It seems like it’s been forever since it was initially announced, but we might finally have an idea for when the new South Park RPG will actually come out. South Park: The Fractured But Whole was initially announced in 2015, but has been plagued by a number of delays that have seen its release pushed back from December 2016 to spring 2017, and now even later into the year. Fans have been eagerly awaiting the follow-up to the 2014’s surprise hit, South Park: The Stick of Truth, and it seems like there might finally be an end in sight for this long and seemingly endless development cycle.
A recent story from the International Business Times reports that it’s likely the game will be released in September, based on news of tie-in merchandise for the game set to hit shelves around the same time. Ubisoft has yet to confirm anything officially, but this feels like the most likely candidate. Not only is there already merch in the works, but the newest season of the show is also set for a September release and it would make the most sense to line the two up together.
Up until the 2013 title, South Park had no shortage of games in the past, but few of them were actually any good. It’s still hard to believe that the franchise found success with an old-school style RPG, of all things. It seemed like they had tried everything including first-person shooters, trivia games, kart racers, tower defenses, and pinball. They even went so far as to create a licensed slot reel based on the series that’s available among the collection of slot games reviewed by Gambling.com that are based on popular shows, movies, and comics. The game features all of the main gang of Cartman, Kyle, Stan, and Kenny as well as some of the more recognizable early jokes from the series. It was just one of many games that looked to make the most of the early popularity of the show, but as the plots and humor of the show have become more complex, so have the games.
The embrace of season long plots as opposed to self-contained episodes had some hits and misses, and it seemed like it reached a tipping point with season 20. Last year’s season was met with mixed reviews and an article from iDigital Times explained how the serialization didn’t work out, and while ambitious, was unable to juggle all the different storylines and jokes it wanted to tell. It was obvious that the plot was somewhat derailed by the surprise of the 2016 presidential election. Many are hoping that the new season will go back to more stand-alone episodes that could focus on just telling good jokes and not get bogged down having to worry about continuity and having to tie-up so many loose threads.
I’m confident that the show will be able to get back to its roots, and am still excited for what Trey Parker and Matt Stone have in store. Hopefully, the new season will coincide with the release of The Fractured But Whole, but everyone will just have to wait until September to find out. The early gameplay demos look terrific and most people are hoping it can live up to its early promise when it finally arrives.
This is a guest post.