For almost two years now, I’ve been following South Park: Stick of Truth with feverish anticipation. As I’ve written before, it’s the type of game that feels like it was made just for me. The stellar writing of South Park‘s creators combined with JRPG-like combat and springy, vivid animation that feels like it was ripped straight out of a TV? Yes. Yes! Bring it on, Obsidian.
But… I’m worried. I’m worried because it’s almost September, and Stick of Truth still has no release date.
“Wait a minute,” you are undoubtedly thinking. “Didn’t Ubisoft say the game will be out this fall-slash-winter?”
They did. In the most recent trailer for Stick of Truth, Eric Cartman drops the bomb: “Coming this holiday season. Or some holiday season, hopefully kind of soon. You know how video games are.”
Yes. Yes we do. Video game development is a challenging process for any studio, let alone a studio that has watched the people who pay the bills go bankrupt mid-production. (Back in January, Ubisoft purchased the rights to Stick of Truth following the collapse of Obsidian’s previous publisher, THQ.)
It’s also undoubtedly tough for the team to coordinate with Trey Parker and Matt Stone, who are brilliant, but not particularly experienced at making video games. They’re used to the pressure-filled schedule of a six-day production timeline, where they can change whatever they want, whenever they want. That sort of mentality might not work so well for a video game.
So I’m worried — worried that we’ll see more delays. Worried that the rest of Ubisoft’s fall games all have specific release dates — Rayman, Watch Dogs, Assassin’s Creed IV — but Stick of Truth is still up in the air. Worried because Ubisoft has a habit of releasing lots and lots of trailers, but we’ve only seen two or three from the South Park RPG.
I reached out to Ubisoft this morning to ask if they really still plan to release the game, but they haven’t gotten back to me. Today the publisher released some new screenshots. They look fantastic. Hopefully I’m just being paranoid.
Comments
15 responses to “South Park Still Looks Amazing, But Should We Be Worried?”
Honestly, my interest for this kind of started to wane when I saw some gameplay screens the first time around. With Obsidian’s involvement I was hoping for gameplay more like Fallout 3/New Vegas rather than a JRPG.
I will probably still get it when it’s out, but I don’t have any enthusiasm for it. Give me a release date and I’ll slot it into my calendar.
Never wish for F3/FNV gameplay.
I haven’t been paying too much attention, but everything I’ve seen about it, every article has been about how closely it looks like South Park. I have absolutely no idea of what the game’s about or what style gameplay other than it being a RPG
think Final Fantasy meets South Park.
Didn’t people compare this game to Paper Mario when they saw the E3 trailer last year?
The interview I saw with Matt and Trey said that in previous years, they’ve spent their time between series on movies, or broadway shows, or what-have-you. This past couple of years, they’ve spent that time on this game instead. So assuming they’re being honest (and not just taking holidays instead) it’s a very good sign that the creators have been heavily involved all along.
So fingers crossed.
If you’ve seen the episode where the boys have to return the video tape to the store it’s similar to that, a lot of role playing in semi-bad costumes.
That is one of my favourite, if not my favourite episode ever
Have you considered burying yourself in the snow and having somebody dig you up and thaw you out when the game is released?
WANT
THIS
GAME !!!!!
I still want this game. If it is like South Park in humour (they got the look right) then I am content. It does not have to be the newest concept ever just massive fan service and I will get it day one.
Isn’t it obvious? It takes time to add new logos and shoehorn Uplay into a almost finished game (It was gonna be released in May IIRC).
Wait… It got picked up by Ubisoft. And Ubisoft games use uplay.
I hadn’t made that connection.
FFFF@*#%@*!#%!)#^*!#^**!^#)
Welll, graphics can’t go out of date at least
It is Obsidian – perhaps for once, they’re not being pressured to push something out the door before it’s ready, and they’re taking the opportunity provided by changing publishers to do a bit of extra bug-fixing?
But they will still claim they were rushed when it launches with bugs and all the unfinished bits just hacked out.