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[Andyliini]

Developer: Toybox Inc.
Publisher: Rising Star Games
Platform: Nintendo Switch
Release date: July 10th 2020
Genre: Survival horror-comedy

Reveal Trailer:



Release Date Announcement Trailer:



Welcome to Le Carré:

Metacritic: 57
Opencritic: 63

Digitally Downloaded - 5/5

I’ve seen some people describe Deadly Premonition 2 as the “anti-The Last Of Us 2”. While that’s a comparison of convenience more than anything because they’ve been released so close to one another, it’s actually apt because they do sit at the extreme opposite ends of a spectrum. The Last of Us 2 epitomises everything about overly-produced, mass market-friendly content that many of us are becoming exhausted with. SWERY, knowing full well that his game will be castigated on Metacritic and widely mocked, has satirised every mainstream expectation of a video game in Deadly Premonition 2. There’s nothing that suggests that anything within this game is not an entirely deliberate, surrealistic subversion of expectations, and while Deadly Premonition 2 is not for everyone (and potentially offensive to some), games as an art form are better off having works like this to exist in parallel to mainstream entertainment.

Nintendo Life - 7/10

Veterans of the first game won’t be expecting a technical tour-de-force, but Deadly Premonition 2 still manages to underwhelm in pure performance terms. However (and this is a big however), it's a game with real character and it's very tough to dislike, even as you stutter your way around Le Carré on your skateboard. If you've ever been intrigued by the original, we'd recommend giving this a go. It’s janky and derivative, yes, but it’s also irresistibly wonderful and strange, and there's no other video game quite like it.

USGamer - 1/5

Deadly Premonition 2: A Blessing In Disguise is hard to love, even by the standards set by its predecessor. In leaving Greenvale behind for a style of prequel and sequel storytelling split across Louisiana and Boston, Deadly Premonition 2 jettisons the much of what made the original charming (along with some interesting mechanics and variety) in favor of an empty town and a story that serves up tropes and bits of lore that do little to enhance or build upon what made the original fascinating. All the while, terrible performance makes it more of a slog than its uninspired ideas and pacing do on their own.

 

[Andyliini]

For better ot for worse.

 

[Shantae]

I'm sad to see that there is so little fanfare for this on here. I loved the first DP, and I still can't believe that a sequel will be in my hands tomorrow.

I just noticed it's up on the eshop, so if anyone's going digital, they can start playing now.

I've purposefully have been keeping myself in the dark about this game, but I just realize I know so little about this sequel. I know it has 2 protags, York in the past, and Agent Davis in the future. I don't really know if the story even connects with the first game though, or if it is also another open world game.

 

[Naibel]

Despite the (somewhat expected) very lukewarm reception, I still keep this game in my to-do list.

I want to finish the first game before jumping into the new one though. And if they manage to fix some of the most egregious framerate issues in the meantime, that's all for the better.

Everyone knows how untrustworthy game reviews are in this day and age, so I'm looking forward to your feedback, fellow DP fans !

 

[Dthomp]

Loved the first one, was excited by the announcement of 2. However seeing Jim Sterlings video and the god awful framerate has me very scared. I checked out a stream for a little over an hour tonight and decided to pick it up for my wife (She liked the first more then me so it's mostly for her).

I've seen it both mentioned that they will and aren't planning on patching, so I'm hoping they patch the performance issues.

 

[CheshirexChrono]

Happy to hear there is a patch coming, I play inverted and for some reason you can't change the camera settings even though it says that you can in the info section haha. I picked it up but I will be playing it in small chunks until the patch lands. I'm very excited from what I've played though, the dialogue was incredible, even better than the first. I have yet to reach open world and honestly I know it's going to be jank but that's where the legends are born, right?

 

[Revolutionary]

Played a few hours last night and I'm loving it so far. But yeah, the frame rate in town is extremely bad. You get used to it but.. yeah.

 

[Kreen101]

Buying this today! Jank is good when it comes to DP!

 

[Jooxed]

Thanks for the OT I’ll be sure to link it in the Nintendo Thread

 

[Astral Dog]

Already in for Blue Thunder and The Island

 

[IbizaPocholo]

 

[Shantae]

Already in for Blue Thunder and The Island

I always liked The Island...one of Bay's better movies.

