What in the world happened here....

Let's get this out of the way: I played this on launch. And if you played this at launch, you'd know it was a disaster. Open world ran under 10 fps at ALL times, with stuttering and freezing. It was borderline unplayable. The first game had tons of technical issues too, but they were nothing compared to this game.
But ok, that's one thing. And I was able to look past the issues mechanic wise in the first game.

But sadly, the narrative that we get here isn't enough to sway my judgement. It still has lots of great moments. I do like Patti a lot and the dynamic between York is enjoyable. They have a good bond and bounce off each other well. I like the shifts this game has as sequel and prequel. It is certainly a unique way to tell the story.

But otherwise...? I was just forcing myself through this one. York is still great, but you could easily be tricked into thinking this is how he acted in the first game, but it actually isn't. In the first game he's kind of a jerk? Hes aloof and uncaring about many things around him, but he has moments where he acknowledges these and it makes him feel like a dynamic character. York in this game is just spouting off movie and actor names every 5 seconds, which is something he did only on occasion in the last game. The character was not just a reference spouting machine. They got the same voice actor as last time and he is delightful and tries to make the material work. But it's missing an edge he had last time.

As a prequel, it's a pretty nothing story once you finish it. You wonder why they even bothered to tell it with the way it ended. And as a sequel it just raises a ton of questions: York should have known about many things that happen in this game well before the first title, but it's never expanded on or even mentioned.

But then we get to what pisses me off, the gameplay. Mind you, the first game was not the most amazing game in terms of levels or whatever, but every level actually felt different? There were puzzles, unique settings, and there was a variety to what you were doing.

I kid you not, there are maybe 4-5 instances in this game where you shoot things. And it is the EXACT SAME copy pasted level. Copy pasted enemies. Copy pasted boss fights, I was utterly baffled. Did they just give up halfway through development? This isn't like the first game where the janky sections are charming. This was just tedious and frustrating.

And the open world map was way worse to explore this time. In part because of the performance, but you don't even have unique vehicles this time. Just one skateboard with awful physics, it's like they were working on making a car but gave up and just gave him something they wouldn't have to spend much time animating or designing mechanics around.

This is missing just everything the first game had. It is moments of enjoyment in bursts, but not as a cohesive experience. I don't think I'll ever play this again.

Deadly Premonition 2 was an alright game, personally I felt the game tried way too hard to capture that feeling from the first game and fails hard at it.

I did like the chemistry between York & Morgana

I also wasn't a big fan of the town Le Carré, It just felt way too lifeless compared to Greenvale.

I think an interesting parallel between the first and second game are how they both are Swery's interpretation of pre-existing fictional villages. The first game was obviously his exploration of Twin Peaks, and this game was a fascinating recreation of Cumtown. Most of the game involves a very stupid late 20's man talking about movies he saw on UPN, and then occasionally he does a racially insensitive accent. There is a honest to god part of the game where York imitates a black man's speech pattern in such an offensive way that I shouted "Hell yeah dude" at my television.

It's also Michael Jeffrey Jordan of transphobia. I'm not going to defend this game, it might very well come from a place of hatred, but the way it goes about it is so over the top and offensive that I had a hard time getting upset at the game. If you were upset by it, you should be upset and I wouldn't blame you. The game opens up with ass shaking in front of the camera in weed panties and then a flaming skull. The main character then talks about how he smokes fat blunts.

Everything about this game is magical to me. Like, normally I'm a stick in the mud. I get skeeved out by people who enjoy Detroit: Become Human because that game's evil. This game in some ways is more evil, and I give it a total pass. The game runs like total shit. The plot is magnitudes less grounded than the first game. The movie talk is bigger and better than ever. If you wanna see a grown man talk to an unrelated 13 year old girl about Training Day while doing sick skateboard tricks, there's a game for that! I don't want to say that I was disappointed by the original, but this game's basehead direction is inspired, and even the dull parts of the gameplay aren't nearly as boring as the first game.

