Saints Row: Gat out of Hell

Lore & Background

The game follows Third Street Saints members Johnny Gat and Kinzie Kensington as they attempt to rescue 'the Boss' from Hell after Satan kidnaps the Boss to marry his daughter Jezebel. The story begins at a birthday party for Kinzie on the Saints' spaceship, where a Ouija board contact with Satan leads to the Boss's abduction. Johnny and Kinzie arrive in Hell's capital city of New Hades, where they ally with former enemy Dane Vogel and recruit figures including Viola, Kiki DeWynter, Blackbeard, William Shakespeare, and Vlad the Impaler. Jezebel rebels against her father and helps Johnny confront Satan, leading to a final battle where Johnny defeats Satan. The game offers five possible endings determined by a choice offered by God, including Johnny going to Heaven, becoming Hell's new king, finding a new homeworld for humanity, recreating Earth, or learning the secrets of the universe.

Reader's Guide

Saints Row: Gat out of Hell received generally mixed reviews from critics, who praised its unique premise, setting, and entertaining gameplay, but criticized its short length, dated graphics, repetitive side content, and technical issues. The game introduces 'angelic flight' as a new traversal mechanic, allowing players to fly around the open world of New Hades, which consists of five islands: Shantytown, Barrens, Downtown, Forge, and the Den. Unlike previous Saints Row games, players cannot customize the playable characters, though importing a Saints Row IV save allows the custom Boss to replace the default Boss in cutscenes. Progression is tied to a 'Satan's Wrath' meter filled by completing activities, which unlocks story cutscenes. The game's weapons are inspired by the seven deadly sins, such as the Gluttony Gun that shoots cake batter. The expansion was inspired in part by Disney films, with creative director Steve Jaros wanting to parody fairytale qualities and whimsical love songs. The open world was designed as a 'fun toy box' encouraging flight traversal.

Did You Know?

• The game is the first Saints Row title where players do not control the custom character 'the Boss' as the main protagonist.
• The PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions were bundled with Saints Row IV: Re-Elected.
• The game's weapons are themed around the seven deadly sins, including a Gluttony Gun that shoots cake batter.
• The expansion was inspired by Disney films, including the birthday party prologue from Sleeping Beauty.

A Standalone Chapter in a Prolific Saga

Gat out of Hell arrived in January 2015 as a standalone expansion built upon Saints Row IV, the fourth mainline entry in the Saints Row franchise. By that point, the series—crafted by Volition and published first by THQ and later by Deep Silver—had already established itself as one of the best-selling video game franchises of all time, with cumulative sales surpassing thirteen million units as of September 2013. The title slots into a narrative arc that began in August 2006 with the original Saints Row, passed through Saints Row 2 in October 2008 and Saints Row: The Third in November 2011, and reached its fourth chapter with Saints Row IV in August 2013. As a standalone expansion rather than a full sequel, Gat out of Hell extended the world and story that Volition had been building across two fictional cities—Stilwater and Steelport—giving players additional content beyond the base game's open-world structure of missions, driving, and shooting. Its release cemented the franchise's run of five major titles before the series entered a new era with the 2022 reboot.

The Boss at the Peak of Absurdity

At the heart of every Saints Row title is a player-created character who stumbles into the 3rd Street Saints by chance and gradually climbs from anonymous recruit to the gang's undisputed leader. By the time the series reaches its fourth installment and its Gat out of Hell expansion, that character—commonly called the Boss—has transcended street-level turf wars entirely. The narrative arc across the sequels escalates the stakes from rival gangs in Stilwater to a corrupt corporation, an anti-gang paramilitary force, and ultimately an alien empire, while simultaneously elevating the Boss into the realm of celebrity and pop-culture iconography. The character even ascends to the presidency of the United States. Gat out of Hell, as a standalone expansion to Saints Row IV, sits squarely within this trajectory of ever-more-absurd power and threat. The player is no longer fighting for a city block; the scope of conflict has expanded to interstellar proportions, all while retaining the series' core loop of open-world missions, vehicle chases, and gunplay punctuated by occasional role-playing elements.

Inheriting a Signature Tone

The identity that Gat out of Hell carries forward was forged in the series' second entry. After the original 2006 game was widely dismissed as a Grand Theft Auto clone, Volition deliberately pivoted toward something more distinctive: a heavy emphasis on over-the-top gameplay, popular-culture homages, parodies, and self-referential humor. That tonal shift proved divisive among fans of the first game's more grounded street-gang premise, but it ultimately became the franchise's defining characteristic. Every subsequent title, including the standalone Gat out of Hell expansion, inherits this commitment to spectacle and satire. The gameplay structure remains consistent across the series—open-world exploration, driving, shooting, and side activities layered around a central mission-driven story—but the presentation is where the series distinguishes itself. By 2015, when Gat out of Hell launched, players could expect the same blend of earnest mission design and unapologetic absurdity that had made the Saints Row name synonymous with irreverent, larger-than-life action gaming.

The Business of a Franchise

The commercial journey of the Saints Row franchise provides essential context for Gat out of Hell's release. Development on the original title began in mid-2003, following Volition's completion of Red Faction II, and the game shipped in August 2006. THQ served as publisher through Saints Row: The Third in November 2011, after which Deep Silver acquired the series rights in 2013. Under Deep Silver's banner, Saints Row IV launched in August 2013, and Gat out of Hell followed as a standalone expansion in January 2015. By that point, cumulative franchise sales had already exceeded thirteen million units, placing the series among the best-selling video game franchises of all time. The later history of the IP underscores how much that run meant: a reboot was announced in August 2021 and released in August 2022, but it failed to meet fan expectations. In August 2023, Volition was shut down as part of a reorganization within Embracer Group, and the Saints Row intellectual property was transferred to Plaion, also under the Embracer umbrella.