I'm still pretty early on, but this totally feels like a Deadly Premonition game, and I mean that in a good way. I'm pleasantly surprised that they managed to keep the writing feeling like the first one. It's good to have York back. Patricia seems like a cute sidekick so far.

 

[GodParticle]

I saw you can't play inverted, but it's supposed to be in there. Like, how do you fuck up basic shit like that...

 

[Astral Dog]

Ok i been playing up to the first boss fight. Only watched the cutscenes of the previous game that i really liked

Im having fun with this game, just see it as a glorified visual novel and it almost works, the characters and writting are charming and thats very important, the gameplay is very simple to even hate, the only thing i have disliked so far are the minigames, there are collectibles and rpg lite elements for nerds like me, fast travel options etc. My game hasn't crashed or anything like that, not even sound bugs that i noticed.

There are two things that will mske the average gamer mad:
*The framerate this is the big one, some people will simply not tolerate it, i think it brings the whole experience down and its ok only in cutscenes. The same game with consistent 30fps would be much more enjoyable period.

*The overall presentation, yep now i don't think it looks THAT bad, it has a somewhat charming Vita look, character models are mostly ok, building interiors are detailed with charming textures and lightning effects not in the first game, however its really low budget so anyone looking for a AAA like experience won't find it here, for all its fault that its still enjoyable to watch the story speaks good of the writting

Speaking of the story, its ok good even just not great, York is an awesome main character, the problem is if he can carry a game that its 'average' at best i think he does

I can't recommend this game at full price unless you already know what to expect or are a die hard fan,but for a sale at 30-20 bucks its worth a shot, imo the good does outhweigh the bad and this one shouldn't be overlooked

 

[Classicrockfan]

How’s this not have a invert y axis?

 

[kittoo]

I always liked The Island...one of Bay's better movies.

I'm still pretty early on, but this totally feels like a Deadly Premonition game, and I mean that in a good way. I'm pleasantly surprised that they managed to keep the writing feeling like the first one. It's good to have York back. Patricia seems like a cute sidekick so far.

The Island had peak ScarJo. She looked smoking hot and then some in it.

 

[Revolutionary]

Guys, keep in mind that York is very enthusiastic about EVERY movie. The Island is not a terrible movie, but it's not good either. In fact, The Island is the poster child of product placement in movies, and for that reason alone it is kinda disgusting.

Look at that timeless Xbox logo that Microsoft still uses to this day... oh wait...


Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not saying not to watch it. Just... keep your expectations in check.

 

[Astral Dog]

Guys, keep in mind that York is very enthusiastic about EVERY movie. The Island is not a terrible movie, but it's not good either. In fact, The Island is the poster child of product placement in movies, and for that reason alone it is kinda disgusting.


Look at that timeless Xbox logo that Microsoft still uses to this day... oh wait...


Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not saying not to watch it. Just... keep your expectations in check.

Heh i had that one confused with 'Shutter Island' i remember watching this one underwhelming twist

 

[Shantae]

I just finished the first boss now as well. Man, this is good so far. They really made a sequel to Deadly Premonition alright. They had talented writing, and talented artists work on this game, but not talented programmers because of the janky performance. Even I must admit at this point that the open world frame rate is pretty horrendous. Least it seemed well enough during the in door sequence with enemies.

Still, this is damn good in terms of writing. It's keeping me engaged and has the same charm and flavor of the first one, without being a rehash, at least so far.

 

[FatalT1]

Just finished it after 30 hours! Fantastic game. I need to see if there’s any side quests Imissed now.

I’d love to set all the people who complain about the frame rate and pacing in front of a PSX1 early title or an N64 game.

The first game’s story and nature of actually having a twist was better but this was serviceable.

 

[MMaRsu]

Lmao which n64 game runs around 7fps?

 

[Shantae]

Lmao which n64 game runs around 7fps?

Goldeneye?

 

[stranno]

Goldeneye?

Only in multi-player matches. Regular campaign runs at 15-30FPS.

 

[Shantae]

There is one thing that's kinda gotten on my nerves with this game so far. Some of the quests expect you to wait a REALLY long time before getting to the next step. I know the first game had some of that too, but it was usually within a day or so.

