South Park: The Fractured But Whole

 PC
User Score
7.0

Mixed or average reviews- based on 407 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 224 out of 407
  2. Mixed: 115 out of 407
  3. Negative: 68 out of 407
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  1. rxgamer
    Oct 18, 2017
    2
    Typical UbiCancer. Vote with your wallet people.

    $100 price tag for full game
    Day 1 DLC
    Pre-order bonus
    Mandatory Uplay account
    Multiple layers of DRM (Steam, Uplay, Denuvo)
    Microtransactions in a single player game
    Game breaking bugs at launch
    Story quests locked behind a paywall
    Exclusive Ubisoft club content
  2. Bezilon
    Oct 21, 2017
    2
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Content's great, though not as well crafted as the Stick of Truth was. To be honest it felt rather rushed.
    As far as the game goes, it's pretty basic nothing extra, felt alright. The ally actions felt like a wast of time and very gimmicky.
    Although the game has many game breaking bugs. Frozen victory screens, lost items rendering some objectives not completable. The game's controls are terribly and randomly mapped to keys. The mouse was absolutely disregarded during the game's development. All cursors in game have to be picked up by a secondary cursor. This is a very ugly and lazy way of dealing with not spending on PC friendly or PC specific controls or UI. There were many cases where as you enter a new screen no matter which direction key you are holding during the transition it will move the character the way it faces on the new screen until another button is pressed eg. exiting facing down, pressing left, character proceeds down.
    Asid from all of the the U-play connectivity is horrible. If you purchase anything in the game overlay you have to go pick up your newly acquired stuff from your toy box, when they could have been just easily unlocked from the UI where I found them in the first place, locked behind the U-play logo.
    Unfortunately the game does not live up to its asking price. You're probably better of watching the series or someone compiling a video of the cut-scenes. This game doesn't offer much satisfaction for being an interactive South Park episode...    … Expand
  3. Sinatra
    Oct 30, 2017
    4
    Reading through the critic reviews I wonder if we´ve been playing the same game... In comparison to the stick of truth this feels soulless. Yeah ok, the combat "mechanics" are a bit better and there are still moments that make you smile, but the game is just not fun to play. The story is sooo boring! Totally not worth the money! If you have not played South Park, buy the stick of truth,Reading through the critic reviews I wonder if we´ve been playing the same game... In comparison to the stick of truth this feels soulless. Yeah ok, the combat "mechanics" are a bit better and there are still moments that make you smile, but the game is just not fun to play. The story is sooo boring! Totally not worth the money! If you have not played South Park, buy the stick of truth, but this one I wouldn´t even recommend on sale.… Expand
  4. Rrichard
    Oct 23, 2017
    3
    Better to watch Lets Plays on Youtube and skip all the boring combat. A substantial step down compared to the first game in terms of enjoyment. Even on sale I would not recommend this.
  5. RustyJames
    Oct 22, 2017
    4
    This game is pure disappointment with crazy price in addition. Good parts of the game are jokes and a lot of cultural references. Otherwise, story is pathetic and simple, seems unfinished; lots of Ubisoft "signature" bugs and crashes; weak sound design and music. Bad gameplay - around 50% of game time - just run from A to B, 30% - battles, 20% solving puzzles and cut scenes. Lack ofThis game is pure disappointment with crazy price in addition. Good parts of the game are jokes and a lot of cultural references. Otherwise, story is pathetic and simple, seems unfinished; lots of Ubisoft "signature" bugs and crashes; weak sound design and music. Bad gameplay - around 50% of game time - just run from A to B, 30% - battles, 20% solving puzzles and cut scenes. Lack of roleplay are key factor as well. Looks like, devs used time fart pause in 2014 and it gone wrong. 4/10… Expand
  6. NeedleBanger
    Dec 4, 2017
    4
    I FINALLY beat this game today, and i can safely say that the last 3-4 hours were a 100% waste of time and didn't need to be in the game whatsoever. This game has the worst plot out of any game I've ever played by far, it's RARELY funny, and the story literally seems like it was written by 6 year olds. The Stick Of Truth absolutely blows this game out of the water. The characterI FINALLY beat this game today, and i can safely say that the last 3-4 hours were a 100% waste of time and didn't need to be in the game whatsoever. This game has the worst plot out of any game I've ever played by far, it's RARELY funny, and the story literally seems like it was written by 6 year olds. The Stick Of Truth absolutely blows this game out of the water. The character customization at later levels in this game is pretty much the only cool thing you with experience in Fractured But Whole.… Expand
  7. downliner
    Oct 18, 2017
    4
    Normally when you make the sequel to something you try to make it better somehow than the first but considering how long this has been in development and not to mention the Oculus Sniff (the add on you were supposed to get with this game) not even being released the whole South Park show has become a politically correct pile of **** I suspect the £50 price tag is once again the gamerNormally when you make the sequel to something you try to make it better somehow than the first but considering how long this has been in development and not to mention the Oculus Sniff (the add on you were supposed to get with this game) not even being released the whole South Park show has become a politically correct pile of **** I suspect the £50 price tag is once again the gamer paying for Ubisofts mistakes. Wait for a sale for this one because its just not that good. Certainly not £50 good.

