Saints Row 5 Rumors

[tezunegari]

The publisher Deep Silver published a tweet this today:

https://twitter.com/DeepSilverUK/status ... 92/photo/1



So after conquering a universe spanning empire that can timetravel... the 3rd Street Saints are going to Hell?!

[Zaune]

And why not?

[bilateralrope]

Trailer for Saints Row: Gat Out of Hell.

Article on the escapist

Johnny Gat Goes to Hell in Saints Row Standalone Expansion
Greg Tito | 30 August 2014 5:45 am

The gang from Saints Row channels Disney by battling Satan with a talking gun and terrifying musical numbers.

The Saints Row series has gotten more and more absurd as it has progressed, so it kind of makes sense for the characters to go full fantastical. At the Volition panel at PAX Prime this morning, Lead Writer Steve Jaros and the rest of the team announced a standalone expansion called Saints Row: Gat Out of Hell. Over the course of a 6-8 hour romp, you can play as Johnny Gat or Kinzie Kensington (or both in 2-player coop) as they both travel to the city of Hell to save the soul of the boss of the 3rd Street Saints from Satan. The expansion will cost $19.99, and it'll be available on January 27th 2015 on Xbox One, 360, PS3, PS4 and PC. The release of Gat Out of Hell coincides with Saints Row IV: Re-Elected for the Xbox One and PS4 to make a nice package for those who have moved on to new consoles.

Gat Out of Hell sounds like something you don't want to miss, though. I got to speak with Jaros before the announcement and he was audibly excited to show off his version of the classic Orphean myth of traveling into Hades. There's also some comparison to Dante's Inferno as Jaros said you'll be able to meet characters from past games in the series to have some closure. There's also a full musical number. Basically, it sounds insanely fun.

"It's very much an over-the-top crazy adventure where Johnny Gat goes into hell," Jaros said. "You tear up Hell. It's an open world sand box you have lots of different activities and diversions to go play in to try and take over the city."

I learned at the Escapist Expo last year that Jaros shares my background in theater, and we nerded out talking about the silly references in his games. Little did I know that while Jaros was in Durham for the Expo, he was actually writing a full musical number that appears in Gat Out of Hell. "I was actually at the Escapist Expo and I was writing the musical in my hotel room and I'd be walking around the halls of the Escapist [Expo] singing the song in my head," he told me. "It was fun - it was a labor of love."

The song occurs about halfway through the main story of the game and serves to introduce the Satan character to the player. The number is probably more Disney-inspired than a true Broadway style song. Jaros said the story is told by Jane Austen (as in Saints Row 4) but steals many cues from animated films. "It's not like a Disney parody or anything like that, but it's inspired by some of the tropes. For instance in a Disney movie there's usually a talking animal companion - there'll be some mice, Sebastian in The Little Mermaid. In our game it's a gun. Johnny Gat has a talking gun that keeps him company."

In your adventures through Hell, you'll also gain supernatural powers similar to how you gained superpowers in Saints Row 4 except now you'll have a dark angel's wings or be able to summon imps to fight for you. There's also special weapons for each of the seven deadly sins. "Tell him about the armchair," prompted Aubrey Norris, head PR for Deep Silver.

"Our sloth weapon is an armchair with miniguns on it and then when you pull the recliner to put your feet up you fire missles," Jaros said. "There's something beautifully silly about sliding around in an armchair with miniguns."

Is the sloth armchair weapon funnier than the dubstep gun from SR4? Only time will tell.

Check out my full interview with Steve Jaros here where we discuss the transition Saints Row has taken since its first iteration in 2006 to the present and the objectification of women both in his games and the industry.

I'll also be playing through a portion of Gat Out of Hell at the Volition booth during PAX so expect a full preview on what to expect from the standalone expansion to be published this weekend.

The most interesting part to me is that you're not playing the boss. You're playing Gat or Kinzie.

[Eternal_Freedom]

That actually sounds hilarious. I haven't played SR4 yet but I loved the silliness in SR The Third.

Also, as a PC gamer I find it irritating that PC is at the bottom of the list of platforms this is being released on. Fucking consoles.

[TheFeniX]

Musical numbers in Hell? Weaponized recliners? Anyone else wish they were channeling more Futurama than Disney?

The most interesting part to me is that you're not playing the boss. You're playing Gat or Kinzie.

Meh, while I like both of the characters, I find Laura Bailey way to good as the female boss to want to not play as her. Don't get me wrong, I'm still getting this, but I much prefer playing as the Boss.

That actually sounds hilarious. I haven't played SR4 yet but I loved the silliness in SR The Third.

SR4 is barely the same game. Honestly plays more like Prototype than a Saint's Row game. It's still a ridiculously fun game to play, especially co-op. And the comedy hits all ranges, but even the bottom of the barrel stuff makes me laugh my ass off.

