with their usual mix of wit and self deprecating humour, things go from the sublime to the ridiculous as the leader of the saints deals with ZInyak incredibly easily despite his huge life meter, infiltrates a BDSM club and then uses their telekinesis powers to round up runaway furries, and destroys Giant Soda can Paul from the inside out using a cargo hold full of mentos. These are all accompanied by dubbed storyboards like you would find in deleted scenes extra on a DVD and at one point a cut scene is acted out by a developer playing with models. It’s these little touches that add to the whole cutting room floor shtick and give Enter the Dominatrix a weird air of authenticity.
The only problem with Enter the Dominatrix is that it’s far too short; the entire hilarious adventure is over in only a couple of hours. For all the jokes about missing sections and parts of the story they didn’t want to show or had just skipped, as I returned to the ship after the final mission I wish the Saints hadn’t been so stingy with what they had divulged. Its also worth noting that, apart from the stand out moments I previously mentioned, most of the missions contained within ETD are pretty formulaic as you spend 90% of the missions either fighting the dominatrix head on, killing a couple of waves of minions and then she shows up again for another fight before buggering off somewhere else. Rinse and repeat until the end.
Oh, but what an ending! As alternative endings go its on a par with the director’s cut of Blade Runner for being so superior to the original. As you would expect from Saints Row IV, it’s bat-shit crazy and absolutely hilarious. In fact, it’s so good I don’t want to spoil it.
Outside of the additional missions Enter the Dominatrix also gives players some fun new homies to run around with and some powerful new weapons to cause havoc with, as well as some new vehicles for your garage. They’re nice additions but if you’ve already finished the main campaign before starting ETD they’re of very little use to you once you’ve finished the add on.
At £5.99 and with a relatively meagre amount of content on display, Enter the Dominatrix is a tough sell, however if you’re hankering for an excuse to return to Steelport, I would definitely recommend it as the finale by itself is worth the price of admission.
