E3 Countdown: South Park: The Fractured But Whole

In the lead-up to E3, we’re counting down with our most anticipated titles. You can find out when all the press conferences are taking place in Australian/NZ times HERE.


Trey Parker and Matt Stone’s wonderfully twisted take on society, politics and all things pop culture has seen a handful of video game adaptations. What’s hard to deny is that The Stick of Truth, developed in 2014 by Obsidian (who aren’t returning for the sequel), rests at the top of the heap, with its bare bones, accessible role-playing format and laugh-a-minute pacing.

The long-awaited follow-up, The Fractured But Whole, has seen lengthy delays in its development, but I dare say it’s going to push the envelope even more than the original did; not that we saw all that much of it, thanks to the adorable crying koala censorship screens that, honestly, wound up being even funnier than the scenes they replaced.

Stick of Truth’s epic fantasy setting makes way for a Civil War piss-take with the boys splintering into two factions after falling out over a planned film franchise featuring their much-loved hero characters, including the likes of The Coon, Mysterio and Mint-Berry Crunch.south-park-when-was-it-announcedSouth Park: The Fractured But Whole was originally announced all the way back at E3 2015 during Ubisoft’s conference. The game was also announced as being developed by Ubisoft San Francisco, replacing Obsidian Entertainment.south-park-where-will-we-see-itIt’s certainly a safe bet that we’ll see The Fractured But Whole on-stage again this year during Ubisoft’s conference.

With any luck, Trey and Matt will be there in-person to show off another hilarious slice of the game, much like they did at last year’s conference before the game was unfortunately delayed yet again.south-park-when-will-it-releaseThe Fractured But Whole has already missed its original dates of December 6, 2016, and Q1 2017, so you’d be mad to bet your house on Ubisoft making the October 17 date that was announced alongside a brand new trailer last month.

You don’t often see games get delayed three times though, so there might be light at the end of the tunnel yet.south-park-waht-do-we-want-to-seeWhile I did love how simplistic The Stick of Truth was, allowing the hilarious writing to carry the brunt of the game’s runtime, I’d definitely love to see more developed, standardised role-playing systems in place for the sequel.

Some more defined levelling and skill trees, perhaps some end-game tasks to keep the game’s world (which will hopefully be more expanded this time around) interesting when it’s all said and done. Given The Fractured But Whole is, in a way, a superhero spoof game and the best thing added to one of those in recent years is Arkham Knight’s Batmobile, I’d love to see something much the same in this game.

Perhaps the Coon’s iconic trike?