Deadly Premonition is a bit of a legendary game. Released to relatively little fanfare on the Xbox and PS3 in 2010, Deadly Premonition tells the story of a murder of a young girl in a small, bizarre town and its investigation by a rather odd FBI agent, Francis York Morgan. If this sounds oddly familiar, it’s not all in your head. Deadly Premonition is in many ways an homage to Twin Peaks, the seminal David Lynch TV series from 1990. But it’s also much more than that. It has become a cult classic, showing that games can be as much art as they are escape, a hallmark of Hidetaka Suehiro’s work (more recognizably known as SWERY by his legions of fans). It even holds a Guinness record for how polarizing the game is, a distinction of dubious honor, but nonetheless another claim to fame.
For those who managed to miss the original release, the re-release of the game on PS3 as Deadly Premonition Director’s Cut with full 3D compatibility and extra scenes, and the Steam release of the game, we now have Deadly Premonition Origins for the Switch. This was an absolutely abrupt release by SWERY for the Switch and also came with the surprising announcement of a forthcoming Switch sequel to the game entitled Deadly Premonition 2: A Blessing In Disguise. And in case you’re wondering, the added cut scenes from the director’s cut are not included in this version of the game.
Enough about the history of Deadly Premonition though. Let’s get to what you really want to know. What is the game actually like and how is it? Deadly Premonition Origins is, at its core, an open world exploration mystery told through the narration of the main character, a split personality FBI agent. There’s a fair amount of combat, but it just serves as filler to the wildly vacillating dialogue that weaves the narrative of the game. Essentially, you’re exploring a living town in Greenvale, Washington and trying to solve a somewhat supernatural murder while coming to terms with your bizarre mental issues. You’re talking to witnesses, driving to various locations, and exploring the town’s backstory throughout the game, all while performing a variety of mundane tasks, such as shaving, filling your car with gas, and walking or driving about town. The attention to detail is weirdly specific, especially for a game that’s bordering on a decade old. You can use turn indicators on your vehicles while driving. You are responsible for the damage you cause to said vehicles. You’re rewarded for personal hygiene. The list just keeps going on and on.
This is because SWERY was attempting to create a true open world experience that allowed for as much or as little freedom as players wanted and it worked fairly well overall. The game lets you do a fair number of things but it still forces you down a path that leads you through the tangled web of suspects and town denizens to the truth behind the Raincoat Killer. And it does it with a sense of style that is rarely matched even by today’s standards. Deadly Premonition is a love/hate game for a few reasons but one of the biggest is the design choices. Graphically, it’s a dated, ugly mess, but at the same time, it’s utterly charming. If you know going in what you’re getting, you know the graphics look that way on purpose. It’s jaggy, it’s rough, and it’s not anywhere near what the Switch is capable of, but it doesn’t matter at all. The same goes for the music, which kicks into oddly happy jazz themes at the strangest times. These effects create a dichotomy in the game where you as a player start to feel the effects of Agent Morgan’s (Call me York, everyone does) split personality and the effect it has on his reality. Every body movement is overdramatized, as is the voice acting, of which there’s a copious amount.
Many players will hate this. It’s not for everyone, and it’s an obviously artistic choice, as was using Twin Peaks for a partial template for the game. The interesting thing about that is that SWERY had to have done it on purpose, knowing that it would be recognized. There’s no question of his love for movies and media of all sorts, and it shines through in Deadly Premonition more than any other title he’s made, with references to various movie trivia, obscure asides, and setting and character choices across the board. If you follow SWERY on social media, you’ll know that he’s absolutely bonkers for movies too, which really shouldn’t be a surprise after more than a few minutes with one of his games.
So Deadly Premonition Origins looks terrible, but it’s on purpose. The music is purposely at odds with the scenes in many parts of the game. The controls are wonky, especially while driving. Cars handle terribly and the stick controls are wildly sensitive, leaving you swerving all over the road and dodging cars willy nilly at even the slightest twitch of a finger. Combat is clunky, but straightforward and it’s honestly a bit tedious. Sounds fun, right? But it’s all these little things tossed together in a digital salad with the quirky character designs and the over the top acting that turn Deadly Premonition Origins into something special instead of another dusty hunk of shovelware.
Somehow, SWERY manages to take all those completely ridiculous things and mix them into a game that’s simply fun. It was fun when it came out back in 2010, and it’s still fun today. And the best part? It’s portable on the Switch and it runs perfectly, with every flaw intact and plays identically on the go to its docked counterpart. Sure, there are plenty of glitches and weird things about the game, but it runs exactly as it’s intended to on the Switch no matter how you choose to play it. Turns out it’s a great portable game too, and being able to resume your game during play at any time with the Switch’s sleep mode is a wonderful added bonus.
Deadly Premonition Origins is a game that hasn’t aged well, but it wasn’t supposed to. It’s very much the unique artistic tour de force that you may love or may utterly despise that it’s always been. That hasn’t changed. It’s now conveniently available to a massive installed user base on the Switch for only $30, which is fantastic. You will also be able to get a physical copy soon on an actual cartridge, which is just darn cool. It’s fun to play, light, airy, and sickeningly dark all at once. It’s hard to even quantify what the game is like, as it’s been compared to everything from Grand Theft Auto to Shenmue and lots of other things. What it is though, is unique. And that’s something rare; something that very few developers are willing to risk. Hopefully a whole new generation will experience SWERY’s vision through Deadly Premonition Origins. It’s worth the struggle through the maddeningly bizarre world of Greenvale, even if you might not think so at first glance.
This review was written based on a digital copy of Deadly Premonition Origins provided by the publisher. It was played on a Nintendo Switch in both docked and undocked mode. I am not responsible for the events you may experience after reading your fortune in a cup of coffee, no matter what it warns you about.
Addendum: For those of you not familiar with SWERY’s work, please check out his Wikipedia page here. He’s responsible for some of the best obscure titles out there, including Extermination for the PS2, D4: Dark Dreams Don’t Die on the Xbox 360, and the critically acclaimed The Missing: J.J. Macfield and the Island of Memories, which is available on all current consoles. He’s also a hell of a nice guy and he responds to his fans like a normal human, which is sadly uncommon and completely awesome.