Deadly Premonition 2: A Blessing in Disguise - Review
When Deadly Premonition was released a decade ago, it encapsulated the whole ‘so bad it’s good’ vibe and went on to become a cult classic. It’s also a divisive title for exactly that reason. Despite all the issues, there was an entertaining and surreal experience that is often compared to Twin Peaks. Now after all this time, original director and writer Swery has brought about Deadly Premonitions 2: A Blessing in Disguise to the world. Big fans of the original are most likely already sold on this game, looking forward to all the quirks and cheesiness that comes with a follow up game. For those not so sure on a sequel or just on the look out for a new action horror game, this review is for you. Can Deadly Premonition 2 learn from the issues of the original and become something greater? Or does it cling onto the past, hoping to get by on the reputation of the original?
Starting in modern day 2019, a body has been discovered. A woman dismembered but frozen in a pose, made stranger by the fact that this body has been missing for well over a decade. This brings agents Aaliyah Davis and Simon Jones to the door of former special agent Francis Zach/York Morgan (Zach and York are the same person…look it’s difficult to explain, he has two personalities), who worked on the original case. Time hasn’t been so kind to the quirky investigator, but he could be the only one who can provide answers on this mystery. Why is a case he solved back in 2005 showing up in 2019? Is Zach/York hiding something?
After a tense introduction we’re taken back to Le Carré in 2005. York has taken a detour from a vacation in New Orleans to investigate the mysterious corpse and the presence of red seeds. What awaits is a surreal tale of supernatural drama, revenge, twists and a lot of movie references.
I can’t say much about what goes on, but the story definitely goes places. I was hooked from the beginning, I wanted to see what happened in 2005 to bring us to the current day events, and to see what was in store for Zach Morgan going forward. It helps that York/Zach are written as well as they are, York is forever a big goofball. The earnestness that was present in the original game is still here, and it really is the quirky characters that make this game.
While I cannot go into any detail nor would I want to spoil moments in the game, I can’t ignore the transphobia that could severely impact unsuspecting players' experience. It’s severely disappointing, be warned there is deadnaming and the tropes that are still way too common. It doesn’t end there, there is a problematic depiction of intellectual disabilities and a few other outdated depictions. It can be argued that it is a game that doesn’t take itself too seriously and the tropes are sadly common in horror. But it was outdated ten years ago, and some moments were so mind boggling to me that a game in 2020 would have included.
Before setting foot in Le Carré I would heavily recommend that you have either played through the original game, or at least read up on the plot. A Blessing in Disguise doesn’t come with a ‘previously on’ catch up, the stories are very much connected. Some elements are explained or can be picked up, but others go completely unexplained without the original.
If you’ve played the original Deadly Premonition you’ll be aware of the game's quirkiness. Inspirations to series like Twin Peaks are never too far away. While York is no longer in the rural town of Greenvale, Le Carré has a similar feel and has a host of new wacky characters to get to know and be sent on fetch quests by. York is often talking to Zach, but of course don’t ask him about Zach. There is the helpful David Jawara, owner of the hotel you’re staying in who seems to be the Concierge, Bellhop and Chef all rolled up into one. Be prepared for lots of talking, not that it’s a bad thing but some scenes can go on for quite some time as the conversations play out. Swery loves his irrelevant conversations and movie references, and it is a highlight here.
First and foremost A Blessing in Disguise is an open world third person action game. It can feel more like a puzzle adventure game at times, but more time is spent as an action shooter in a horror setting. Not to forget all the skateboarding too, you spent almost as much time on that board as you do anything else. After midnight Le Carré becomes the otherworld. Monsters emerge from the ground and will come for you if you can’t get inside or to a safe spot. While the first game throws you into combat with the supernatural almost straight away, A Blessing in Disguise takes a few hours before you’re shooting anything more than wild dogs, squirrels and bees. To get answers into what’s going on you’ll need to step into the Otherworld from time to time. These almost serve as the games ‘dungeons’, working your way through familiar corrupted hallways as monsters pop out of the ground. Strangely it doesn’t take much to take them out, even the bosses can be dealt with swiftly. On one hand it was nice to be able to easily get through the combat portions to get back to the story, but then these sections are so long and repetitive it drags the whole game down. Throughout the game you can build an altar full of stat boosting and weapon enhancing trinkets to help out. You can spend hours scavenging for materials to craft and enhance them, however you don’t need them. The enemies aren’t that smart and most of them only need two bullets.
