Saints Row 2 "glitch" that sets your entire body on fire is actually an intentional human torch mechanic that was removed from the game

In the years since Saints Row 2 released in 2008, countless players have delighted in the chaos of what some refer to as a "human torch glitch," in which a protagonist's entire body is lapped up by roaring flames that don't burn their skin – but the phenomenon might actually be cut content and not a glitch at all.

After I recently viewed unreleased – yet still remarkably pretty – Saints Row builds at The Strong National Museum of Play, which just acquired a trove of material from defunct developer Volition, I asked director of digital preservation Andrew Borman what story they tell us about the action-adventure series.

"For the first Saints Row game," Borman replied, the city underwent a lot of changes, really, due to the limitations of the hardware at the time. And, you know, the time they had to work on the game.

"So, early on, there were a lot more hills. The city felt a lot bigger because of that, whereas, by the end, it was very flat."

"I think that limited some of the storytelling that could take place throughout the city," Borman said. "I think that’s one of the key parts that impacted development of the first game in particular."

But the second game's production history reveals "some of the zanier elements that would ultimately be cut out," he continues, "like the Human Torch mechanic, where you light yourself on fire and go running through, like, a mall. But it was cut by the end, I believe."

Unsuccessfully, apparently.

6 years before Batman: Arkham, Saints Row developer Volition kept working on a stealth Batman game even after its original idea got scrapped for being worse than GTA 3.