What to Think About Deadly Premonition 2

The announcement of Deadly Premonition 2 in today's Nintendo Direct has me filled with conflicting emotions. On one hand, I can't believe this is happening, that we're getting a sequel to the cult classic ten years after the original, and I'm very happy Swery managed to do this.

On the other hand, I feel like Deadly Premonition's position as "Twin Peaks The Game", which was very compelling at release, doesn't have as much charm today. Like, the reason why Deadly Premonition's story was so intriguing is that ten years ago, the idea of David Lynch coming back to release a new season of the cult TV show was impossible. But now that The Return happened, and that Lynch just slammed it out of the park, has the idea of a Twin Peaks rip-off lost its charm.

I should also mention that, while I have yet to play D4, I did play The Missing and... was painfully disappointed. It was a sad proof that having the best intentions doesn't stop you from making the worst decisions.

But hey, I hope, I hope Deadly Premonition 2 is good, I hope it is a step forward for Swery, I hope he finds a way to surprise us all yet again. And what do you think? What is your reaction to such an announcement? Are you excited? Cautious? Are you thinking about getting it? What are your expectations (if you have any) and what do you wish to see improved?

If it's Switch exclusive I will absolutely buy a switch just for this game. I am so excited. There are a billion ways it could go wrong, and there's never going to be another Deadly Premonition moment again, it's once in a lifetime. But I'm excited anyway.

As for hopes, I hope it doesn't explain too much, get too involved with the original game. I'd be fine if it was just another weird case that he was involved in, the first game stands on it's own quite well, I want some of the weirdness and mystery to remain. And I'm excited for the split perspective part of it all, there's a lot of potential there, and a lot of potential for the setting too.

Also, there's the Japanese version of the direct, it has more footage, including SKATEBOARDING. Go to 49:20 if the embed doesn't do it for you.

If there is any game that will get me to buy a switch, this is it.

As someone that watched 0 Twin Peaks, i still had a ton of fun with Deadly Premonition so i'm glad there's more of that stuff inbound. It's still twin peaks filtered through the mind of Swery, which makes it kind of it's own thing. And while you could undoubtable find somewhat similar stories in other media, i still feel like a Swery game stands out in the game landscape.

"Twin Peaks: The Game" may have been Deadly Premonition's design starting point and marketing line, but I don't think that's what it ended up being. The game is entertaining because it's Swery's take on that idea, and I don't think that recent season of Twin Peaks takes anything away from that. As long as he's still heading the project and makes it just as fucking weird and hilarious as usual I'm in.

...Assuming the gameplay is halfway acceptable. I kinda love DP, but I also never want to play it as is.

I'm buying it day one. So if its a switch exclusive, I'm there. If it's on PC as well, I would rather be there but I'm guessing Nintendo is fitting the bill in someway.

This thread is the first i'm hearing of it and I came in here to post something snarky like "The same way I would feel if they announced The Room 2, indifferent" but seing the gameplay I was reminded that Deadly Premonition did some cool stuff that puts it beyond the 'it's so bad, it's good' some elements in that game are actually quite good and unique, I hope to see more in the second game.

Also, what happend to that weird cat game he was making? Is that still happening?

I love it just for the fact that a major studio is giving Swery money to make a fucking 2nd Deadly Premonition game in 20-god damn-19.

And in many ways Lynch doesn't really try to rekindle the original's magic when he returned to the series. The Return is really its own beast. I could see Swery doing his own kind of twists with those characters.

Deadly Premonition is an extremely likable and endearing bad game and I think that's a really hard thing to make a sequel for. I think the most likely outcome is that it ends up being a technically better game that doesn't have the sort of inexplicable pull that the first game had.

But I just wanna root for SWERY.

"The Good Life" is still in development, the last kickstarter update announced a delay to spring 2020(originally Q4 2019). They've been pretty good about putting backer updates out/showing work in progress so far so I don't have any personal worries about it taking a long time to come out.

I am beyond thrilled DP is getting a sequel! I came to the Switch for Metroid and Bayonetta but I’m staying for DP2 and playing through the Switch re-release when I get home today. I’m glad a new wave of players can try out this beautifully weird game!

So now that my initial excitement has died down a little more, I've gotten to thinking about it a bit more in terms of what it means for the plot.

@brackstone: The trailer mentions "14 years in the past", so I'm assuming it's 100% a prequel, but I guess you never know with Swery.

@zeik: Well yeah, the Boston stuff is 2019, modern day, and the New Orleans stuff is presumably 2005. So it's a mix, but I'm wondering what that mix is like, if the modern day is more framing device or if both parts of the game are equally split.

Who is funding this?

Why would you fund this?

I would really enjoy it if they find a way to get Jeff, Vinny and Brad to play it together :')

I didn't pick up on it when I watched the trailer, but it looks like D4 is connected to this too? That apartment that Aaliyah is interviewing the old guy in is David's apartment, with the old guy himself probably being an elderly David. The Sweryverse lives???

Also take a look at the japanese direct version of the trailer, it's got some extra footage, including a snippet of open world gameplay (with skateboarding!).

@panfoot: Maybe but the old man has York/Zach’s face scar so it’s probably future Zach. Also noticed that Prequel York doesn’t have his scar yet. Wonder if we find out how he got the scar in this one?

fun fact, Back when Deadly Premonition was still named 'Rainy Woods' you were supposed to play as David Young Henning instead of Francis York Morgan. D4's character was named David Young.

I can't wait to watch someone else play through it.

Next thing you know, Zack is gonna walk into an FBI office with a Louisiana accent screaming "WHO DO YOU THINK THAT IS, THERE?!"