I don't know how this game got released. It shouldn't have, but he's here and we have to live with it. I love this game and recommend it to nobody, even fans of the original.

I had a very complicated relationship with this game, I was so excited to revisit the world of Deadly Premonition, and there's so much I genuinely am in love with here, the framing story in the present is a bold and shocking follow up to the first game, I love those sections, I love the town and characters of Le Carré, I thought Patti was going to be super annoying, but she turned out to be a great character, just spending time with York and Zach again is a delight.

However, there's so much holding this back, the otherworld sections suuuuck, it's just the same thing over and over, it's got no personality, it isn't fun. The voodoo upgrade system is cool, but there's just not a good game there to utilize it in. The stampbook achievement system kinda wrecked my life, I wanted to get all the suits and committed way too much time grinding pointless tasks around town before finally cutting my losses realizing it would take hundreds more hours of pointless gameplay to complete some of the ludicrous tasks they lay out for you. The main questline is just not interesting, the story is, but the actual investigation just doesn't have much too it, it's kinda just a series of go here or do this dumb fetch quest, the pacing is so weird too that once the town really feels like it's opening up with all the side activities available to you, you're barreling towards the end of the plot already.

The best part of the town is probably the photo albums that they took from BotW, where you have to find a specific location from just a photo.

I have some great memories from this, but it's sadly half-baked even by DP standards, not in the fun way like the first.

searching for the experience that I once felt after playing the first game, it's sad seeing swery stray further and further from it.

now i'm one to put up with jank, a lot of the stuff here i fuck with but there's one thing in specific that annoyed me:
for a game about wasting time, i hate how bad is it at it; the reason being that the only way time moves is just being outside doing nothing. being inside buildings or doing minigames just freezes time, which is stupid considering how slow the in-game clock is. so if you wanna pass time you'll either wait around or start smoking to skip time, which is what you'll likely end up doing sadly.

I'll give it some points on the schizo-meter when it comes to the 400 achievos/stamps, because the requirements for them are absolutely ridiculous. Like spending 1 year in-game, shooting your little partner patty in the face 300 times or killing thousands of animals. if there's something tedious you can think of, you'll have you do it 100 times. The worst part is that there's a dedicated community that did all of this, only to find out one stamp is bugged due to one of the fetch quests not triggering properly, swery you fucking asshole.

if i wasn't so attached to york and dp in general, i would've flushed it right away, this game is worse than the first one in every single aspect but hey, it did scratch some of that itch i had for DP.

DP1 was one of the most surprising games I've played in the sense that I enjoyed it a ton more than I'd expected. It getting a sequel or 2nd game of sorts would be pretty high on my unexpected list as well. After more than 10 years does it capture the same magic that I had with the first? Disappointedly, no.

The game is technically a sequel since it a portion of the game does take place after the first game and it does spoil those events, but the majority of the story here takes place a few years prior. I think the game's handling of the two timelines is messy. I wished they either went all in with a prequel or a sequel instead of trying to link both together.

The story from 2005 starts off as a murder mystery story, but I never found this aspect particularly strong. The mystery is solved rather quickly leaving just some loose ends in the later portion of the game. It was interesting to a certain degree, but it doesn't carry the same intrigue as the first game. I also didn't like how so much of the investigation direction is from oracles given by a supernatural voodoo person. At least with the first game, York relied on more reasonable deductions to determine his next plan of action.

At the beginning of every chapter, the game fast forwards back to 2019 and while these moments are intriguing, the payoff that links with the 2005 events are very underwhelming. At the end, I don't see much reason why this part was necessarily other than the game being decided as a sequel.

Story progression can be annoying too and feel like filler at times. Some objectives are basically fetch quests and add very little to the story itself. Parts of it feel like it's just meant to drag things out. One of the infamous moment is needing a certain food dish to advance, but it's only available on Mondays. Most people who reach that part will be on Wednesday so that means waiting out multiple days before you can actually advance the story. Sure, sleeping through the week is an option, but I shouldn't have to do that if I just wanted to enjoy the story.