I got a mainline quest right now that wants me to get some food for the pastor, and you can only get the food on Mondays....the game started on a Monday, I'm only on Wednesday. Seems like it's telling me I have to just smoke cigarettes for 5 in game days?? what the heck

Edit: Also, can someone just tell me where to get some rice already? this is a sidequest I've had since the beginning, and I haven't gotten rice from anything.

 

[FatalT1]

Lmao which n64 game runs around 7fps?

Rose-tinted glasses are a helluva drug.

Edit: Also, can someone just tell me where to get some rice already? this is a sidequest I've had since the beginning, and I haven't gotten rice from anything.

-----

I remember loving the car rides to listen to the banter between Zach and York but now if you get off the skateboard or barely nudge something with the skateboard, they start the conversation all over again. They also repeat the same lines. A LOT.

 

[Manji Uzuki]

Loved the first game and I was hyped with this, but reading that they got rid of all the horror/creepy elements of the game is making me loose the interest. Do you think the game is still worth it story wise?

 

[FatalT1]

Loved the first game and I was hyped with this, but reading that they got rid of all the horror/crepy elements of the game is making me loose the interest. Do you think the game is still worth it story wise?

To be totally honest, no. It's frustrating because at the end of each chapter you enter the "otherworld" (the creepy area from the first game with all the enemies, like the ones who would bend over backwards and teleport at you), then have a boss fight, then you're done with that chapter.

Unless you're afraid of voodo and ritualistic altars, this game's horror factor is GONE.

I was pondering over the main enemy you face in the game being a clown-like creature that wields a pair of giant scissors to snip at you, which is probably me reading WAAYYY TOO MUCH into it but with the male-to-female transgender character you meet later, I couldn't help but to connect a few dots.

Anyways, this game is not worth $60 (even with my 30+ hours of play time and probably more because I'll go back to it for side quests and the minigames) but it would be worth $30-40. In my play time, I have 7 crashes. Only one of them was detrimental and caused me to lose 2 hours of progress but for the most part the game auto saves. I was just doing a certain side mission (which you'll learn to HATE) where you have to stand in an EXACT POSITION to use the "Vision Mode" to disocver an icon in the world. Using that Vision Mode takes up Concentration, which is refilled with coffee so I just stocked up on Black Coffees before planning on looking for them all but it was still annoying. There's 100 of them, spread out in 5 different books that give you bonus goodie dolls/necklaces (thing character upgrades and weapon upgrades) for your altar. I'm up to book 4 now but took a break there because the game was just starting to wear on me.

It IS fun though. I can just see how it received 4's and 5's with how unpolished it is.

EDIT: There are maybe

Spoiler

FIVE

different enemies in total, not counting the "bosses" of each chapter.

 

[Terenty]

Just finished it after 30 hours! Fantastic game. I need to see if there’s any side quests Imissed now.

To be totally honest, no.

So is the game good or not? You said its fantastic and then its not worth it. Are the story and characters good or what?

 

[Murr]

I was interested in the title until i read, that you switch between characters and past and present. Thing is usually you have one favorite character and one you don't like so much. So you just wait until you can play the more interesting charaacter/timeframe. Always a drawback for me.
Never finished the first one, because it crashed always half-way through for me. Even after reloading savegames.
Still would be interested to know if switiching characters is annoying in this game.

 

[FatalT1]

So is the game good or not? You said its fantastic and then its not worth it. Are the story and characters good or what?

It's fantastic for $40. Just not for $60. It took me a moment to ruminate on what I just played through and put myself through.

 

[Revolutionary]

Man, if you guys thought the town framerate was bad, wait until you upgrade your skateboard to max speed. Literally single digit framerate lol

 

[Terenty]

It's fantastic for $40. Just not for $60. It took me a moment to ruminate on what I just played through and put myself through.

Would you say its a worthy successor to the first game?

 

[Stuart360]

What the, i was was just flicking through Twitch and saw someone playing this, what the hell is going on with the framerate?, it cant of been running more than 10-15fps. How can they release a game in this state?

 

[Panajev2001a]

What the, i was was just flicking through Twitch and saw someone playing this, what the hell is going on with the framerate?, it cant of been running more than 10-15fps. How can they release a game in this state?

I do not know... I hope on a patch and that the story, characters, and settings are enough to bring it up above the technical problems (I bought it so I need to feel good about it ), but the attitude of “oh Swery made the game intentionally unpolished as a protest / to mock the mainstream reviewers that would not have understood him” I have read does annoy me a bit.

 

[TMLT]

Huge fan of the first game, am about 2 hrs into this and man, hate to say it but i'm not really feeling it so far. Its not just that it looks and runs much worse than the 10 year old original, its that the town itself and general atmosphere of the game seems to pale in comparison too. Again i''m quite early in so hoping it gets better.

 

[H4ze]

The first one is one of the best games ever made for me, can't wait to play the second part.
Don't even want to read any more about the game to not spoil myself, could imagine that this would fuck up the experience even harder than for other games.

 

[Manji Uzuki]

To be totally honest, no. It's frustrating because at the end of each chapter you enter the "otherworld" (the creepy area from the first game with all the enemies, like the ones who would bend over backwards and teleport at you), then have a boss fight, then you're done with that chapter.

Unless you're afraid of voodo and ritualistic altars, this game's horror factor is GONE.

I was pondering over the main enemy you face in the game being a clown-like creature that wields a pair of giant scissors to snip at you, which is probably me reading WAAYYY TOO MUCH into it but with the male-to-female transgender character you meet later, I couldn't help but to connect a few dots.

Anyways, this game is not worth $60 (even with my 30+ hours of play time and probably more because I'll go back to it for side quests and the minigames) but it would be worth $30-40. In my play time, I have 7 crashes. Only one of them was detrimental and caused me to lose 2 hours of progress but for the most part the game auto saves. I was just doing a certain side mission (which you'll learn to HATE) where you have to stand in an EXACT POSITION to use the "Vision Mode" to disocver an icon in the world. Using that Vision Mode takes up Concentration, which is refilled with coffee so I just stocked up on Black Coffees before planning on looking for them all but it was still annoying. There's 100 of them, spread out in 5 different books that give you bonus goodie dolls/necklaces (thing character upgrades and weapon upgrades) for your altar. I'm up to book 4 now but took a break there because the game was just starting to wear on me.

It IS fun though. I can just see how it received 4's and 5's with how unpolished it is.

EDIT: There are maybe

Spoiler

FIVE

different enemies in total, not counting the "bosses" of each chapter.

Huge fan of the first game, am about 2 hrs into this and man, hate to say it but i'm not really feeling it so far. Its not just that it looks and runs much worse than the 10 year old original, its that the town itself and general atmosphere of the game seems to pale in comparison too. Again i''m quite early in so hoping it gets better.

It sucks the game has turned out like this. I think there was lot of potential for a sequel but everything I read seems underwhelming... I guess I will pass for now and maybe give it a try if I found it really cheap later on

 

[Shantae]

I work third shift, so it's time for bed for me soon, but I wanted to chime in here again. Help keep this thread going a bit.

I'm not done with the game like some people in this thread have, but I'm at the start of episode 3, and I'm still really liking this. Maybe not so much the game playing part, but I'm loving the writing so far. It's keeping me so much more interested in playing than so many "AAA games". It's not just quirky to me, it's legit engaging and well done I feel. York is such a great protagonist. He's smart, funny, and relatable. I'm super interested in how this mystery is gonna play out, and how the case might play into what's going on with Morgan in present day. The connections to Greenvale are obvious, what with all the red tree and red seed stuff. Kaysen pulling the strings in this town as well? Or perhaps something else? Not sure. Why didn't York see the connection to Le Carre when he was in Greenvale?

Not asking these wanting to be answered, but these are questions the game raises, and it has me interested. I'm lovin' it.

 

[Dr.Morris79]

I work third shift, so it's time for bed for me soon, but I wanted to chime in here again. Help keep this thread going a bit.

I'm not done with the game like some people in this thread have, but I'm at the start of episode 3, and I'm still really liking this. Maybe not so much the game playing part, but I'm loving the writing so far. It's keeping me so much more interested in playing than so many "AAA games". It's not just quirky to me, it's legit engaging and well done I feel. York is such a great protagonist. He's smart, funny, and relatable. I'm super interested in how this mystery is gonna play out, and how the case might play into what's going on with Morgan in present day. The connections to Greenvale are obvious, what with all the red tree and red seed stuff. Kaysen pulling the strings in this town as well? Or perhaps something else? Not sure. Why didn't York see the connection to Le Carre when he was in Greenvale?

