Saints Row: Gat out of Hell

Saints Row: Gat out of Hell is a 2015 open world action-adventure video game developed by Volition and High Voltage Software, published by Deep Silver and distributed by Square Enix in North America. It was released for Microsoft Windows, Linux, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One. The game, serving as an epilogue to Saints Row IV, is a standalone expansion, meaning players do not need a copy of Saints Row IV to play Gat out of Hell.

The PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions were released both physically and digitally. The PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions saw a release bundled alongside Saints Row IV: Re-Elected, and was released both physically and digitally as well. Gat Out Of Hell was released as a monthly free game on PlayStation Network in July 2016.

Gameplay
The player controls Johnny Gat or Kinzie Kensington in an open world environment. Gat out of Hell shares many gameplay aspects with the previous installments, being primarily played as a third-person shooter in an open world city scattered with quests, secondary objectives, and various collectibles. Superhuman abilities return from Saints Row IV. Gat out of Hell introduces "angelic flight", giving wings to the player. Unlike past Saints Row games, players cannot customize the playable characters; however, by importing a Saints Row IV save, players can import their custom Boss character to replace the default Boss.

Unlike game progression in previous titles, players advance through the story by completing activities to fill a "Satan's Wrath" meter, which unlocks cutscenes and further story elements. Gat out of Hell takes place in an open world new to the series, New Hades, made up of five islands: Shantytown, Barrens, Downtown, Forge, and the Den, all surrounding a central tower on a middle island.

The player is able to fly around the open-world hell. They can also summon demon allies to flight alongside them.

The game's weapons are inspired by the seven deadly sins, e.g., a Gluttony Gun that shoots cake batter on enemies for other people to consume.

Plot
The Third Street Saints hold a birthday party for lieutenant Kinzie Kensington (Natalie Lander) on their spaceship, but while playing a game of Ouija Board with a board that once belonged to Aleister Crowley, they unwittingly contact Satan (Travis Willingham), who proclaims that The Boss will marry his daughter Jezebel (Kate Reinders). Satan drags the Boss down to Hell, with Saints lieutenant Johnny Gat (Daniel Dae Kim), as well as Kinzie, volunteering to rescue them.

Upon arriving, they find Ultor Corporation has a branch in Hell and suspect former Saints enemy, Dane Vogel (Jay Mohr), is responsible. Vogel denies involvement, but admits he is taking advantage of Hell's economy, offering to help the Saints save the Boss. Meanwhile, Jezebel is rebelling against her father, as Satan declares her a possession to him. Vogel helps Johnny and Kinzie get Satan's attention by going around Hell and gaining allies such as Kiki (Ashly Burch) & Viola DeWynter (Sasha Grey), William Shakespeare (Liam O'Brien), Blackbeard (Matthew Mercer), and Vlad the Impaler (Liam O'Brien).

Jezebel finds Johnny and offers to take him to Satan's palace, in hopes he can defeat her father. At the palace, Johnny immediately confronts Satan, who threatens to kill Jezebel unless Johnny drops his gun. When he does, Satan gleefully boasts and praises Johnny, naming him worthy of marrying Jezebel. When Johnny refuses to listen, Satan forcibly makes a deal with Johnny to let Kinzie and the Boss go if he marries Jezebel in the Boss's place.

Johnny shoots Satan at the wedding to no effect, so Johnny and Kinzie take out Satan's minions to force Satan into fighting them. They defeat Satan, who surrenders. Satan banishes them back to the mortal realm, along with Jezebel and the Boss. Johnny, however, is detained by God (Nathan Fillion), who explains that Satan was plotting an invasion on Heaven since Zinyak hastened the Apocalypse by destroying Earth, hoping to use the Boss as the general of his army, and offers to repay Johnny for stopping him.

Johnny is given one of five choices by God; go to Heaven to be reunited with his girlfriend Aisha, return to Hell to become its new king, find a new home world for the Saints so humanity can be rebuilt, recreate Earth, or be told the secrets of the universe. Recreating Earth leads to the timeline of Agents of Mayhem. The universe of Saints Row is retconed, and Johnny becomes the lieutenant of the Seoul police force, hoping to find his friends. Kinzie and Matt Miller (Yuri Lowenthal) converse about "Brimstone", a captured female who Johnny goes to interrogate.

Development
In December 2013, comedian Jay Mohr, who voiced antagonist Dane Vogel in Saints Row 2, revealed that he was doing voice work for the next Saints Row game. It was later revealed Volition would be unveiling a new game at PAX Prime on the August 29, 2014. They teased an image which depicts a Ouija board with the Saints' fleur-de-lis on it. Later, at their panel on the same day, Volition and Deep Silver confirmed a standalone expansion to Saints Row IV, called Saints Row: Gat out of Hell. The game was initially scheduled for release on January 27, 2015 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One but was later rescheduled to January 20, 2015 in North America and January 23, 2015 in Europe. The game will be released in a bundle alongside Saints Row IV: Re-Elected for Xbox One and PlayStation 4.

The expansion was inspired, in part, by Disney films, which are among the "big loves" of the game's creative director, Steve Jaros. He wanted the game to parody the fairytale qualities and "whimsical love songs" of the Disney film genre. Parts of the plot were taken from such films, including the birthday party prologue from Sleeping Beauty, talking inanimate objects, princess Jezebel rebelling against her father, Satan, through her spousal choice, and musical acts where Satan sings sentimentally. The open world was designed to be a "fun toy box" that encouraged traversal through flight. The January 2015 launch trailer included a hotline phone number with promotional hold music.

Reception
Saints Row: Gat out of Hell received generally mixed reviews. Aggregating review website Metacritic gave the Microsoft Windows version a 66/100 based on 24 reviews, the Xbox One version a 65/100 based on 16 reviews and the PlayStation 4 version a 64/100 based on 45 reviews.

Brittany Vincent from Destructoid gave the game a 8/10, praising the game's setting, refreshing superpower abilities, new cast of characters, interesting types of enemies and entertaining world, which she stated "feels much more polished and finished than Saints Row IV's Steelport simulation." However, she criticized the game's short length. She summarized the review by saying "There's no agenda and no life lessons to learn in Saints Row. There's only pure escapism, which is what games are meant for in my view. Whenever I feel like I need a break, I will have Saints Row proudly on my shelf." Andrew Reiner from Game Informer gave the game a 7.5/10, praising the worthwhile side-activities, well-designed dialogues, satisfying transversal system, creative weapons and storytelling. However, he criticized the graphics, which he stated is on par with the last-generation version of Saints Row IV, as well as occasional framerate losses. He also criticized the game for lacking in gameplay complexity.

Mikel Reparaz from IGN criticized the game for lacking traditional story missions, as well as featuring repetitive side missions, unimpressive graphics, and being extremely buggy. Alex Carlson from Hardcore Gamer gave the game a 3.5/5, praising the voice-acting, dialogues, collectibles, flight mechanics and the game-world, which he stated "has a balance between familiar and fresh", but criticizing the game for being too similar to the original Saints Row IV in terms of the variety of superpower and mission types, as well as the middling story and graphical glitches. Phil Savage from PC Gamer gave the game a 67/100, praising the world design and in-game abilities such as flying, which he stated "has delivered a new sense of freedom". However, he criticized the lack of proper campaign missions and scripting, limited creativity as well as the poor combat system. He ended the review by saying that "Gat Out of Hell offers all the open-world distractions of a Saints Row game, but it seldom displays the spark of creativity, which made [Saints Row The Third and Saints Row IV] so remarkable."