Deadly Premonition 2: A Blessing in Disguise

 Switch
User Score
5.5

Mixed or average reviews- based on 201 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 85 out of 201
  2. Mixed: 32 out of 201
  3. Negative: 84 out of 201
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  1. Leon_Switch
    Jul 11, 2020
    5
    A sequel 10 years in the making after the original in 2010 which I played on the Xbox 360. For a game in 2020, I can overlook the subpar graphics and weird animations because that was what made the original so good was its story and its only fitting for a sequel to have that so-called charm but to have as low as 10 fps in the open-world, specially during combat is just unacceptable inA sequel 10 years in the making after the original in 2010 which I played on the Xbox 360. For a game in 2020, I can overlook the subpar graphics and weird animations because that was what made the original so good was its story and its only fitting for a sequel to have that so-called charm but to have as low as 10 fps in the open-world, specially during combat is just unacceptable in 2020. I'm not giving it a low score because its a Switch exclusive, but because of the technical problems it has such as a low frame rate, bad resolution and number of glitches that I have experienced in my 8 hours or so of playtime. Maybe if a more experienced company other than ToyBox developed the game then maybe the technical problems would be better but it just shows that while the passion for the story was there, the care and time to make the game optimized wasn't and sadly I have to give the game a 5/10 because of it.… Expand
  2. ShefardAlex
    Jul 13, 2020
    6
    I express an unpopular opinion, but I did not like
    Disgusting FPS and ps2 level graphics.
    That is, not just one thing, but all at once, how can one have FPS 20 with such a schedule? Plot? As for me, a lot is weaker than the first and even especially strange dark dream. As for me, since there are such problems with FPS, it would be worth making a game in the style of a dark dream, then    I express an unpopular opinion, but I did not like
    Disgusting FPS and ps2 level graphics.
    That is, not just one thing, but all at once, how can one have FPS 20 with such a schedule? Plot? As for me, a lot is weaker than the first and even especially strange dark dream.
    As for me, since there are such problems with FPS, it would be worth making a game in the style of a dark dream, then it would be little noticeable, and the graphics could be tightened    … Expand
  3. jcasualmente
    Sep 28, 2020
    7
    As strange as it may seem: Deadly Premonition 2 is worth it. Of course, this can be subjective, taste for certain games is something personal. But its story and dialogues are the main points that made me have enough fun I was looking for. And as I am a lover of investigative games with terror-oriented aspect along with shooting mechanics, I may even be suspicious of saying – despite theAs strange as it may seem: Deadly Premonition 2 is worth it. Of course, this can be subjective, taste for certain games is something personal. But its story and dialogues are the main points that made me have enough fun I was looking for. And as I am a lover of investigative games with terror-oriented aspect along with shooting mechanics, I may even be suspicious of saying – despite the fact that DP2 approaches terror in a very “B-movie” way. That said, apart from Swery's work being completely crude, having very outdated graphics, shameful animations and many, but MANY technical problems, it is curious how much the game manages to captivate through its story and personality. It’s a big problem that he is in the Brazilian Nintendo eShop and does not have the Portuguese language, whose understanding is essential to understand the events and the silly humor of Deadly Premonition 2.… Expand
  4. Reed618
    Jun 19, 2021
    7
    Deadly premonition 2 is a very odd game. I was a big fan of the first game and played through it twice. The characters were full of charm in a twin peaks way which I really appreciated. The sequel manages to keep a lot of that charm. I think the narrative is a bit weaker and becomes a little convoluted at points but it has a solid ending which helps make up for that.

    In terms of    Deadly premonition 2 is a very odd game. I was a big fan of the first game and played through it twice. The characters were full of charm in a twin peaks way which I really appreciated. The sequel manages to keep a lot of that charm. I think the narrative is a bit weaker and becomes a little convoluted at points but it has a solid ending which helps make up for that.

    In terms of technical issues I experienced none so I think the game has been patched and runs much better now than it did at launch. After roughly 15 to 16 hours I had zero crashes and zero framerate drops. I found the game played well both docked and in handheld mode so if you're worried about technical trouble I don't think that's an issue anymore.

