PLATFORM: SWITCH | RELEASE DATE: JULY 10TH
2010’s Deadly Premonition is one of the most divisive games of modern times. Co-written and directed by loveable nutcase Swery65, review scores ranged from a lowly two out of ten to full marks (a fact that was proudly displayed like a badge of honour on the front cover of some later editions) but, despite its many technical flaws, the game built up a devoted cult following due to its Twin Peaks-esque atmosphere and off-the-wall story, characters and dialogue. The sequel, A Blessing in Disguise, is likely to be just as polarising – potentially even within the Deadly Premonition fanbase itself…
DP2‘s story is rooted in present-day Boston (well, 2019, but seeing as 2020 is a bit of a write-off we might as well pretend 2019 is present-day), where FBI Agents Aaliyah Davis and Simon Jones are investigating a murder. Connections to a historical case lead them to Agent Morgan, whose 2005 visit to the Deep South backwater town of Le Carré we get to follow in great detail. Investigations and exploration are the order of the day, as Agent Morgan – York (that’s what everyone calls him) – encounters a powerful yet secretive family, a mysterious ten-foot-tall man and some otherworldly manifestations…
The original Deadly Premonition was an open-world survival horror game, but DP2 tones down the horror and replaces it with something more akin to a True Detective-style detective series with supernatural elements. Each of the game’s four episodes follows roughly the same formula, almost equally divided between interrogation, exploration, cutscenes and combat. Interrogations, which play out through interactive dialogue sections, have a tendency to outstay their welcome, as does some of the exploration; the game revels in missions that involve long-winded fetch quests, and even York’s own conversations with the ever-present Zach occasionally reference how frustrating some of the objectives are. There’s been much debate over whether or not the original Deadly Premonition was all about trolling players, but there’s no doubt whatsoever with A Blessing in Disguise… Combat has been vastly improved from the original, now with regular third-person shooter controls and a few new ammo types, although opportunities to use these new toys are restricted to night time jaunts around the city and episode-ending visits to the otherworld. Gameplay has also been expanded from the days of the original Deadly Premonition, with new ammo types, status effects and crafting, where York can make and enhance a variety of ability-boosting voodoo charms. There’s even a sort of New Game Plus, which allows completed saves to carry over to previous episodes or an entirely new playthrough.
So a few things have changed, but DP2 retains the same quirky charm that made the original such a hit. Take your time to explore Le Carré and take in everything that it has to offer; visit the bowling alley, skim stones on the river, take part in an airboat-based shooting gallery or learn a few skateboard tricks (York’s only method of travel) – there are plenty (well, a handful) of delights in store. And be friendly! Talk to everyone as often as possible to stand a chance at uncovering the game’s many surreal and often completely irrelevant side-quests, which only come to light if you speak to the right person at the right time of day. And fans will welcome the returning catalogue of technical shortcomings that would be frowned upon in any other game; rudimentary facial animations, PS2-era environments, a horrendously short draw distance that sees things pop into view at the very last second, lifeless NPCs (unless you haven’t had a wash, in which case hilarity ensues), controls that stop working for no reason, repetitive dialogue (but at least you won’t mind too much when the audio cuts out mid-sentence), it’s all there, present and incorrect. Less enticing, though, are the camera’s unfortunate habit of floating into the sky to give a top-down view whenever it feels like it, the incredibly choppy framerate and the frequent crashes (you’ll come to dread one particular tell-tale sign that something untoward is about to happen…). The less serious offenders are very much just Deadly Premonition being Deadly Premonition and fans wouldn’t want it to be any other way, but dealing with the performance issues can turn the overall experience into a true test of patience. Save your game often, because you’ll need to reload many, many times…
How on earth do you score a game like Deadly Premonition 2? If it was measured against almost any other modern open-world game, it would be difficult to argue a case for anything over half marks at the very most. But then many of its weirdly-charming downsides are some of the reasons why the series gained a following in the first place. By keeping the same lead character, changing up the visual style, adding some gameplay features, trolling the player like crazy (seriously, some of those missions are just… yeah) and never taking itself too seriously, in many ways A Blessing in Disguise is the sequel that fans have been dreaming of. It’ll certainly stick in your mind long after the final credits roll. But at the same time, though, the loss of atmosphere that comes with the transition to Le Carré is to the game’s detriment, the small cast makes for a fairly predictable (albeit gripping) story, and the repetitive supernatural elements and combat feel like afterthoughts.
A Blessing in Disguise doesn’t quite share the same naïve spirit as the original, and its performance issues (which are prevalent in both docked and handheld modes) may well be more than some players are willing to put up with. There’s always hope that the technical side of things can be polished up in future, of course (in which case, we’ll take this bit out and add another point onto the score). When it’s good, it’s incredible in the way that only Deadly Premonition can be – it knows that it’s silly, weird, frustrating to play and a little bit broken, and it doesn’t really care. Fans of the original will be on familiar ground, but whether DP2 quite does enough to earn a similar following to its predecessor remains to be seen.
