Deadly Premonition: The Director's Cut

Deadly Premontion would score way higher if there were no guns. An amazing narrative and lovingly crafted universe brought down by archaic gameplay and weird pacing. Absolutely worth your time if you appreciate the sublime.

At once unforgivably terrible and accidentally brilliant, Deadly Premonition remains a gaming anomaly. And no amount of directorial cutting is going to change that. [Issue#135, p.115]

The last creature of Hidetaka "Swery" Suehiro keeps its promises only partially, offering unacceptable graphics, a survival horror game that doesn't scare at all and not so brilliant mechanics. Nonetheless, there's something invisible, an empathic link making the whole thing an oiled mechanism. Survive to the first 20 minutes, and you'll never forget your stay in Greendale.

Again, this is an impossible game to sum up into so many words, and the polarization on how “good” it actually is will never die. One thing is certain though, this experience will not be forgotten for years to come.

This Director's Cut fixes a few things and breaks some others, but Deadly Premonition is still a highly flawed, utterly memorable mystery that never stops surprising you.

If you haven't played it already - and are curious and very patient - it's worth suffering Deadly Premonition's rickety construction and lumpy pacing for York, and for Greenvale. If you're already a fan, this Director's Cut can be considered the definitive version of the game; it alleviates the worst flaws of the original but preserves most of the others for posterity - just as you'd want it, really. And there's still nothing else like it. Not in video games, anyway.

Deadly Premonition: Director’s Cut won’t win any awards for its visuals or mechanics, but the player will be completely immersed within a world just brimming with life thanks to the intriguing storyline and highly likeable cast of characters.

They say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Where one gamer will see an ugly, boring, schizophrenic mess of a survival horror game, another will see the splendor of its expansive setting, idiosyncratic cast, and spellbinding mystery. Deadly Premonition: The Director’s Cut is the misfit’s masterpiece, offering an inviting and affordable chance to see which side of the oddball gamer fence you stand on.

A fantastic game and a memorable story hidden in a technical mess. Sadly, the PS3 version has done little to improve this.

There's nothing else quite like Deadly Premonition. Part surreal story, part murder mystery, part survival horror, it might swing from great to awful and back with alarming regularity but it's always entertaining and always captivating.

Despite any obvious technical shortcomings, it succeeds on the strength of its story, its characters, and its countless WTF moments.

The game is grim, gruesome, and if you can get by the fact the game is now over a decade old, it is quite engaging. One thing is for sure, if this is your first time meeting Agent York, this is the version to play for sure.

[It's] built on a shoddy technical foundation, but it's got ambition to spare. Its weirdness reflects and amplifies the underlying mystery, while a host of bizarre characters and the secrets they keep make its problems worth suffering. It may not be the prettiest dog in the show, but it's got heart, and it's one hell of a companion.

Although the "director's cut" edition is slightly worse than the original, Deadly Premonition remains on the most bizarre games ever made. If you are in the mood for something completely unique try it out, but be prepared for a strange ride.

Ultimately, that is the very core of Deadly Premonition’s appeal; underneath the poor visuals and poorer gameplay, it still manages to surprise you once players dig deep into the story, an analogy that holds true about the fictional residents of Greenvale. It’s just unfortunate that what could have been the definitive version of the game ended up being the worst performing.

A experience like no other, that feels terribly punished by the technical aspects. Anyway, it's a great option for survival horror fans.