    Visually I quite like the art style but the lack of lip synching and stiff animations mean this isn't a game you play because it's pretty. In terms of gameplay I thought the first felt like an xbox game but seeing as it was released on xbox 360, just one generation later, that wasn't so bad. The sequel plays like a good xbox game but even so... it feels like it's two generations behind. There is a lack of enemy variety, the inventory system is a mess, the gunplay is fine, the shooting sections drag out heavily, guns should just have infinite ammo as I ended up running out of bullets and punching enemies and even the final boss, melee fighting feels bad and there's no lock on, there are some long fetch questions or follow this person quests etc. The game ultimately feels quite padded out and the story sections can throw a lot of dialogue at you.

    Overall I'd say if you're a fan of the first game and you can get this on a sale it's worth checking out but it's ultimately a very mixed bag and a bit of a disappointment. I loved the first game and quite enjoyed the missing as well so I hope swery's next project is better.    … Expand
  5. Minuscaseus
    Jul 17, 2020
    7
    As a huge fan of the original, it's hard for me to come at this with anything but praise. I never expected a sequel to begin with. But coming at this from a completely non biased approach, it's easy to see the games flaws. The game runs poorly and doesn't do much to evolve from the first game. The story is still excellent and any fan of the first game would be stupid not to check it out.As a huge fan of the original, it's hard for me to come at this with anything but praise. I never expected a sequel to begin with. But coming at this from a completely non biased approach, it's easy to see the games flaws. The game runs poorly and doesn't do much to evolve from the first game. The story is still excellent and any fan of the first game would be stupid not to check it out. But if poor frame rate will be an issue for you, it'll be best to wait for a patch.… Expand
  6. Mikki1986
    Jul 11, 2020
    7
    Game good, frames bad all you need to know.
    Who thought i was a good idea to relese 3th person shooter runining down to 10 fps :(
  7. AlexTheAwesome
    Jul 11, 2020
    5
    Honestly, I can see a good game in here and as someone who does have a tolerance for poor performance, you would think I could finish it right? Wrong. The performance is so bad to the point where I cannot play this game for more than 3 minutes without getting a headache. The performance is so bad, and yet they have no plans to fix it. That's just wrong on so many levels. This needs to beHonestly, I can see a good game in here and as someone who does have a tolerance for poor performance, you would think I could finish it right? Wrong. The performance is so bad to the point where I cannot play this game for more than 3 minutes without getting a headache. The performance is so bad, and yet they have no plans to fix it. That's just wrong on so many levels. This needs to be patched immediately. You cannot sell a game for $50 and make excuses like this.… Expand
  8. Retrogamer961
    Jul 21, 2020
    7
    sequel to the best worst game in history, deadly premonition 2 is a less iconic and more modern take on the franchise. The gameplay is still as quirky as ever filled with little details and oddities yet completely broken and poor. It’s very similar to the first game but with serious quality of life improvements, replacing the car with a skateboard and a crafting system. The structure issequel to the best worst game in history, deadly premonition 2 is a less iconic and more modern take on the franchise. The gameplay is still as quirky as ever filled with little details and oddities yet completely broken and poor. It’s very similar to the first game but with serious quality of life improvements, replacing the car with a skateboard and a crafting system. The structure is also a little better giving you more time to do side quests and activity , which you will want to do as the game is quite short. The story is as mental and as weird as possible, making connections to the first game whist still standing on its own. It’s still filled with unique and colourful characters who you will get to love and still has that buzzard twin peaks feeling to it but with a b movie production. York is still his inappropriate , offensive and hilarious self and it’s nice to see him again after all these years. The town overall is much smaller but easier to navigate and overall performance is a mess with a terrible frame rate that may as well be a painting sometimes. The graphics are also poor but fits that b movie feeling. gameplay is mostly fetch quests , interactions and corridor shooter sections with the occasional boss fight. However combat is the least challenging I’ve ever seen as enemies die in a couple of hits , plus are useless , I didn’t die once during my play through. Also there are very limited enemies types. There also seems to be more mini games within this one and side activities to complete. Still overall weaker than the cult classic original.… Expand
  9. TheQuietGamer
    Nov 11, 2021
    5
    The first Deadly Premonition is undeniably flawed in every way. Yet, it managed to attain an unlikely cult classic status despite all its faults due to the oddball vision and lofty aspirations of its director Hidetaka Suehiro ("Swery65"). The "Director's Cut" version I played on PS3 even stands as one of my favorite games of all time. So between that and also loving SWERY's twice as insaneThe first Deadly Premonition is undeniably flawed in every way. Yet, it managed to attain an unlikely cult classic status despite all its faults due to the oddball vision and lofty aspirations of its director Hidetaka Suehiro ("Swery65"). The "Director's Cut" version I played on PS3 even stands as one of my favorite games of all time. So between that and also loving SWERY's twice as insane follow-up, the forever unfinished D4: Dark Dreams Don't Die, this long-awaited sequel to his most polarizing gem was something I was massively looking forward to, with it sitting alongside No More Heroes III as my primary reasons for wanting a Switch at all. Unfortunately, now that I've finally played it the old adage about lightning never striking twice comes to mind, because this fails to recapture the weird brilliance of its predecessor.