    And to cap it off Day 1 DLC, Quests locked behind paywalls and Microtransactions in a single player game! This is what happens when you give publishers an inch.    … Expand
  8. ekolet
    Oct 18, 2017
    0
    Uplay + day one dlc= INSTANT refund. I am a huge fan of South Park and from what I've seen from first 15-20 minutes of the twitch gameplays, this game is very very good. But I would rather sexually assault my own brother then buying a game with multiple layers of DRMs. **** off Ubisoft.
  9. djvampyre
    Oct 18, 2017
    1
    Bought the game because I loved SOT. The combat system in this game just feels bad. Controls are clunky. Menus are clunky. None of the micromanagement really matters because the game is so braindead easy. You will beat it in less than 20 hours without even thinking. It wasn't very fun at all to play this. WATCHING the game being played it did have some funny parts. Maybe 50% of the jokesBought the game because I loved SOT. The combat system in this game just feels bad. Controls are clunky. Menus are clunky. None of the micromanagement really matters because the game is so braindead easy. You will beat it in less than 20 hours without even thinking. It wasn't very fun at all to play this. WATCHING the game being played it did have some funny parts. Maybe 50% of the jokes fell flat though. SOT was light years funnier and more fun to play. I feel like Ubisoft ruined this game and loaded it full of cancer like day one DLC and whatever this forced Ubiclub stuff is. Total cancer guys. I can't believe Matt and Trey allowed that seems more like something they should have been making fun of in games. That would've generated some laughs. Lots of missed joke opportunities here which was disappointing. I ended up getting a full refund from Steam thankfully and just watched a full playthrough on youtube. Much better watching it than having to do all those fetch quests to get to the decent parts. I was bummed that this game was a dud been looking forward to it for a year now.… Expand
  10. Revail26
    Oct 25, 2017
    4
    Not funny compared to the first game. Too much fart jokes. Slow puzzle solving animation will make you suffer every 10 steps. Fights are alright but not rapid enough.
    Buy only if you are a hardcore south park fan.
  11. thesleepygamer
    Dec 14, 2018
    4
    Developer wasn't Obsidian on this one, should have been my first clue not to expect another masterpiece like Stick of Truth. The biggest difference here from the first game is that the first game was a fully thought out 'game' from every angle. This one feels more like an episode they tried to cram into a game-like format. Doesn't work.

    Title was obviously rushed and lacks polish and    Developer wasn't Obsidian on this one, should have been my first clue not to expect another masterpiece like Stick of Truth. The biggest difference here from the first game is that the first game was a fully thought out 'game' from every angle. This one feels more like an episode they tried to cram into a game-like format. Doesn't work.

    Title was obviously rushed and lacks polish and ingenuity on almost every front. I really hope that SP take the right message from poor reviews here, and simply give the next game to the right developer, the time to be finished and a premise/mechanics worth making a game out of.

    Breakdown:

    Positives:
    1. Some great summon cut-scenes
    2. a few exceptional gaming moments.

    Negatives:
    1. Buggy as hell. Battle engine stalls out forcing you to load, game hangs on black screens, etc.
    2. Really stupid and time consuming puzzle powers that must be used repeatedly.
    3. City of South Park feels like a dead joke in this game.
    4. inconsistencies with world map enemies and plot progression
    5. Weak characters and weak story
    6. Long periods that are quite boring
    7. Not near as funny as it is long if you play the whole thing.
    8. Ubisoft    … Expand
  12. gromenawer
    Oct 23, 2017
    3
    There is good things in the game, alas overwhelmingly low in comparison with the bad things. I played the game for 4 hours and delete it afterwards because it felt boring and like doing chores rather than playing a game.