Not asking these wanting to be answered, but these are questions the game raises, and it has me interested. I'm lovin' it.

Music to my ears!

Cant wait until it gets the invert patch, it's currently sitting in my Switch killing me!

 

[Shantae]

Music to my ears!

Cant wait until it gets the invert patch, it's currently sitting in my Switch killing me!

Well I might be in the minority, so who knows how you might feel lol. I guess I'll agree that the voodoo stuff is not as interesting as the stuff that was in the first game, but at least it's not a rehash. It's going for something different, and I can appreciate that.

I just think the core story is still really working for me though. Whether or not that pays off by the end, I guess I've yet to see that. I'm liking it so much that I'm still more than happy to play with the bad framerate and clunky controls, I feel like that's commendable in it's own weird way.

 

[Andyliini]

I just started playing this game yesterday. I couldn't play for long, just until I could save for the first time. The intro bought me right away into Deadly Premonition mood. Anyway, I have a strange problem here. Whenever I boot up the game, it prompts me to download an update. The update starts fine, goes up to 98%, and then fails. Anyone else have this problem? I have the European physical version, if that's any help. I tried asking Rising Star Games about it, but they didn't answer.

 

[me0wish]

I do, and I'm pretty unhappy about it, it ruined all my plans for the week. I've redownloaded the game a few times, tried it on my switch lite, and nothing, I'm downloading it again as I type this, but I doubt it will work.

Edit: Just finished downloading, finally game works.

 

[FatalT1]

I work third shift, so it's time for bed for me soon, but I wanted to chime in here again. Help keep this thread going a bit.

I'm not done with the game like some people in this thread have, but I'm at the start of episode 3, and I'm still really liking this. Maybe not so much the game playing part, but I'm loving the writing so far. It's keeping me so much more interested in playing than so many "AAA games". It's not just quirky to me, it's legit engaging and well done I feel. York is such a great protagonist. He's smart, funny, and relatable. I'm super interested in how this mystery is gonna play out, and how the case might play into what's going on with Morgan in present day. The connections to Greenvale are obvious, what with all the red tree and red seed stuff. Kaysen pulling the strings in this town as well? Or perhaps something else? Not sure. Why didn't York see the connection to Le Carre when he was in Greenvale?

Not asking these wanting to be answered, but these are questions the game raises, and it has me interested. I'm lovin' it.

The start of episode 3? I've got some bad news for you! What's your total time played?

I need to go back and play more of the side missions but uh, if I told you how many chapters there were you'd probably flip. I loved it too, all 30+ hours of it that I played. I just can't compare it to Deadly Premonition 1 because it's not as good, at all. The story is hit or miss as well but I want to see what your opinion is on the end.

 

[Revolutionary]

Someone on Reddit noticed this reference to D4 and Microsoft lol

 

[wipeout364]

I’d love to set all the people who complain about the frame rate and pacing in front of a PSX1 early title or an N64 game.

While you are correct about old frame rates often being terrible that does not give the developer license to release games in the state this one is in, people have a right to be pissed off at this. There is absolutely no excuse to release a game in with frame rates as bad as this on a defined piece of hardware. Maybe you could throw them a bone if it was a port from PS4 or XBox or PC but they can't even use that excuse.

 

[hariseldon]

Still working through the first game - no point adding to my backlog till that’s done. The reports in here from you guys are whetting my appetite though.

 

[Revolutionary]

Just beat it. Had a good time with it but overall it's not as good as the first. Combat sequences are quick and painless but lack any tension or horror elements whatsoever. The overworld feels less developed and less lively than I remember it being in DP1 (which wasn't particularly lively to begin with), with less things to do - you can't even peep through windows as far as I can tell.
As for the story, the Le Carre stuff was fun and quirky as expected. Not as large of a cast, though.. which is probably why the town doesn't feel as populated as in DP1. Still, some of the characters are really great and are right up there with the best of DP1.

