Forgotten Treasures – Deadly Premonition

The Original Japanese title was Red Seeds Profile. Which one do you prefer?

I’ll say it right now, this week’s Forgotten Treasures - Deadly Premonition -  is a game that you’ll either love or hate. Originally an Xbox 360 exclusive in North America, Deadly Premonition divided both critic and consumer opinions. While some absolutely hated the game because of it’s outdated graphics and horrible voice acting, many more loved and swear by it even today. It’s also been affectionately called by many as the “Twin Peaks of gaming” and even holds the Guinness World Record for “Most Critically Polarizing Survival Horror Game.”

Learn more about Deadly Premonition after the break.

If you see this guy, run and don’t look back.

Deadly Premonition is one of the weirdest titles you’ll ever get to play this generation. It’s a mish-mash of open-world, supernatural, investigation, psychological, survival comedy-horror gameplay that casts the player as quirky FBI agent Francis York Morgan (just call him York – everyone else does) as he hunts down a murderer in the small mid-western town of Greenvale. The player can wander the city of Greenvale freely – by foot or by car – to talk to its citizens and solve various mini-cases during his search for the infamous Raincoat Killer. Players must investigate crime scenes, interrogate townsfolk, and work with the local police force to catch the serial murderer before he or she strikes again.

Aside from the open-world investigation gameplay, Deadly Premonition also has a number of survival-horror action sequences where players must battle supernatural enemies in order to advance the plot. These sections usually come out of nowhere and bombards the player with waves of oftentimes hard to kill opponents. Like in Resident Evil 4, players cannot aim while on the move and has to stop to aim and shoot, or to swing his melee weapons. These sections are perhaps the worst parts of the package because of the floaty controls and awkward combat.

Did you see that Zach? Clear as a crisp spring morning.
F…K… in the Coffee.

York – a character reminiscent of Twin Peaks’ Dale Cooper – has a number of bizarre traits and mannerisms that estrange him with the townsfolk; he picks up weird clues in his morning coffee, he has a knack for interrupting conversations, and even talks to an unseen character by the name of Zach. He often goes into dream-like states where he can converse with visions of people connected to the investigation. Overall, he’s a weird, creepy, yet oddly appealing protagonist.

And as if things weren’t weird enough, everyone in the town seems like they’re hiding something. If my description of the game doesn’t make any sense at all, trust me, it exemplifies how weird yet unique Deadly Premonition really is. Even now, years after finishing the game I still go back and play it occasionally. It’s like going back and watching the X-Files and Twin Peaks years after the shows ended; once you re-start, you cant’ stop.

Awkward combat against creepy foes.

Like I said earlier, Deadly Premonition started out as an Xbox 360 exclusive in North America. However,Executive Producer Yasuhiro Wada said at GDC that the game is finally coming to the PlayStation 3 later this year. This new version of Deadly Premonition is actually a Director’s Cut of the game including more features, more exclusive content, as well as PlayStation Move support on release day.

Conclusion

Even with its PS2-era graphics, floaty controls, overly sensitive driving, and awkward combat, Deadly Premonition will win you over with it’s quirky casts of characters, engrossing episodic-style story, and the amount of details and life found in the sandbox town of Greenvale. And with a new Director’s Cut coming with updates, fixes, new controls, and even more new content, Deadly Premonition is definitely a title to look forward to if you haven’t experienced it on the Xbox 360 and are looking for a fun, weird, and scary game for the PS3.

In case you still can’t believe how weird the game is, check out the “disturbed” trailer below: