This is demonically good

It's mid but still pretty fun. The flying mechanics are smooth and responsive. Had more fun with this game than the new Saints Row. Pick it up on sale if you are a fan of Saints Row 4 gameplay.

Yeah... this ain't it, chief.

So listen up - I've been a huge Saints Row fan for over a decade at this point. And while I defend even Saints Row IV from haters, this game is a step too far for even me. And no, it's not because I'm just getting on the hate bandwagon; it's because there are solid reasons to dislike the game. I first played it when it came out years ago and unlike other SR titles, I didn't go back to this one over the years because even back then I disliked it. Recently decided to give it a chance again and this game still doesn't make any sense to me. It shouldn't exist. I know some of you might be thinking, "Why is he comparing this with other Saints Row games? This is clearly a spinoff" but dude, look at the title of the game, it literally says "Saints Row: Gat out of Hell". I have no idea who signed off on this game but they made a huge mistake. Sure, Saints Row games have never taken themselves seriously so I've always been very forgiving of them doing over the top things with their IP. But by this game, I think even the writers knew they were in over their heads and that they've milked the IP for all it's worth because with Gat out of Hell, they wrote themselves into a corner they just couldn't back out from. I just don't understand why the publisher didn't stop them. This would be great as a fanfic, but as a game? The engine and mechanics are all there and very polished but that doesn't mean just because you can do it, you should. And it's not just the name, when you dig into the game files, it becomes crystal clear that this game is literally just a skin for SR IV. There's a whole lot of unused stuff from SR IV files in this game. Which is a waste. Why? Read on:

- My biggest disappointments are in the form of features and content. I defend SR IV from haters because it has the most content of any SR game. As explained earlier, this game is just built over SR IV. Except, they stripped contents and features down from SR IV just to make this game its own thing. That's a major point against it.

- Sure, they added Viola and Kiki back in. They added 3 new characters in, and one from SR2. And yet, they are not connected to the story whatsoever. I don't even know what the point of introducing them was because they neither serve as homies, nor help you in any way in the final mission. In fact, you have to help them with their loyalty missions which are nothing but the same activities from SR IV. Oh. there are a handful of new weapons as well. But... that would work just fine as a DLC? What was the need to make this thing a canon game?

- The game no longer takes place in Steelport (and I get fans were getting tired of that city) but honestly, hell isn't much better. Its a much smaller map.

- As the name implies, unlike other Saints Rows, you don't get to design your own character in this game; rather you play as Gat. And Kinzie. Which is such an odd design/narrative choice to me. SR thrives on custom characters. And Kinzie? I don't know what happened but ever since SR3, the writers have completely written off Shaundi as a character and Kinzie, the newcomer in SR3, became their favorite. Obviously, she still doesn't trump the writers' fondness for Gat and it shows. Gat is the undisputed highlight of the game while Kinzie is now her second in command. I find it very unsettling that the writers threw even Pierce under the bus in favor of Kinzie.

- No followers allowed, no stores, no customization (of character/weapons/cars) and less superpowers than SR IV. Which means they already had the engine and the mechanics; they just decided to strip that content just to make this game it's own thing. I mean, they even stripped out almost all of the vehicles save for a handful ones (with minor thematic accessory overhauls) that spawn forever damaged and have no radios to listen to as you drive around in them.

- Even the worldbuilding is worse off than the previous entries. Despite the name and the theme of the series, your gang- the Saints is nowhere to be found since they all died back in SR IV. In hell, you just find a singular type of scrawny naked husks wandering around or driving around in damaged cars. You can neither save these cars, nor get undamaged ones (except the law enforcement vehicles). As for hell's denizens, its incredibly weird that your associates all retained their original character designs posthumously but everyone else was turned into these scrawny husks. Speaking of which, you can't even find any of the SR3 antagonists like Philip Loren, Killbane, Kia or Cyrus Temple in hell. Once again, lazy writing.

- The depressing forever-dark lighting makes a comeback from SR IV but I guess they wanted to nail the feeling of hell. Still, for a studio that's known to do over-the-top stuff in the name of humor, I can't believe they took hell this seriously.

- I even tried installing mods but even they failed to retain my interest in this game. There's not much to do here. You just spam the same activities with a bit of twist here and there and you get a DLC's worth of new cutscenes, a lot of which is slideshow. Disappointing.

- The only positive aspect here is that the flying mechanic is an improvement over SR IV. That's literally the only positive I can think of. Oh, and they didn't make the weapon customization much worse, even if it lacks in content compared to SR IV.

- There are 5 different choices for picking endings, except it doesn't matter because we already know the canon ending - reboot. The studio considers the reboot of the Saints into Agents of Mayhem (which also flopped and spawned yet another reboot of Saints Row); which is weird because the reboot ending is completely different from what we got as Agents of Mayhem.