So yeah, I think I said it earlier but, unfortunately, in many ways the game feels incomplete and/or rushed, so I hope they can get a Director's Cut going again and fix up some stuff for other platforms.

 

[Shantae]

Just beat it. Had a good time with it but overall it's not as good as the first. Combat sequences are quick and painless but lack any tension or horror elements whatsoever. The overworld feels less developed and less lively than I remember it being in DP1 (which wasn't particularly lively to begin with), with less things to do - you can't even peep through windows as far as I can tell.
As for the story, the Le Carre stuff was fun and quirky as expected. Not as large of a cast, though.. which is probably why the town doesn't feel as populated as in DP1. Still, some of the characters are really great and are right up there with the best of DP1.

So yeah, I think I said it earlier but, unfortunately, in many ways the game feels incomplete and/or rushed, so I hope they can get a Director's Cut going again and fix up some stuff for other platforms.

Yeah, I just finished it now as well. Like literally 2 minutes ago, lol.

The gameplay is definitely the weakest part of this. It wasn't great in DP1, but that game was a bit more ambitious which was also part of it's charm. This game I just felt that they didn't have the budget to do anything more. They also made the combat so trivial. You have so much ammo and health, it's never a challenge. I killed some bosses with literally 5 shots in 10 seconds.

I liked the story for the most part, but it looks like FatalT1 might be right with their warnings. I feel like it peaked when I was around the mid point of the game. After that, it didn't really feel too surprising. I like, but it didn't have the same impact as a lot of DP1 did. I'm really glad it was made though, and I like the attempt at making a sequel to DP at all. It's a better effort than a lot of sequels can be.

Gotta get into some spoiler territory now.

Spoiler

It was sooo obvious that Patricia was Lena and Candy's daughter early on, lol.

I didn't expect them to pull Melvin out to be a bad guy again. I thought they wouldn't do the whole "the cop helping you is the villain" thing again since that was the first game. Although the game never does make it clear if these people are bad, or if the Saint Rogue just warped their brains to doing bad things. Clearly Lena was someone who was fucked with into doing evil shit by Kaysen, kinda like George was in DP1, but Lena seemed to subvert Kaysen's plan by not killing Patricia. That stuff is all obvious.

I was feeling a bit confused as to what exactly was going down during a lot of the "final battle" though....like, okay, so Kaysen was manipulating Zach, and made him a monster...but he wasn't really...how? I guess Zach was strong minded enough to fight against Kaysen's influence though? I dunno. I assume Patricia yelling at Zach at the end also was Kaysen using her voice maybe? There was just a lot going on during that ending, that they do try to explain a lot, but also not explain anything lol. Still confused how Kaysen was even there since you really fuck him up at the end of DP1. Yet a few magic bullets at the end of this game seem to stop him during the Agent Davis fight?

I got excited for a moment when York and Zach merged, because I thought that meant they were back as one person, and York was back for good for another sequel or something...but then... I guess they weren't really merged, only for that one fight. I dunno lol.

These games never make it clear, when York and Zach were together...were people in the world referring to Agent Morgan as Zach, or York? Patricia seemed confused who York was at first, but seemed to also know who he was. Just like at the end of DP1, Emily starts calling him Zach as soon as York leaves him. They make it seem like he's always been called Zach, but then we have seen conversations where people straight say "who's Zach?" Again, I dunno.

Felt like it ended a little abruptly. Got some nice good closure, but at the same time, is Zach still dying at the end? He had a tumor, yet looked healthier during the post credits scene, did Patricia save him through her new contract? I thought the post credits scene was super cute. It's a testament to the artists and writers for making such likable characters. This is something a lot of games fail to do even with multiple million dollar budget, but they made Patricia such an endearing and likable character throughout the game, that you're happy seeing her all grown up at the end.

 

[Raven117]

So I got to the “problematic” parts about one of the characters (I won’t go into any more detail)

Seriously, the density of someone not to be able to figure out the intent of the scene (and many prior scenes) and the intent of Swery.... I just don’t know what to say. Its obvious what Swery was doing and how he feels about the issue.

 

[Ixiah]

This game is the exact opposite to Tlou 2, technical its a mess, Characters are sympathetic, gameplay is so stupid its fun, a story thats engaging and nonsensical at the same time.