DP1 was known for some quirky characters and an interesting supporting cast, but I felt like DP2 really failed in providing nearly the same quality. Almost every townsperson has a major quirk to an annoying degree. Even York's quirkiness can be annoying at times when I felt like his words and actions have become mostly random for the sake of weird. It doesn't feel quite genuine as before.

I do have to say that Patti was overall a good character and a highlight of the game for me. Despite being a pre-teen (I think), she exhibits surprising maturity and has a lot of depth to her character. Ironically, her being the most normal character in the game makes her stand out in a good way. I had to question the idea of her being York's assistant/partner throughout the game because of her age when I first started the game, but the execution was surprisingly good.

Most of the townspeople has no role in the main story and actually feel detached from the community as they just do their own thing without interacting with others.

Graphics-wise, I'm not a fan of this new cel-shaded style. I guess it's more distinctive, but I prefer the standard 3D of the first game.

I'm not a fan of the setting either. It just looks like a generic southern town without anything that makes it stand out as interesting. It didn't carry the same mystique as a remote small forest mountain town. The town is quite condensed towards the center with a lot of buildings and homes, but it feels just as empty as the first game's setting. At least Greenvale had the benefit of actually being a remote town hidden away within large forests. DP2's town is also too big in scale with too few interesting places to see and explore.

Gameplay wasn't really fun for me. You only have one gun in the game (pistol). Even though you can get special bullets with different effects, it's not a proper substitute for more variety in weapons that DP1 had. There aren't any melee weapons either other than York's own fists.

There's a big emphasis on crafting accessory items for various effects. There's a lot of random items scattered across the town you can pick up or dropped from wild animals. On a related note, the town has a ton of wild animals from squirrels, dogs and crocodiles that will attack you. I find it unnerving how this is a thing here.

Sidequests are better organized than the first game, but they are pretty boring to do and don't feel very rewarding.

It's no longer fun stalking people around town because they don't really go anywhere interesting. You can't even track them on a map anymore either or peek into their homes when they are at home.

The otherworld that serves as the dungeons return, but in a different form. Before, they were distorted versions of the actual places in the real world. Now, they just consist of randomly connected hallways and rooms. All of the otherworld sections look identical and play out the same. Which is reach the end and clearing out the enemies on the way. After the first time, it just gets repetitive and boring. The combat isn't particularly interesting to make these segments less of a drag. Bosses are mostly uninteresting until the final segment of the game.

When the game first came out on the Switch, the frame rate was pretty notorious. Having never experienced the game pre-patch, I can't say how bad it really was, but my experience here was not good, but still playable at least.

Indoors, I think the frame rate is about 25-30. Outside in the overworld, it drops to about 15-20. It's not a pretty sight and there's a lot of what appears to be frame skipping in animations. It's not enough to burn my eyes, but yeah, not good to look at.

Overall, I think the game was pretty disappointing. The only highlight for me is Patti surprisingly. I don't regret playing the game, but I don't think "this" sequel was needed. If I had a list of disappointing sequels, this would be pretty high up on it.

Maybe it was low expectations, or perhaps my high tolerance for rubbish, but I enjoyed this a lot more than I thought I was going to. All the hallmarks of what made the first game are present, stupid dialogue, stupid characters, stupid baddies and a stupid plot. All of which can be summarised in one word. Stupid.

Yet, it was a lot of fun. Swery once again trying to make a Twin Peaks videogame, cram it full of daft stuff and lots of weird mini games and side quests. As far as structuring goes, it's not too dissimilar from the first game, only FBI interrogation sections separate the main investigation. Kind of like the stupid animus sections in the assassin's creed games.

I thought it was quite funny how it would occasionally cut to a jazz band after something dramatic happens, with a sax player in just his pants and a cowboy hat. Lots of daft moments like that really kept me invested in this stupid game.

Yeah, there's a lot of performance issues, especially when traversing the town. It stutters worse than me in a job interview and even the combat would pause occasionally. While it doesn't look like it would trouble a PS2, it still seems to really struggle, and the loading times were rather annoying as well. That being said, there was enough in the game to keep me interested and I enjoyed it a lot more than I didn't.

It's actually got a pretty decent art style. A cell shaded sort of look, with a canvas texture to the backgrounds and skies etc. Quite different and interesting.

I didn't mind cutting about on a skateboard and the fast travel points helped a lot. Walking anywhere felt slower than stopping so that was never an option. The additional stuff you could do like upgrades etc, never felt necessary as I managed to get through everything without much of a struggle. Only died once on a bit with a ton of alligators, and that's because I was dicking about.

Again, similar to the first game, although not quite as endearing. The music is trying to emulate the southern style rather than having the same utterly bizarre score from the first game, and therefore loses a bit of the oddball charm, despite it being present everywhere else.

I had a good time. It didn't outstay its welcome and I felt like it ended when it should have, unlike other games I've played recently that felt like they went on a bit longer than was enjoyable. If you liked the first game, and can deal with a dog shit frame rate, I really think you should give Dead2y Premonition a go.

Imagine the worst murder mystery story you can think of.

What would it contain? Perhaps it would lack investigation? Maybe the motives would be flimsy? Or maybe you have thought of the story where the villains are so painfully obvious that nothing about it is gripping?

Deadly Premonition 2 is all of those, and then some!

It's hard to describe Deadly Premonition 2 because so much of it is just a mess. Not a cute, funny, low-budget mess like the original was, but a seemingly cynical pile of garbage.

Deadly Premonition 2 has no reasons to exist. If you want a glimpse into York's future, or just want to follow him on a different case, you should probably look into fanfiction. Technically, the game does both of those things, but I can guarantee that even a free story on the internet would most likely be better written.

The premise of the game is that it's set in the modern day, but mostly takes place in the flashback, as two FBI agents question agent Morgan about his previous case. Scenes taking place in 2019 are arguably the best part of the game and should've probably been released as a light novel for people wondering what happened to the main character after a somewhat ambiguous ending of the first game.

During the first hour or so of the game you might be tricked into thinking that the game is good: it looks and sounds fairly nice, and it has that comfy feel of the original. However, as you play more, you might begin to realize that the game has nothing in store for you.

First thing you might notice is that Deadly Premonition 2 has very few characters in it: maybe half the cast of the original. Bigger isn't always better, but unfortunately the cast of the game is also a bit too cartoony. The original had its fair share of weirdos, but aside from a few residents, most were pretty realistic. The first character you meet here is a hotel chef/owner/bellboy who acts like he's three different people.

It seems like most characters were written to be quirky in a way where they have That One Thing, instead of being written as characters. There's a sheriff that talks in taglines. A half naked barman whose catchphrase is "yeaaaaaah?". Local priest who keeps repeating "pitiful". It's obnoxious and gets tiring really quickly.

Perhaps the worst of them is a tribal shaman Houngan, who appears before York to give him hints on how to proceed with investigation. I'm not an expert on cultures, so it's not my place to judge how well he was implemented (although admittedly, York quoting him and trying to impersonate him in a funny accent is fucked up), but he's not so much a bad character as he is a bad story. What I mean by that is that Houngan IS the story of the game.

York from Deadly Premotinion 1 had unconventional ideas about investigations. He trusted coffee more than anything else, but ultimately he did know his trade. The first game had you go to the police, the morgue, crime scene, then had you chase down leads.

There's none of that in the sequel. The story of the investigation is: Houngan appears, gives you a hint on what to do, you do that. What he wants from you is even more unconventional than following coffee patterns: get a strike in bowling, for example. Sure, all his hints lead to something, but it ends up feeling like you don't do any investigating in this murder mystery game, and his hints are so disjointed and weird that you only end up looking at the crime scene about halfway through the game. AFTER you know who the killer is.

