The holidays are going to be a busy time for me but they just got a little more awesome with South Park: The Fractured But Whole (ha) coming in December… hopefully. The sequel to the surprise hit South Park: The Stick of Truth in 2014, Matt and Trey are back and making a bigger and better game. Or as they put it at last years E3 ‘nothing short of a 95 on metacritic’. Once again players find themselves as the new kid, aka Douchebag. After saving the world last time you have been made king. Unfortunately no one cares because all the South Park kids are playing super heroes now. So trade in your crown for some tights, choose a superpower and create your own tragic back story. My tragic backstory also happens to involve my dad fucking my mom and if my siblings have anything to say about it I assume it happened multiple times.
Join the Coon and friends as you battle the forces of evil like PC principal and Butters. Not only will there be a wide variety of powers and customizing items but South Park has also grown. Staying up to date with the show there are more characters and even more areas of South Park to explore. While the Stick of Truth was a great game players could see almost the entire thing in the first hour of playing. How much bigger isn’t clear but the trailer clearly shows off the new area SodoSopa, which was only introduced in the last season. Maybe fans will also see a new restaurant and possibly the return of The Peppermint Hippo? Not only that but while being out late risked getting grounded before now players can also go out at night when the forces of evil are afoot.
Gameplay has also received an overhaul. Combat was a mixed bag at best in Stick of Truth, with easily overpowered characters dominating. In The Fractured But Whole things have been evened out a little it seems. Not only that but it also uses a more open field RPG style where characters can move around to be in the optimal position for attack. As part of this it is also possible to launch enemies into other characters, enemies and the environment for bonus damage. Of course enemies can also do this to the player. With a team of upwards of 13 characters, including the Coon himself, there is plenty of room to experiment. Farting is also back with a major upgrade and can actually tear holes in time. It’s not clear how time traveling farts will work but I have confidence in Matt and Trey.
It all sounds great so far but Ubisoft is adding even more. Players who pre-order will receive the Towelie gaming bud DLC. What a gaming bud is isn’t clear but who cares, it’s Towelie. Also with any pre-order players will get a free copy of the prequel South Park: The Stick of Truth on ‘a system of player’s choice’. That may need to be cleared up though unless Ubisoft secretly ported the game to the current gen. Otherwise, there are a few different bundles to choose from, including one that comes with a 6 inch statue of The Coon.