As with the original game the clock is almost always ticking. People and buildings are only accessible at certain times. This has always been a neat concept, although it quickly becomes a problem when story critical objectives can’t be accessed until the next day. This wouldn’t be a problem if there was a lot to do on the side, but side objectives involve mundane tasks that rarely ever provide enough details. Being restricted by time like this means that you’re either killing time, using cigarettes to speed up time, or sleeping at your hotel. You get charged every day you spend there, and at first it seems like a daunting amount. Fortunately you get money for doing everything in this game. The true enemy of this game becomes all the time wasting built in. Missed the window to interact with someone? Go all the way back to the hotel and sleep, fill back up on food then head back out the next day. Need to find a certain item for a fetch quest? We won’t tell you where it is, you’re just going to have to hope you come across it.
It’s not just all murder investigations and red seeds in Le Carré though, if you want to just soak in the atmosphere and take part in some of the activities around town. You can have a go at bowling, hang out by the water and try you luck at skimming stones. There’s a handful of activities that you’ll come across as you progress in the story. Some are pretty fun, most feel a little broken. While they were fun for a few minutes, you’d have to be really hungry for more to sink any real time in them.
York doesn’t have a car available, but coming into town he managed to get his hands on a skateboard. Skateboarding is how you’re expected to get around town, though later on fast travel opens up with a Uber-style taxi system. This means you need to choose between the long skateboarding session or spend York’s money and sit through one of many loading screens. I wound up relying on fast travel once I had unlocked the locations, meaning you have to make the overly long trip to each place at least once. It might look like all kinds of fun can be had with the skateboard, but don’t get too excited just yet. The world isn’t designed to do tricks on and trying to do so will likely damage your board. Prepare to be stopped on your board by the simplest of obstacles, like the slightly raised road. There will be people who still enjoy the skateboarding, especially for it being such a ‘wacky’ mode of transport for a man in a suit to be doing around town.
Whether it’s docked or in handheld, Deadly Premonition 2 is a bit of a technical mess. The somewhat dated visuals are now outlined, almost to give a cel shaded appearance. As soon as you’re moving around in this world it’s impossible to ignore that the framerate is a choppy mess, like the engine is just holding together. This is most apparent when you’re outdoors, skateboarding can feel like a slideshow at times. I wish it was easy to ignore, but it’s that bad. Worse is that the outdated visuals really don’t justify it. There's barely any NPC walking around, let alone other cars. The town of Le Carré might be a big area, but there isn’t much going on in it! For all the performance issues, they never became a real deal breaker. It will impact on some who are bugged by framerate issues, but once again the fans will likely not mind. Although the soft crashes that would freeze up the game at the end of a conversation do have a more annoying impact on the game, the real horror is not knowing if the game is about to force me to have to load the game up all over again.
I understood why the first Deadly Premonitions was so divisive, it was a diamond in the rough. Despite its numerous shortcomings, the setting, characters and goofy humour still shone through. A Blessing in Disguise feels like it doubles down on the rougher elements, but I imagine fans of the original will still enjoy it. If anything this sequel gives them more of the same. If you are new to the series or just hope with ten years that they’ve learnt from their experiences since then, you may wind up disappointed. I was on board to enjoy this supernatural adventure, even with its clunkier bits, but the outdated and offensive treatment of transgender and intellectually disabled people were impossible to overlook. If you’re a hardcore fan you’ll likely get this game no matter what I say, for everyone else chances are you won’t have a good time in Le Carré.
The Score
5.0
Review code provided by Nintendo
The Pros
+Special Agent York/Zach is still great
+That surreal supernatural style is still a winner
+Exactly what hardcore fans have been missing
The Cons
+Problematic in treatment of trans characters and the intellectually disabled.
+Performance issues mean lots of choppy frame rates, load times, freezing and crashing
+Le Carré feels too empty of characters and things to do