Also, I played Deadly Premonition years before finally watching the original Twin Peaks series, and... yeah, Swery took a lot of stuff. Like a lot. Like a loooooooot.

@vincentvendetta: Oh, he definitely does, but it still feels like distinctly it's own thing by the end. Especially the more it leans into its supernatural elements later on.

Oh yeah, by the time you're fighting the bad guy from Tekken with mommy issues and an axe, and the giant frog-like farmer in a vacuum, it's become a full-on Japanese game. I will not deny that.

I'm incredibly excited for this. I think Deadly Premonition is more than enough of its own thing that anything they have done or will do with Twin Peaks doesn't diminish it. The first game is legit one of my favorite games of that generation, and even if this sequel doesn't hit the same highs, the fact that it is able to exist is amazing enough.

@brackstone said:

Call me Tony York, everyone calls me that.

@shorap: @panfoot:

Yeah, I think it's quite identifiable as Zach, also the Japanese version of the trailer's subtitles have his name as "Francis Zach Morgan". Kind of bummed me out to see him looking so haggard though!

I think D4 was enough to convince me that Swery's stuff is great even without taking half the plot from Twin Peaks. Also I'm pretty sure he's going to make a better sequel than David Lynch so there's that, too.

Nintendo, because they're fiscally irresponsible. And thank God they are!

I'm ecstatic. DP had its weaknesses, but the parts of it I enjoy, I _love_. I'm so happy that York will return.

I don't care about Twin Peaks. It's Swery that I dig.

Swery is a beautifully strange man and happy when anything he creates comes out. I am so very confused that something like this is even happening let alone was funded to be released

@panfoot: No way. When I saw the trailer come up in the direct it reminded me of D4 but I had figured it was just because of a similar engine. I’m excited for whatever this is. I hope from game mechanics it’s a little more refined. I tried to play Deadly Premonition but found so much of the game had large sections that were a drag to interact with. I felt like D4 really distilled all the Sweryness into something that was comfortably playable. So, if this sequel is a refined return, count me in.

Yeah, you can easily tell in comparion with the DP1 for switch trailer they showed right after that it's actually a decent step up compared to the first game.

Kind of curious what these 'worst decisions' with The Missing were the OP is talking about, because that game was great. So was D4 even if it never got more episodes.

I feel The Missing and D4 showed that he can make neat weird stuff just fine without relying on ripping off Twin Peaks, and honestly even DP1 ultimately veered off into more of it's own thing.

I've never done more consecutive double takes than when this flashed on screen. I was legitimately taken aback and boy howdy am I glad York is back! Not sure exactly what they'll do with it, but I'll totally support SWERY on this venture.

Thought I'd update this with some more info from an article: https://gematsu.com/2019/09/deadly-premonition-2-a-blessing-in-disguise-announced-for-switch-deadly-premonition-origins-available-now

It does get into the story setup quite a bit, surprisingly (so don't click if you want to remain totally unspoiled). And from the sound of it, I'm totally in. tl;dr: It's taking the form of a prequel, but with a framing narrative in the present (with another playable character working on an old case of York's. York will also have a child sidekick in the past). Sounds pretty different from where Twin Peaks season 3 went, they're not really playing in the same well.

The whole idea sounds really cool and I love the idea of fleshing out the world of DP and seeing more weird Swery shit. Thought the Missing and D4 were great, and I backed the Good Life so sign me up for whatever this man works on.

An interesting idea was brought about on the recent Waypoint podcast - whether this game has to be "bad" to be a Deadly Premonition game. All reverence and nostalgia aside, Deadly Premonition wasn't an especially fun game to play. It was certainly an experience for which it got the cult following it has, but how do you proceed forward? Would polish strip away the charm?

@humanity: I think without the performances and weird animations and all that of Deadly Premonition it would have been missing something yeah.

But not like..if that car drove better or it felt better to shoot.

I'm intensely excited for this, but I'm not sure why. I tried to play the original DP multiple times before, after watching endurance runs, and the minute to minute gameplay is just so bad. Realistically, the gameplay will probably also be bad here, which leaves all of those extremely high expectations on the story. Hope it sells well anyway.

Looking forward to seeing more of this. I'm glad Sweary got the oportunity to make the sequel to his uh masterpiece?

I think that even after the release of The Return, the idea of a TP inspired game is still cool.

Never played deadly premonition or watched twin peaks, but I saw the endurance run. While the gameplay looked terrible, the story and stuff outside the combat looked super crazy and interesting. So make a game like that that seems fun to play and I am all on board.

p.s. I need to watch twin peaks

My only thoughts on this are that I really enjoyed what I played of the first one, but due to it crashing every 15 to 30 minutes on Steam for me after several hours into it, I had to, unfortunately, give up on it. I really wish I could buy and play the director's cut on the Xbox One X because I would do it in a heartbeat. On a technical level, the game is not great, but aside from that, it's really, really good. At least from what I played, it rips a lot from Twin Peaks, even story beats, but it's just very Japanese (anime?) if you will which adds something new and interesting to it. I played it a few months before the new Twin Peaks season came out (which I did not like that much) just to get in the mood for it, and I was surprised at how enjoyable it was. I don't feel like playing two at the moment because I'd want to finish the first game first.

I played it on PS3 as for the sequel on Switch, I hope it gets ported to PS4 and Xbox One. Still need to beat Deadly Premonition.

I've been away for awhile and today I was making a list of games I really wanted to get a sequel, but probably never will. To my utter shock, they're making a sequel to Deadly Premonition! I don't have a switch, but I'm pretty sure I have to buy one now. :)

By any chance are they making a new Mark of the Ninja?! If so, I need someone to pinch me.