Deadly Premonition 2: A Blessing in Disguise is a hot mess. Developer Toybox has brought their vision towards the Nintendo Switch and created a game where the story is completely off the wall, it runs like it’s within the first few days of an alpha build, and the characters all appear to be they’re in around the joke. Considering that this is the sequel to the Guinness World Record holder for the most critically polarizing survival horror game, I was expecting believe it or not out of this installment. The original Deadly Premonition was released about ten years ago around the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 and has garnered a popularity because of its extreme levels of so-bad-its-good and the sequel could very well be what those fans have been awaiting because the original. Everyone else, though, will have a hard time getting passed the clunky dialogue and also the abysmal frame rate. That is a shame because there is a lot of fun to be had. Even when it's a mixture of laughing with it and, generally, at it.
The story is part sequel and part prequel and once again follows FBI Special Agent Francis York Morgan. This time he ventures to the fictional Louisiana town of Le Carré in the year 2005 to resolve the grisly murder of the wealthy socialite. Each chapter is bookended with scenes that occur in 2023 where York, who goes by Francis Zach Morgan within this time, is being questioned by another FBI agent, named Aaliyah Davis, about his involvement using the events that took place throughout his amount of time in Le Carré. These segments drag on for a lot too long and quickly overstay their welcome, but things certainly change a lot once you transition to the open world of Le Carré.
As using the first game, one of many draws of Deadly Premonition 2 is it’s cast of colorful characters who're all just complete caricatures which are difficult to think that a real individual wrote. Our lead, for example, York, is an absolute dweeb. Instead of driving around Louisiana, he rides a skateboard while humming the extremely repetitive tune in the original game. When he isn’t chain-smoking, he’s rambling on about random movie trivia that no one inspired to hear. And that’s just our central character. I haven’t even reached the mystical skeleton who talks to York through mirrors that provides him riddles to solve that pertain to clues to the murder from the hotel manager who's just one man doing different voices and pretending to become the different personnel looking after the hotel. Everyone is weird in this town and it’s honestly part of the charm. Every time a new character was introduced I was excited to determine their quirk or eccentricity. It’s one of the bright spots from the experience.
You can’t discuss this game without referring to its performance. Or perhaps the lack thereof in some instances. When you’re indoors, things have a tendency to run rather smoothly except for a few load screens which make you ponder whether the sport froze. Things go completely from the rails though whenever you step outside in to the streets of Le Carré. The frame rates are abysmal to the point where it’s like watching a slideshow of in-game screenshots. From pedestrians to trees will just materialize before you as you’re skateboarding around as though the game is struggling to keep up with every move you’re making. The first Deadly Premonition runs like a dream comparatively and that was hanging on by a string more often than not. These issues can be found whether you’re playing in docked or handheld mode so there is no escape from it.
There are so many mechanics within this game and much more than just come out of left field. You will find the third-person shooting segments where you have to clunkily takedown rejected Silent Hill-style enemies who don’t pose a threat. You can even find boss fights which are even weirder with enemies that appear to be like something out of Full Metal Alchemist. It comes down completely out of nowhere the very first time rather than gets much of an explanation, however i was too enthralled by everything of looking after which i wasn’t getting one.
During York’s investigation, you analyze and arrange your clues to determine the following big burglary the mystery. If you wish to play a rock-skipping mini-game or do some bowling, it can be done. At one point I got into a fistfight with a range of squirrels that were terrorizing a few and then got chased on my skateboard by a crocodile. The weirdest thing that happened undoubtedly was after i discovered your body odor mechanic which comes into play once you don’t shower for two in-game days. At this time, flies begin to circle York and when you interact with any NPCs you have a B.O. fine before you can shower and remove the status effect. The sport somehow does a great deal and not enough at the same time and it’s honestly impressive.
Deadly Premonition 2: A Blessing in Disguise is really a difficult game to quantify. On one hand, it’s a marvel that it’s running at all sometimes and very frequently seems like it’s will make my Switch explode. Many times, it gets bogged down by some truly ambitious but poorly realized decisions and mechanics. And then, however, it is exactly what a sequel to Deadly Premonition should be. Beyond all its hang-ups is a decent mystery with a few really fun moments if you can embrace it’s issues the way the game does. It’s not trying to be The Last of Us Part II or perhaps a nuanced mystery in the vein of something similar to the first seasons of True Detective. It knows what it is and leans into the things that made the first game a cult classic.
Ultimately, I had a lot of fun during my time with Deadly Premonition 2: A Blessing in Disguise once i was able to shut my brain off and just go along for that janky skateboard ride through Le Carré. I discovered so that it is charming and perhaps I’m only a mark for garbage games, however i can easily see this having the same life as it’s predecessor if people choose to give it a shot and embrace this insane mystery.
Deadly Premonition 2: A Blessing in Disguise is available now on the Nintendo Switch