    If you look back at why the original title was able to skate by you'll find it was largely on the strength of its story and characters, neither of which are as interesting or enjoyable here. There's still plenty of borderline goofy strangeness, but the overall tone is darker and moodier which isn't much fun in comparison. Plus, the new cast is kind of flat, lacking memorability and are mostly unlikable. Your primary sidekick is a bratty little girl and the FBI agent "Aaliyah," who is regularly alluded to as potentially being the new lead in future installments, is a straight-up shrew. Thus there's no one to latch onto other than the returning protagonist York, whose penchant for endless movie references and prattling on about utter nonsense like a child has begun to become more grating than endearing. All this while having to put up with sad attempts at social commentary on race, discrimination, and American life from a man who clearly has no idea how any of that works stateside.

    The area where it really drops the ball though is the gameplay where none of the previous outing's ambition can be found. This is most evident in the open-world. Unlike the believable, rich in personality small town of before, we got a dull, empty feeling expanse without any exciting sights or noteworthy landmarks that's meant to eat up your time by way of travel distance rather than giving you a reason to explore. In fact, the mission structure itself seems designed to artificially keep you playing for as long as possible by tasking you with searching random vending machines across the map for the one that has the food item you need or following a slow-moving NPC for in-game miles between multiple objectives. I enjoyed the shooting segments since I didn't have to put up with the monotony of everything else, like the constant clicking through dialog present in the visual novel interrogation segments, but I can't deny they suffer from nearly all taking place in a series of identical corridors and enemies not posing much of a threat. At least the boss battles are cool.

    I've heard many state that the reason this falls so woefully short of expectations as being the result of its creator misunderstanding the appeal of his prior work. I can't agree. In my opinion the issue is him proving unable to conjure ideas compelling enough to fully bring this continuation (and expansion) to life, leading to a phoned in effort without verve or excitement. It's not unplayable or painful to complete, instead just missing the imagination to make it anything greater than dull, lifeless, and boring. Considering how crucial a sense of creativity and inspiration were to the success of its forerunners, the absence of them makes this less Deadly Premonition, and more Dead on Arrival.

    *Note: The technical problems you'll see referenced in other reviews (e.g. the frame rate) have either been patched out or are not a factor running on the console's Lite model which is why they aren't mentioned here.*    … Expand
  10. Stamantha
    Jul 23, 2020
    7
    The game seems to be a worthy successor to the first title and one that fans of the first game should definitely enjoy! It's full of great dialogues, quirky characters and mysterious atmosphere with the gameplay dragging behind, pretty much like the first game. The frame rate is already much better than the various reviews online show and the game is very playable, no worries about that!The game seems to be a worthy successor to the first title and one that fans of the first game should definitely enjoy! It's full of great dialogues, quirky characters and mysterious atmosphere with the gameplay dragging behind, pretty much like the first game. The frame rate is already much better than the various reviews online show and the game is very playable, no worries about that! If you're interested, don't hesitate and go for it!… Expand
  11. vodkaffee
    Feb 6, 2021
    5
    ignoring the frame issues and bugs (there is one in the main quest, in v1.04 at least)
    the biggest problem of the game is that it does not play as a sequel, as a spinoff game this could be much better;, but the elements are way to similar to the first game in story, and it does not feel as an evolution in any sense
  12. EnigmaXtreme
    Jul 22, 2020
    7
    Deadly Premonition 2: A Blessing in Disguise puts us back into the shoes of our favourite FBI Detective and his imaginary friend Zach, or it may be the other way round this time as he is interviewed in his dingy flat by fellow Special Agent Aaliyah Davis. The beginning of the game has her walk a specific path with you only moving the thumbstick like you are on rails, however, it seemsDeadly Premonition 2: A Blessing in Disguise puts us back into the shoes of our favourite FBI Detective and his imaginary friend Zach, or it may be the other way round this time as he is interviewed in his dingy flat by fellow Special Agent Aaliyah Davis. The beginning of the game has her walk a specific path with you only moving the thumbstick like you are on rails, however, it seems there’s been a major accident down the line as the opening of the game is an absolute slog to get through.

