Deadly Premonition

Steam

Deadly Premonition, originally released in 2010 for Xbox 360, is a recent discovery for me thanks to its updated Director’s Cut re-release for Microsoft Windows on Steam. An investigative horror game in which you attempt to solve the murder of a local girl, the game takes broad strokes of inspiration from the dense Pacific Northwest exteriors and at times psychedelic interiors of David Lynch’s Twin Peaks, as well as from the Japanese horror game Silent Hill. Though the graphics are less than stellar and the controls, especially the combat, can get clunky and difficult to manage at times, the characters are interesting and the story is engaging enough to keep interest through multiple endings. The quirky sense of humor can be a little jarring as you maneuver a horrific murder case, but it does offer some reprieve from the darkness of the main plot (and further calls to mind Lynch’s quirky approach to the genre). Some of the game mechanics—like the fact that it requires you to remember to eat and sleep—can be annoying to someone who just wants to move through the game. (Who doesn’t want to take a nap in the middle of a crime scene?) Overall, Deadly Premonition is a fun, weird game—with a welcome bit of creepiness—to play and experience with friends.