    Turn based, grid combat is good. However is very repetitive and all combats feels the same. All the status are also equal, bleeding, on fire, grossed out, etc.. the    There is good things in the game, alas overwhelmingly low in comparison with the bad things. I played the game for 4 hours and delete it afterwards because it felt boring and like doing chores rather than playing a game.

    Turn based, grid combat is good. However is very repetitive and all combats feels the same. All the status are also equal, bleeding, on fire, grossed out, etc.. the only difference is that you need a different item to fix them. I passed all combats using the same tactics, I don't feel like it matters which character you choose in your party or with whom are you fighting.

    Bugs are everywhere. They are not game breaking bugs but all of them combine are annoying. I have to repeat the tutorial three times because the game crashed because the stupid Uplay connection error. Sometimes the controls doesn't work after a cutscene, sometimes is the mouse control that get stuck after opening the overview mode thingy,

    Minigames are lame. I still don't understand why do you need to poo in every toilet, there is no significant reward. And the same goes for the rest of the items that you find around. The only thing you need is money and that is only for the cosmetic collectible; which by the way can't have all if you are not in the Ubisoft club for retards. There is also crafting that you need to be better at to get other collectibles. Again, there is no point in crafting anything other than grinding for nothing. The selfies doesn't do anything either, just a bit of XP.

    The thing is that the premise of the game is great. It has great characters, the superhero theme is fantastic. It could be so much better game and I have wet dream thinking on a Marvel vs DC turn based game; sort of like X-COM but X-MEN where you need to build your base and get mutants and shlts for everybody and your base. But the execution of this game is terrible, all the stupid work like breaking stuff that you have done many time before so you have to wait time and past to the next room. I get it, I need to move the stupid yellow ladder AGAIN to climb something. Is like loosing time so the game itself can tell that is not 10h long, ¡but 20 hours long!.

    Summarizing, get fukc. Go play something else. Divinity OS II was amazing for example, your money is much better invested there. (Not to mention, 60€ for at best 20h long crap, ha!)    … Expand
  13. Warmaster88
    Oct 26, 2017
    0
    Ubisoft strike again.Worst combat system and lamest stupid boss fight ever.Boring side quest,joke get old fast.Day one Dlc,Denuvo,Uplay.Its one of the worst game i've ever played.
  14. localhost
    Oct 22, 2017
    0
    I'm rather a fan of the TV series, but it has some bad episodes or even some bad seasons.
    Well, this "game" is even worse than the worst episodes. It's like, one big fart joke with no substance, with, as another reviewer mentioned:
    - $100 price tag for full game
    - day 1 DLC
    - multiple layers of DRM (Steam, Uplay, Denuvo)
    - microtransactions

    No thanks
  15. Gowthergoat
    Oct 19, 2017
    3
    Not too far in the game. the mechanics aren't even on the same level as the last game. the last game was repetitive but it was funny and they gave you different weapons and clothes that actually did something. the story just isn't that funny and there really isn't much customization to the combat. it seems pointless to make this into a game when it would make for a better movie. they alsoNot too far in the game. the mechanics aren't even on the same level as the last game. the last game was repetitive but it was funny and they gave you different weapons and clothes that actually did something. the story just isn't that funny and there really isn't much customization to the combat. it seems pointless to make this into a game when it would make for a better movie. they also don't let your run and I found a glitch. I expect the game to be perfect since they kept pushing the release date. anyway id recommend not buying it because you will most likely be disappointed.… Expand
  16. Barua124
    Mar 22, 2019
    0
    Literally unplayable. I bought the game on Steam, but was not able to actually start the game. All this Ubisoft garbage kept blocking me from playing the game I bought. Got a refund on Steam. It's not the South Park guy's fault, it's Ubisoft who ruined this game.
  17. hrenpenkin
    Nov 11, 2017
    0
    It's kind of fun game with interesting new mechanics, rich battle mechanics, addictive exploring in the open world, but one thing at the main plot just ruin everything for me. I don't want to write down the spoilers, but in my opinion, scriptwriters completely crossed the line with a stupid brutality in one of the main quest. It's completely unacceptable, you can tell me 'Oh it's the SouthIt's kind of fun game with interesting new mechanics, rich battle mechanics, addictive exploring in the open world, but one thing at the main plot just ruin everything for me. I don't want to write down the spoilers, but in my opinion, scriptwriters completely crossed the line with a stupid brutality in one of the main quest. It's completely unacceptable, you can tell me 'Oh it's the South Park', but no. My score is zero, you should be ashamed of yourself.… Expand
  18. blackorderphase
    Dec 4, 2018
    2
    I must state two facts:
    1) I think trey parker and matt stone are brilliant and I adore southpark and enjoyed stick of truth.
    2) I finished this game and I'm writting this review after I've finished all of the side quests and main story. this game is a huge disapointment, while the first game was hilarious this one was funny as watching your favorite franchise get raped... seriously    I must state two facts:
    1) I think trey parker and matt stone are brilliant and I adore southpark and enjoyed stick of truth.
    2) I finished this game and I'm writting this review after I've finished all of the side quests and main story.

