Mea culpa. Mere hours after we posted about the tantalizing possibilities in the South Park: The Fractured But Whole release date aligning neatly with the end of South Park Season 20, Ubisoft announced a release date delay. South Park: The Fractured But Whole will now arrive in the first quarter of 2017, according to a post on developer Ubisoft’s blog:
“South Park: The Fractured But Whole will now launch on Xbox One, Playstation 4 and PC, calendar Q1 2017. The development team wants to make sure the game experience meets the high expectations of fans and the additional time will help them achieve this goal.”
As Randy would say, “well, that sucks.”
With The Fractured But Whole originally slated for a Dec. 6 release date and South Park Season 20 likely ending Nov. 30 or Dec. 7, it looked like the perfect storm for an episode/game crossover.
However, this release date delay only complicates, doesn’t exclude, the possibility that South Park Season 20 will somehow tie into The Fractured But Whole. The “Black Friday” 3-parter in Season 17 of South Park ended with the creation of the Stick of Truth, a mystic totem of power that became central to the plot of the first South Park RPG, released three months later. Now, Season 20 and The Fractured But Whole will have essentially the same chronologic relationship.
So keep an eye out for superhero plotlines in upcoming episodes of South Park Season 20, as it could presage the superhero civil war that breaks out early in South Park: The Fractured But Whole.
- tactical combat
- great environmental puzzles
- seamless adaptation of South Park
- engaging boss encounters
- Coon and Friends parody was already stale
- sometimes more referential than funny on its own
- several game mechanics feel extraneous