    You spend what feels like the first hour, in a seat looking around the house and asking Morgan, who has seen much better days, a series of questions as he continues to get blazed and reminiscent of previous cases including the one from the original game. Speaking about the original while the sequel does look better graphically many of the development shortcomings are still present, models still move janky and the lipsyncing is atrocious, thankfully it makes up for that with a voice cast turning it up to 11. Hearing Aaliyah trying to pull off a Deep Southern accent is hilarious. The conversations also require manual input so you will be continuously pushing the A button over and over.

    Le Carre is a lot smaller in size in comparison to Greenvale from the original and navigating the town is a lot easier with the brand new overhead beacon and objective wayfinders everywhere. It may be small, but as soon as you step outside, performance drops drastically, loading is an absolute chore and the game crashed on me a few times, sometimes even just freezing on a loading screen. The issues with the framerate have been the biggest takeaway with the game so far, with initial reports suggesting that they will not be fixed. But SWERY has come out saying that “he’s going to fight with the producer to get something done” and that’s a real problem if a developer has to go bare knuckles with a publisher just to make sure their game will work properly. Honestly though with how the game looks, there really shouldn’t be any reason why this game shouldn’t be running smoothly and I would like to think that it would be fixed, but the producers of this game also handled the disastrous PC port of the original.

    Performance aside, the game plays a lot like the original going all across the small town to solve the mystery by profiling crime scenes and mingling with the townsfolks and that is where the real magic of Deadly Premonition is, whether its the hotel worker with multiple personalities, or the sheriff who continuously pretends he’s in a movie trailer and especially the underwear-clad bar owner, there is no shortage of colourful personalities in Le Carre. One of the main standouts is your spunky new sidekick, Patricia Woods, who will travel with you throughout the game, but and this may be because of performance if you are running down the street too fast she will disappear and reappear right next to you. This can prove really jarring, especially with the camera in front of Morgan.

    The sequel still has you following objectives, but this time it seems to cover every single movement they want you to do. Objectives like “opening a door”, “walk down the street”, “look at the map”, I would honestly not be surprised if “scratch your butt” was there too. There is still even the situation where you must wait for a certain time to approach certain objectives, but thankfully you can just go back to your hotel and select how long you want to sleep for. There are also side missions to keep you busy but some can we really bizarre and secretive, early on this kind motherly restaurant chef wants you to find ingredients to make a special dish she wants you to find some rice and I end up stumbling upon it, in a field, on the outskirts of town with no hint whatsoever, or trying to take care of some Killer Bees for the sheriff with no indicating where they would be.

    That’s why, even with all the issues with performance and objectives that are more mystery than the game’s actual case, I still thoroughly enjoyed Deadly Premonition 2 and could barely put it down. The characters, York’s continuous Movie References, even the combat works a treat with no need for melee whatsoever. But, like the original, this game is gonna be just as polarizing, you can either look past the decade-old graphics or not, you can see Morgan as endearing or insane. But one thing you can’t call Deadly Premonition, is boring.    … Expand

Awards & Rankings

18
#18 Most Discussed Switch Game of 2020

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
56

Mixed or average reviews - based on 64 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 12 out of 64
  2. Mixed: 36 out of 64
  3. Negative: 16 out of 64
  1. Nintendo Force Magazine
    Apr 28, 2021
    70
    The scattered blessings of Deadly Premonition 2 are often disguised by the game's many blemishes, but I'm still more than happy that I got to drink in another adventure with York and company. [Issue #49 – November/December 2020, p. 67]
  2. Siliconera
    Sep 15, 2020
    70
    Deadly Premonition 2: A Blessing in Disguise is exactly the sequel to Deadly Premonition a fan of the original should expect. This is a game that really respects the player’s intelligence, but puts a lot of faith into their willingness to keep an open mind.
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  3. GameMAG
    Sep 12, 2020
    50
    Deadly Premonition 2: A Blessing in Disguise could have been a good game and a worthy successor to the original, if the developers did not try to copy “True Detective” (unsuccessfully), but create more interesting characters and non-standard atmospheric stories. Future patches can fix the framerate, errors and bugs, but they can't change the artificially prolonged plot and a very limited number of characters. And this is completely disappointing.
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