9-23-2021: Update & Solution: I was finally able to figure out why my cpu temps were so high after exiting Saints Row; it turns out that it was somehow still running in the background even though I had closed the game, but thanks to a forum user that suggested to me that I use Process Explorer, and monitor usage and close the game and other stubborn programs that way, and it worked!! I played SR for a few hours, and the temps went back to normal after exiting the game, and as I promised I'm changing my review to positive since my issue is solved. I'm so glad that I can play this without issue again, hopefully my review will help someone who might find themselves dealing with the same problem as I did.

1st Edit 9-11-2021: My thread was approved, but apparently it got buried pretty quickly which is why I never saw it on the first page of the forums, and I also learned that my eye strain might be from motion blur, so I'm going to try and turn that off in the settings and see if that helps. I hope one day Steam adds a neutral button, as that's how I would rate SR3 for now, since it does work and I did have fun playing it despite my problems with it.

Second and final edit: I was able to disable motion blur by browsing local files, find the display config file, and scroll down til I found the setting and changed it from true to false; make sure to save it afterwards, then right click the file for properties, and change it to read only so it won't revert back to true (it will do that every time unless you mark it as read only).
While I was able to play without eye strain, I'm still running into the high cpu usage after exiting, and having to restart to fix it; I even lowered the settings to medium to see if that'd help (I usually play games on high setting without problems), but still no luck, so I'm just gonna uninstall and call it a day, since I don't know what else to do to fix it. I guess this game just doesn't run well with this particular cpu. I would still recommend Saints Row 3 since it's a lot of fun, I'd say just be wary if you have an older cpu, since there might be a slim chance that you might run into the same issue like I did, and make sure to disable motion blur if you've had previous issues with eye strain while gaming.

Original review: I had a blast playing this back on the PS3 long ago; I think I had a few DLC but not the full package, so I was really excited to get all the DLC and relive all the wacky, over-the-top fun Saints Row is known for, but unfortunately I ran into two major problems: my first problem was that after I would exit the game, my cpu usage and temps would still be high as if I hadn't closed it, and the only way to fix it was to restart my pc. The second problem is that after 2 hours or more of playing SR3, I got major eye strain so that also put a limit on how much I could play this; otherwise I'm sure I'd have over 100 hours by now, and it's a shame cause I really love Saints Row, and I've never had an issue like this with any of my other games, so I don't know why it's happening with SR3. I don't know if it's the color scheme or what, but my eyes just get so strained from this, even when I wear my blue light glasses.

I tried asking if anyone else ran into either problem in the Steam forums, but my question has yet to be approved by a mod, so no luck there, and sadly I'm going to have to say I can't recommend it and uninstall because of those reasons; I had thought about buying the Remastered version before, but I decided against it after reading about all the problems it had, and instead opted for the original, but maybe I'll try buying it when it goes on sale and see if I fare better with that version.

If anyone is wondering what my pc specs are, I have an I5 4590 cpu, EVGA 1050 Ti 4GB gpu, 16 GB of ram, a 500GB Western Digital SSD, for my Steam games, and Windows 10 Pro 64-bit; I know my cpu is a bit older, but I built my machine back in 2016, and bought my gpu 2 years later, but it works well for all the other games I play, so I'm happy with what I got. I'd gladly change my rating to positive, if anyone has any idea what might be causing the high cpu usage/temps to remain after exiting the game.

9-23-2021: Update & Solution: I was finally able to figure out why my cpu temps were so high after exiting Saints Row; it turns out that it was somehow still running in the background even though I had closed the game, but thanks to a forum user that suggested to me that I use Process Explorer, and monitor usage and close the game and other stubborn programs that way, and it worked!! I played SR for a few hours, and the temps went back to normal after exiting the game, and as I promised I'm changing my review to positive since my issue is solved. I'm so glad that I can play this without issue again, hopefully my review will help someone who might find themselves dealing with the same problem as I did. 1st Edit 9-11-2021: My thread was approved, but apparently it got buried pretty quickly which is why I never saw it on the first page of the forums, and I also learned that my eye strain might be from motion blur, so I'm going to try and turn that off in the settings and see if that helps. I hope one day Steam adds a neutral button, as that's how I would rate SR3 for now, since it does work and I did have fun playing it despite my problems with it. Second and final edit: I was able to disable motion blur by browsing local files, find the display config file, and scroll down til I found the setting and changed it from true to false; make sure to save it afterwards, then right click the file for properties, and change it to read only so it won't revert back to true (it will do that every time unless you mark it as read only). While I was able to play without eye strain, I'm still running into the high cpu usage after exiting, and having to restart to fix it; I even lowered the settings to medium to see if that'd help (I usually play games on high setting without problems), but still no luck, so I'm just gonna uninstall and call it a day, since I don't know what else to do to fix it. I guess this game just doesn't run well with this particular cpu. I would still recommend Saints Row 3 since it's a lot of fun, I'd say just be wary if you have an older cpu, since there might be a slim chance that you might run into the same issue like I did, and make sure to disable motion blur if you've had previous issues with eye strain while gaming. Original review: I had a blast playing this back on the PS3 long ago; I think I had a few DLC but not the full package, so I was really excited to get all the DLC and relive all the wacky, over-the-top fun Saints Row is known for, but unfortunately I ran into two major problems: my first problem was that after I would exit the game, my cpu usage and temps would still be high as if I hadn't closed it, and the only way to fix it was to restart my pc. The second problem is that after 2 hours or more of playing SR3, I got major eye strain so that also put a limit on how much I could play this; otherwise I'm sure I'd have over 100 hours by now, and it's a shame cause I really love Saints Row, and I've never had an issue like this with any of my other games, so I don't know why it's happening with SR3. I don't know if it's the color scheme or what, but my eyes just get so strained from this, even when I wear my blue light glasses. I tried asking if anyone else ran into either problem in the Steam forums, but my question has yet to be approved by a mod, so no luck there, and sadly I'm going to have to say I can't recommend it and uninstall because of those reasons; I had thought about buying the Remastered version before, but I decided against it after reading about all the problems it had, and instead opted for the original, but maybe I'll try buying it when it goes on sale and see if I fare better with that version. If anyone is wondering what my pc specs are, I have an I5 4590 cpu, EVGA 1050 Ti 4GB gpu, 16 GB of ram, a 500GB Western Digital SSD, for my Steam games, and Windows 10 Pro 64-bit; I know my cpu is a bit older, but I built my machine back in 2016, and bought my gpu 2 years later, but it works well for all the other games I play, so I'm happy with what I got. I'd gladly change my rating to positive, if anyone has any idea what might be causing the high cpu usage/temps to remain after exiting the game.