Deadly Premonition 2 arrives on PC as a surprise, trying to convince fans of the first chapter almost two years after its launch on Nintendo Switch.
Deadly Premonition is still considered a cult of the survival horror genre today: in its imperfection, among the innumerable technical defects and a rather rudimentary gameplay, it has managed to find a special place on the shelves of players and critics of the sector thanks to its peculiarity. Hidetaka Suehiro, game director otherwise known as Swery, managed to capture the public with the adventures of Francis York Morgan and his imaginary friend Zach, in a first chapter that never disappeared from the minds of fans.
Seven years after the release of Deadly Premonition: The Director’s Cut on PS3 and PC, the sequel Deadly Premonition 2: A Blessing in Disguise arrived in 2020 on Nintendo Switch (here the review of Deadly Premonition 2) has tried to replicate the success of the predecessor, but without succeeding, in the light of a rather dated graphics sector and aggravated by significant problems. Nonetheless, the Rising Star Games team has well thought of bring Swery’s genius and madness to PC so as to allow fans to experience them without having to buy Nintendo’s hybrid console.
Let’s recap the story
Those who have played Deadly Premonition 2: A Blessing in Disguise already know the story, more inspired by the noir style than by David Lynch’s iconic Twin Peaks: the initial cinematic sequence immediately plunges us into horror by showing us the body of the sixteen-year-old Lise Clarkson. in pieces and contained in a massive block of ice, as if it were a work of art.
The young heiress was actually killed 14 years earlier and we, playing detective Aaliyah Davis – accompanied by her colleague Simon Jones – will be called to question Francis York Morgan in his apartment. According to the files in his possession, in fact, the former FBI agent was involved in this enigmatic case. Deadly Premonition 2, therefore, is split between 2019 and 2005: in the “present” we will have to listen to the story of the detective, while in the past we will take on his shoes and return to Le Carré, where the murder of the young Clarkson took place. Between dark secrets and the cult of the Red Tree, which Deadly Premonition players will remember from Greenvale, we will therefore have to explore this prequel / epilogue of the narrative universe conceived by Swery.
A linear chaos, sometimes pleasant
Compared to the original edition on Nintendo Switch, do not expect narrative additions, let alone improvements in the technical sector. Just like the first chapter, Deadly Premonition 2 maintains that bittersweet chaotic nature that so many players will criticize and just as many will appreciate: the constant references to B-movie or cult film are the obsession of Francis York Morgan and characterize the crazy dialogues that are held with any character met at Le Carré. In the empty city of Louisiana one feels almost abandoned in an asylum and those who have never had anything to do with Deadly Premonition will certainly not be able to grasp the many references to the latter, to the detriment of the enjoyment of the experience.
The Japanese game designer gives a lot of space to discussions on hyperrealism and nihilism, such as to confuse the player during the dialogues: the danger of getting lost in rivers of apparently meaningless words is therefore around the corner, although the chats are quite fascinating. This general disorder is contrasted by one greater linearity in gameplay, focused on the investigative phases both in the timeline of 2005 and in that of 2019. In addition, the sequences of exploration in the streets of Le Carré are accompanied by portions of the game that are very reminiscent of the classic point and click graphic adventures, where everything that we will be able to interact with the various objects present in the setting of interest in search of the right clues to continue with the narration. There will also be moments in which we will have to decrypt the oracles, interpret Houndan’s riddles and compose the diagram of the relationships following an in-depth analysis of the crime scenes.
It all might seem somewhat complicated or tedious but in reality the experience is surprisingly simple and is characterized by a pace that is never excessively slow or fast. In this way we will be able to focus on the story, which can be completed in about 10 hours, without spending too much time on secondary activities. If you fly over the most bizarre and chaotic portions of the dialogues, the underlying plot is linear and easily understandable, net of the defects that in any case afflict the game.
In fact, the exploration of Le Carré invites us to complete a multitude of additional or extra quests such as bowling, paths for skateboarding – the only means of transport to which we will have access at all times – or bizarre assignments given to us by the sheriff and by citizens. In these situations, Deadly Premonition 2 continues to make us live extravagant moments thanks to the eccentricity of the characters, from Francis York Morgan and Zach to the NPCs who meet along the way. Unfortunately, these simple extra activities fail to give life and depth to the playful context, both for a certain basic banality and for the scenic and technical problems that characterize the adventure.
… in a sea of PC problems
The entire play experience is in fact undermined by a multitude of defects: the city is practically bare and the NPCs we will see will be few and immobile, however, in an anonymous environment and with very few vehicles on the screen. Le Carré is a grid of streets and houses peppered with some large green space, with low-resolution textures everywhere and an unoriginal and even poor sound accompaniment. In short, Deadly Premonition 2 looks like a product of the PlayStation 2 era brought to the latest generation PC. In this regard, there is no possibility to play with mouse and keyboard or change resolution, not to mention a mapping of the controls of the pad that can be revised and impossible to modify. Returning to the characters,
the animations are recycled and of poor quality, while the models are crudely made and continue to interpenetrate with the floors and other surfaces. Compared to the version on Switch there is a more stable frame rates and significantly fewer bugs ready to break the game but the uploads unfortunately turned out to be quite long, even with the installation on SSD. The technical gaps are noticed in the shootings, with the enemies who unfortunately do not shine for intelligence, to put it mildly, and therefore can be overwhelmed without any kind of problem. Furthermore we must add that the very variety of the opponents is reduced to the bone, like that of the shooting sections themselves, which are all too similar to each other. Resource management is not complex at all, although attention must be paid to hunger and fatigue.
Moreover, if during the exploration of Le Carré the commands appear anything but reactive, in the navigation of the menus, in the phase of composing the relationship diagram and in the interaction with the characters, both the directional arrows and the sticks appear until too sensitive, which makes selecting dialogue options frustrating to say the least: briefly pressing an arrow or moving the stick a little will almost always skip the initially designated entry in favor of a selection practically dictated by chance.
This PC version came out two years after the Nintendo Switch one, therefore – given the additional problems it presents – justifying these critical issues becomes even more difficult. The wildest lovers of the adventures of Francis York Morgan and Zack might consider them almost as an essential component of the experience but the reality is that its pleasantness appears seriously compromised.
