Deadly Premonition 2: A Blessing in Disguise

This less ambitious, full-priced follow-up is a lesser experience in every sense. [Issue#349, p.92]

There are times when Deadly Premonition 2 strikes that same charming chord as its predecessor. There are times where you see hints of a coherent and functioning game. But all of it is unfortunately let down by unforgivable framerate issues, terrible pacing and severely lacking gameplay. Apart from the few characters you have meaningful interaction with, the world is void of life. The action sequences are repetitive, frustrating, and offer no challenge whatsoever.

In many ways, Deadly Premonition 2 is an indefensibly, almost insistently bad video game. It is so poorly made that it's hard to believe it just came out in 2020, especially as the sequel to a game with an established fan following. However, it's unlikely that any of this will surprise or deter the kind of person who is already interested in Deadly Premonition. Swery's delightfully harebrained storytelling definitely makes this another trip worth taking, but for those who haven't experienced the series yet, it's strongly recommend playing the original game first. If a player is on board after that, Deadly Premonition 2 is for certainly more of the same.

A truly missed opportunity that treads in the (wrong) footsteps of its predecessor, full of bugs, poor graphics and problematic gameplay.

Too many expectations that the game can't deliver.

Fans of the original need not worry: this sequel’s tone is spot on. Unfortunately, its technical issues are among the worst in living memory.

Deadly Premonition 2: A Blessing in Disguise wants to revel and self-praise its own absurdist nature, but at the end of the day the actual game attached to all the strange dialogue, mechanics and gameplay is painfully frustrating.

Art is usually misunderstood, and of course we're open to all kinds of experiences, but none of them can justify the poor performance that Deadly Premonition 2: A Blessing in Disguise has on Nintendo Switch.

Deadly Premonition 2 might be fun for a tiny group of gamers, but I had a terrible time drudging through it. The B-movie esque plot and narrative scenes can be enjoyable in a cringy sort of way, but everything from the graphics to the controls makes it insanely hard to enjoy. Instead of wasting 20 hours with this game, I’d say you’re better off just going back and replaying Deadly Premonition.

There’s simply no reason why a game should perform this badly. Try as you might, it’s hard to thoroughly enjoy something that’s such a technical mess. If you’re a glutton for punishment and want to spend more time with the most bizarre protagonist in video games, go right ahead. But don’t say that you haven’t been warned. It isn’t a blessing, it’s a disappointment.

Deadly Premonition 2's is a game built exclusively for fans of the original, and even they will be put off by the endless bugs, horrible performance, and questionable design.

These survival horror sequences are neither scary nor fun, and the most challenging thing about them, beyond their forcing you to try to auto-adjust your aim in order to account for the stuttering lag in the frame rate, is how you have to push past boredom. Consider, then, these sequences not so much a premonition but a warning born of experience: Turn back all who enter here, for there is nothing good awaiting within.

Deadly Premonition 2: A Blessing In Disguise is hard to love, even by the standards set by its predecessor. In leaving Greenvale behind for a style of prequel and sequel storytelling split across Louisiana and Boston, Deadly Premonition 2 jettisons the much of what made the original charming (along with some interesting mechanics and variety) in favor of an empty town and a story that serves up tropes and bits of lore that do little to enhance or build upon what made the original fascinating. All the while, terrible performance makes it more of a slog than its uninspired ideas and pacing do on their own.

Deadly Premonition 2: A Blessing in Disguise is somehow much, much worse than the original. The game looks and feels awful, with an unacceptable framerate and PlayStation 1 level textures. While the story is great, it’s brought down by even more tedious gameplay and some harmful stereotypes.