Last week, Game Rant was invited to spend some time playing Agents of Mayhem, the new game from the warped minds behind the Saint's Row series. Since the game was unveiled last year, we've known that it has links to Volition's other titles, but our hands-on session explained some of the biggest connections.

First and foremost; a member of the 3rd Street Saints is one of the twelve heroes that comprise the Agents of Mayhem roster. Pierce Washington debuted in Saint's Row 2, and was also featured prominently in Saint's Row The Third and Saint's Row IV, but now he's a fully fledged playable character.

However, Washington has undergone a few changes since we last saw him. He's now referred to as Kingpin, although he's still decked out in the Saints' traditional purple colors, and he still solves many of his problems by whipping out a semi-automatic weapon.

Of course, Kingpin isn't the only link between Agents of Mayhem and the Saint's Row franchise. The organization known as Mayhem is apparently funded by Ultor, the all-encompassing corporation that served as a primary antagonist in the Red Faction games, and was seen to have merged with the 3rd Street Saints in Saint's Row The Third.

In fact, we got a small taste of the sort of crimefighting that the Saints could do with Ultor's funding in 2015's Gat Out of Hell, when one of the game's endings offered a tease of the then-unannounced Agents of Mayhem. Players are given the option to "have God recreate the Earth and retcon the entire world of Saint's Row" — which now seems to be a nod to Volition's plans for its new game.

The cutscene above sees Johnny Gat serving as a Lieutenant in some kind of task force that targets high-level criminals, just like the Agents of Mayhem. However, Gat has just brought in a perp known as Persephone Brimstone, who is actually the founder of Mayhem, according to the demo we played last week.

It seems that Agents of Mayhem might also be linked to the Saint's Row games thanks to appearences from some of the voice actors that graced the streets of Stilwater and Steelport. Volition's previous output has always been known for its memorable characters, celebrity cameos, and great vocal performances, and it seems that the studio's new project will be no exception, according to Volition's design manager, Anoop Shekar.

"We've used a lot of [the vocal talent from Agents of Mayhem] in our previous games," revealed Shekar, when he spoke to Game Rant last week. "We definitely have some good surprises in store for people who are fans of our previous games."

Agents of Mayhem is scheduled to launch for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC in August 2017.