User:Czar/drafts/SR4:GooH

Gameplay
Saints Row: Gat Out of Hell is a standalone expansion.

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.

The President, the player-character from Saints Row IV, is brought into Hell's New Hades as a suitor for Satan's daughter, Jezebel. The player, as Johnny Gat and Kinzie Kensington, both of the Saints, attempts to save the President and kill the Devil. The player can switch between either character at any time. Dane Vogel of Saints Row 2 offers to help the Saints and offers a halo that imbues them with the Saints Row IV superpower. Their plan is to become a nuisance in New Hades such that Satan will deal with them personally. The player completes side missions to fill a "Wrath meter", which leads to a boss battle. In these missions, the player attempts to impress people in Hell, including William Shakespeare and Vlad the Impaler. Their goals include Saints Row series staples like outlasting groups of enemies and hurting oneself in traffic for money. Other minigames include flight races and a king of the hill-like three-area control activity similar to Call of Duty Domination mode. There are no main story missions.

The main game's telekinetic power, however, is exchanged for the ability to spawn ally creatures. Vogel also gives the Saints angel wings so they can fly. Flight uses stamina, and players can only flap their wings a limited number of times.

Two players can fight cooperatively through the game, though there are no co-op specific modes.

Development
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
The game received "mixed or average reviews", according to video game review score aggregator Metacritic.

Justin McElroy (Polygon) noted how the series has been "subversively irreverent" and become less serious over time, but said that Gat out of Hell "may have taken the joke too far". Particularly in its fourth wall-breaking, McElroy wrote that games can only successfully joke about bad game design when refining it, which Gat out of Hell did not. He said that free flight was the "most notable omission" from Saints Row IV and its inclusion in Gat out of Hell was both "spectacular" and the game's "biggest draw". McElroy wrote that the dexterity required for flight made the game more believable, though he added that the game was so easy by the middle that finishing it felt like "a formality". He also appreciated the new setting, New Hades, especially since Saints Row IV reused the setting of its own predecessor. McElroy described New Hades as "a blend of unsetting industrialism, sleaze, and good old fashioned occult imagery".

Critics wrote that the game lacked cohesiveness. McElroy of Polygon thought that the side mission activities were scattered and that the game design made "a much better playground than a game". He felt that the cameo appearances of Hell's residents were an inadequate replacement for a story.

Critics noted the game's short length. McElroy of Polygon did not think the length was an issue in itself, but was frustrated that he felt the game never really began, like "five hours made of padding".

Critics said the game was not as funny as its predecessors. McElroy of Polygon recalled that Volition uploaded the game's "one genuinely inspired sequence" online a month prior to the game's release.