    this game is a huge disapointment, while the first game was hilarious this one was funny as watching your favorite franchise get raped... seriously someone out there really stressed "your father **** your mother" so much it was irritating and not funny. the combat system was like majority of old jrpg which is alright as far as I'm concerned but I've litterally *FORCED* myself to end this game. everything was so shallow although it tried not to, eg. having you define your sexuality/ethnicity had 0 impact while in the previous game just by selecting "the jew" class people reacted to you differently... here you get an encounter with the "we don't take kindly .
    pc p. teaches you to punch if you hear a micro aggression but it's maybe once in a fight and the same crappy things...
    even the addition so cousin kyle will interrupt you in every other fight is simply meh.
    it feels like SP guys were not behind this.
    there're few cute poits like taking kanye west's mother on a unicorn that farts to heaven (which is a flappy bird minigame) or the last scene (butters is so awsome)
    but other than that? the story was interesting as watching grass grow, so ok, you had fun ripping on marvel/dc movies and how they're overly commercialized with plans for a sequels and all that but really is that all?    … Expand
  19. goldenug
    Nov 4, 2017
    2
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Ok. i really got excited for this game. i really did. i loved the stick of truth. I even re-watched all of the episodes before i bought the game. i'm a massive fan.
    but this game.
    did the critics even play the same game as the rest of us? tame as all hell comedy, basically taking the farting from the last game and then just leaning right into that as the only thing you can do. no replay value because the game just gives you all the classes at the end. though it's cool how they present it, this kills the replay value of the game instantly.
    while the crafting is a good addition the attribute tree is unbalanced leveling holds no weight because everything is tied to the crafting system and your power loadout. it's like they've taken COD's loadout system and tried to implement it into a rpg, and it doesn't work.
    Then there are the crippling bugs.
    Black screens of death
    cameras not loading properly and leaving you in selfie limbo
    completely shutting down twice.
    you have to back track for 5 hours until you finally get toolshed.
    just frustrating combat with healing items now taking a full action instead of a bonus action.
    battles that just drag out.
    yes, exploring mephesto's laboratory was a great part of the game and the choice presnted there was a grave and gut wrenching decision made glorious by gore and exellent voice acting. but tht decision ended up being made obsolete so quickly that there was no consequence to your action. all that for no return.
    your decisions have no real value to the ending as the writers obvioulsy ran out of time or just grew lazy. everything is retconned by the end so cartman suffers no ramifications and it is completely ungratifying and flys in the face of everything the show has done up to this point. there was no lesson. no, i learned something todays. no gay little speaches. just a cut to black and some exposition for some **** dlc which will effectively lock the true ending behind a paywall.

