When your character crashes crashes his car in the game's opening, he misses two squirrels who scurry off and make a... monkey sound?! I think this perfectly summarises Deadly Premonition, in all its stengths and weaknesses.
Considered by many to be the 'best worst game of all time' and Guiness record holder of 'Most Critically Polarizing Survival Horror,' Deadly Premonition might be the gaming equivalent of the 2003 cult movie The Room. They have plenty in common, mainly that every creative decision feels so incredibly wrongfooted that you question how it was even greenlit.
Any development team would hear those monkey squirrels and scratch their heads, as much as every gamer has subsequently. This game might have a fabulous team behind it, but, creatively, this is evidently the work of an individual.
Just as Deadly Premonition is gaming's answer to The Room, Hidetaka "SWERY" Suehiro might be its answer to Tommy Wiseau: an eccentric and intellectually contentious visionaire whose name is planted everywhere in the opening credits.
I think the game's cult status comes from that distinct personality, as much as the game's obvious inspirations (it's basically Twin Peaks with the gameplay of Shenmue without either's subtlety). Yes, the characters are dumb, the story is nonsensical, the sound is jarring, the music is annoying, the world design is derivative, the gameplay is clunky, the enemies are grating and the sexual politics are questionable - I could go on and on, almost as long as some of the cutscenes - but all of these things do one thing right, that is they form a wholistic sense of place, a unique atmosphere and a singular vision of its world, though a strange one. If all of these things were the culmination of a group effort, rather than an individual, it would show and immediately be less compelling. When you watch The Room, you never doubt that literally no one but Wiseau is at the wheel, it is the same here.
There are actually some aspects worthy of standard merit here. I am surprised to admit that some moments in this game are downright creepy and the plot becomes somehow even more unhinged in the final third - the game is at its best here because it eventually ditches the pretentions of being a Twin Peaks game and finds its two left feet placed firmly in the realm of Japanese weirdness.
Ultimately, it's not a 'good' game in the traditional sense, but instead a fascinating work of art... for all the wrong reasons.
Considered by many to be the 'best worst game of all time' and Guiness record holder of 'Most Critically Polarizing Survival Horror,' Deadly Premonition might be the gaming equivalent of the 2003 cult movie The Room. They have plenty in common, mainly that every creative decision feels so incredibly wrongfooted that you question how it was even greenlit.
Any development team would hear those monkey squirrels and scratch their heads, as much as every gamer has subsequently. This game might have a fabulous team behind it, but, creatively, this is evidently the work of an individual.
Just as Deadly Premonition is gaming's answer to The Room, Hidetaka "SWERY" Suehiro might be its answer to Tommy Wiseau: an eccentric and intellectually contentious visionaire whose name is planted everywhere in the opening credits.
I think the game's cult status comes from that distinct personality, as much as the game's obvious inspirations (it's basically Twin Peaks with the gameplay of Shenmue without either's subtlety). Yes, the characters are dumb, the story is nonsensical, the sound is jarring, the music is annoying, the world design is derivative, the gameplay is clunky, the enemies are grating and the sexual politics are questionable - I could go on and on, almost as long as some of the cutscenes - but all of these things do one thing right, that is they form a wholistic sense of place, a unique atmosphere and a singular vision of its world, though a strange one. If all of these things were the culmination of a group effort, rather than an individual, it would show and immediately be less compelling. When you watch The Room, you never doubt that literally no one but Wiseau is at the wheel, it is the same here.
There are actually some aspects worthy of standard merit here. I am surprised to admit that some moments in this game are downright creepy and the plot becomes somehow even more unhinged in the final third - the game is at its best here because it eventually ditches the pretentions of being a Twin Peaks game and finds its two left feet placed firmly in the realm of Japanese weirdness.
Ultimately, it's not a 'good' game in the traditional sense, but instead a fascinating work of art... for all the wrong reasons.