Deadly Premonition 2 never cares about the "mystery" aspect of its story at all. The moment you set foot in the first dungeon, York gets a vision naming the killer. Sure, there are other people involved, so it's not that bad. Or, at least, it wouldn't be if you didn't catch the mastermind behind the whole thing before the game reaches midpoint!

Speaking of dungeons, if you thought that Deadly Premonition 2 would improve on the worst part of the original, you'd be wrong. Dungeons in the original were bad little Silent Hill-esque spooky dark world replicas of real places that always felt underdeveloped. Dungeons in the sequel are identical - and I mean completely visually identical - hallways with some checkpoints in the middle. Oh, and also there are only three enemy variations in the game and an entire ONE gun you get to play with.

Free-roaming has also received a downgrade. Arguably the best part of the original Deadly Premonition was the side content, and it's impressive how much the sequel dumbs it down. All the quests in the game are bad. At best they're an inoffensive fetchquest, and at worst they are deliberately made to waste your time.

There's a reason why I think Deadly Premontion 2 would work best as a light novel. If you cut out all the fluff, the game would be maybe 2 hours long. The quests go absolutely nowhere and include such hits as:

- Following a dog for about 15 minutes (be sure to not hit midnight in game so you won't lose track of it when the cutscene plays!)

- Getting three random items from either very specific places or places that are open on certain times and bringing them to the pastor one after one. You will receive a reward that, as far as I could see, has no use within the game.

- Talking to hotel chef. Note: nothing in the game tells you when the owner of the hotel is in his "Chef" persona, and you must only do that when he is in-character (which is about 4 hours a day)

Those aren't even sidequests. These are the main quests of the game! I wrote them down because sidequests are usually dumber are usually of "Do lots of one thing" variety. They're also as committed to waste as much of your time as possbile (do note that this game, unlike the prequel doesn't even show side quests on the map or above characters, making completion nearly impossible). However, it's likely that you would drop them after completing about 10 when you realize that the game has nothing to reward you with.

The best reward the game can give you is a new suit. The usual reward, however, is yet another accessory. Various beads, necklaces and incenses that you can use to increase everything, from firepower, to minigame luck. Those aren't a bad idea, and can even modify your gun a bit so it fires like a shotgun (although you'll probably just stick with regular bullets), but after you've received your 10th accessory, you'll probably drop the quests altogether and be sad, while you remember how Deadly Premonition would reward you with weird items, car upgrades and new guns.

Not even the ending is worth it.

Lastly, I want to bring up the big issue of the game: the transphobia. If you've heard any discussions of the game, it's probably due to York being written in a weird way. A progressive dude who cares for trans people but casually deadnames and mixes up pronouns of the only trans character in the game. Frankly, this didn't bother me much, as York is kind of an asshole, but if you thought my review made the game sound interesting in a "so bad it's good" (it's not) kind of way, I feel like I'm obliged to give a trigger warning to both this and York's ridiculous accent he makes when he impersonates Houngan.

The only way I can see Deadly Premonition 2 being worth it is if you want something to just waste your time: do random sidequests where you find spots with the help of photos and kill X amount of enemies. Even if sidequests suck, those moments are somewhat comfortable and easy to just chill to. If you're curious about the game as a continuation, however, just don't bother.

as a huge fan of the original game, this just fucking sucks

it flanderizes everything what made DP1 good and repeatedly bashes you over the head with memes and references until you have blunt head trauma, the ending in particular drove me fucking insane

if you're really easily entertained by how sloppy the whole games and overlook any problems it has cause "hehe bad game funni :)" then good for you, keep on funding ToyBox and their godawful games and ports

A strong beginning and ending unfortunately don't make up for everything in between. When it works, it really works, but there's so much that doesn't that it makes this one hard to love.

This game is far too happy to waste your time at every opportunity. Whether it's a protracted sequence to follow an NPC, or mandatory things to progress only happening on specific days, way too much happens to prolong the experience to its detriment.

It feels like a lot of the writing missed what made the original work and tried to cover with meta nods and it just misses the mark as a result.

It was nice to go on another adventure with York, but I wonder if we really needed it.