    what the hell, Trey and Matt? this game feels like a sell out. start to finish.    … Expand
  20. gezginrocker
    Nov 1, 2017
    1
    I loved TSOT and played it at least 5 times. But I hated this one and uninstalled it before even finishing. It's one long battle after another at the same setting and this is hideous. At TSOT there were many different fun environments like the alien ship, sewers, gnome cave, inside of Mr. Slave etc. Also battles and puzzles were nicely balanced. This one is a series of never ending, boringI loved TSOT and played it at least 5 times. But I hated this one and uninstalled it before even finishing. It's one long battle after another at the same setting and this is hideous. At TSOT there were many different fun environments like the alien ship, sewers, gnome cave, inside of Mr. Slave etc. Also battles and puzzles were nicely balanced. This one is a series of never ending, boring long battles with little humor. Also puzzles require no intelligence at all, you just have to identify an object, call the right buddy and it's done. The artifacts system was very confusing as well. And yet another issue, this game requires much much more GPU power. I played TSOT with no problems at all with my laptop, but with this one laptop sometimes overheated and shut down. Why such GPU power is needed for South Park graphics? In short, I'm hugely disappointed, and I don't get those high scores the game receives.… Expand
  21. RazorSamurai
    Feb 1, 2020
    4
    worse than first chapter. uninteresting, gameplay is boring, finding stuff on map is boring everything is boring. only humor can be sometimes funny and laughable. just watch on youtube cinematic compilation without gameplay and you are ok
  22. mennybolt
    Oct 15, 2022
    1
    Just really bad and boring game. I even thought about using this game as sleeping pill... I might be onto something...
  23. halseydota
    Jun 8, 2022
    3
    South Park: The Fractured But Whole is an open world turn-based RPG that serves as a sequel to everyone's favorite South Park video game (outside of South Park Rally for the PS1, of course) that adopts none of its strengths while amplifying all of its weaknesses and adding in a few more for good measure. There's one sin that I personally consider unpardonable in a turn-based game of thisSouth Park: The Fractured But Whole is an open world turn-based RPG that serves as a sequel to everyone's favorite South Park video game (outside of South Park Rally for the PS1, of course) that adopts none of its strengths while amplifying all of its weaknesses and adding in a few more for good measure. There's one sin that I personally consider unpardonable in a turn-based game of this type, and that's when every single battle goes more or less exactly the same way - you'll learn the exact one-to-one sequence of moves that will wipe out every formation of enemies with the least possible amount of hassle and you'll just repeat that over and over again with tiny enough variations that it doesn't matter.

    Funnily enough, it seems like the devs of Fractured But Whole actually figured out midway through the game that their battles were tedious in this particular way and tried to fix it by making every major battle a really obnoxious gimmick battle, which turns out to be a godawful way to try to solve this problem and turns a mildly unpleasant experience into an extremely unpleasant experience in no time flat. These two problems combined, as you might expect, aren't particularly good when your game is 90% combat and the other 10% is wandering around the map doing caveman-tier simple environmental "puzzles", wasting time on the crafting menus, and, oh joy, taking selfies with people!

    Which leads me into the second major problem - the writing, which is an awful combination of factors that adds up to "what people who absolutely despise South Park think South Park is" - constant pee pee poo poo jokes that legitimately wouldn't be out of place on a netflix animated adult comedy, effortlessly lazy low hanging fruit topical humor and your unfunny drunk uncle who thinks he's the funniest guy in the world trying and failing to take the piss out of a bunch of headlines and political issues that were already played out half a decade before this game released.

    Oh, and an extra dash of "hello fellow kids" with the Instagram culture and selfie culture nonsense which was so obviously written by a focus group of 62 year old white dudes in stuffy suits that it actually physically hurts.    … Expand
  24. NNCen
    Apr 3, 2023
    3
    Absolute dog sh!t for price of 60$ base game, 80 for gold edition. Total waste of money and your time. I was never that bored as playing this game. Story is very long and plot is nothing compared to stick of truth. Don't buy this, maby for 5$ base game.

Awards & Rankings

64
#64 Best PC Game of 2017
39
#39 Most Discussed PC Game of 2017
86
#86 Most Shared PC Game of 2017

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
81

Generally favorable reviews - based on 23 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 19 out of 23
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 23
  3. Negative: 0 out of 23
  1. Games.cz
    Jan 2, 2018
    80
    Typical sick humor, clever satire, and underneath all the great RPG with great combat design – this is the new South Park game. Not very good logic puzzles are the only unsuccessful thing in this great game.
    Read full review
  2. Game World Navigator Magazine
    Dec 30, 2017
    78
    The story about missing cats and drug dealers comes short in terms of both magnitude and humor when compared to The Stick of Truth. Even the jokes are very hit-and-miss, often suffering from short setups and predictable payoffs. [Issue#225, p.48]
  3. PC PowerPlay
    Dec 1, 2017
    80
    Full of funny moments and some great new mechanics but doesn't quite feel like it lives up to its own potential. [Issue#268, p.56]
See all critic reviews »