Also, as a PC gamer I find it irritating that PC is at the bottom of the list of platforms this is being released on. Fucking consoles.

At least the PC port is only annoying (has borderless windowed support for one) and not garbage.

[Grumman]

I still feel that in many ways Saints Row 2 was the best entry in the franchise, both for the mechanics and in tone. So reading this, I'm not touching it with a bargepole.

[Metahive]

SR2 slid way too much into the "everyone's a raging sociopathic asshole" corner. I mean the whole Boss-Maero feud drained all sympathy I could have for the player character, it was that bad (especially the treatment of Maero's tatoo artist). Going for the silly was really the only way they could go to justify the God of War levels of despicability of the characters.

[R.O.A]

I prefer Saints Row 1 and 2 over the newer ones. I liked how at the start of SR1, you were just some random person off the street that had to build up your power from scratch. Then in 2 you have to rebuild to take over again. In both instances you are a criminal that has to do things like take hostages and sell drugs in order to make money. Then in SR3.......you have to fight an army that is more advanced than the US Military (which you are also fighting) that has flying aircraft carriers and lasers. Then when you finish the game you (depending on the path) declare independence and form a separate nation state. Then in 4....you are the POTUS somehow.

[TheFeniX]

The Saint's Row devs have been doing what they can to ditch the "poor man's GTA" label. It's sad because the gameplay and general mechanics of Saint's Row have IMO outdone anything GTA has implemented. The turf control of San Andreas was a joke: "oh you spent hours locking down the hood, look buddy, we've got a story to tell here, all that's gone and you're going to drive around the country for 6 hours of gamepl... what, no don't turn off the console you motherfu"

The sad part was, SR 1 and 2 really weren't that much more over-the-top then earlier GTA titles. But generic gangsters makes people think it's serious, even though your doing missions while mind-controlled by a voodoo woman.

The biggest sin of SR4 was making cars useless.

[Havok]

Ugh... SR4 was boring, monotonous, and painfully unfunny. 5 looks to be more of the same.

[Gandalf]

The Saint's Row devs have been doing what they can to ditch the "poor man's GTA" label. It's sad because the gameplay and general mechanics of Saint's Row have IMO outdone anything GTA has implemented. The turf control of San Andreas was a joke: "oh you spent hours locking down the hood, look buddy, we've got a story to tell here, all that's gone and you're going to drive around the country for 6 hours of gamepl... what, no don't turn off the console you motherfu"

I'm pretty sure the turf wars came back at the end of story mode.

"You've conquered a few cities and have a jet plane, boats, and a few big businesses. So go fight for some turf in piss poor neighbourhoods."

[Lagmonster]

Ugh... SR4 was boring, monotonous, and painfully unfunny. 5 looks to be more of the same.

I bet my ass that it was meant to appeal to a very specific audience; 40 year old guys. SR4 basically packages all the most absurd proto-teenage fantasies and taboos from that generation into one bundle, and the enjoyment for that is off the charts.

[TheFeniX]

I'm pretty sure the turf wars came back at the end of story mode.

"You've conquered a few cities and have a jet plane, boats, and a few big businesses. So go fight for some turf in piss poor neighbourhoods."

I never played the game again after putting it down. A shame.

Ugh... SR4 was boring, monotonous, and painfully unfunny. 5 looks to be more of the same.

I bet my ass that it was meant to appeal to a very specific audience; 40 year old guys. SR4 basically packages all the most absurd proto-teenage fantasies and taboos from that generation into one bundle, and the enjoyment for that is off the charts.

The game lampoons pretty much everything, especially video games of the past 10 years. Just the Mass Effect stuff was great. The Metal Gear Solid hilarity from Asha's loyalty mission was even better. SR4 just makes it a point to shit on pretty much every video game and sci-fi convention it can. There is next to zero subtlety to it, aside from "are you old enough to remember X?"

To each his own, but the absolute absurdity in SR3 and 4 is what turns me on to them because the current market is flooded with super-serious shit, middle-of-the-road safe humor or edginess, or developers trying to show through X that they are smarter or more clever than their players. Volition took the series way off into fantasy-land and I've been enjoying it immensely, even with some gameplay contrivances I don't like. If they continue to do so and the PC ports aren't garbage: I'll continue to buy their games full-price.

[Marko Dash]

"You've conquered a few cities and have a jet plane, boats, and a few big businesses. So go fight for some turf in piss poor neighbourhoods."

that was actually brought up in the story line, CJ wants to simply leave the Los Stantos gang areas to rot and live the high life he's built for himself. the older brother objects and CJ being a pussy that does anything anybody tells him to in cut scenes goes along with it.