Since the franchise’s inception in 1997,South Parkhas only produced 9 games despite always being popular, but it seems the future is even brighter. The creators, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, signed amassive deal forSouth Park, ensuring the show will continue through 2027 and also funding a ton of other projects, such as movies on Paramount+ and a weed company.
What’s more, the funding between it and elsewhere is also resulting in anewSouth Parkgamemade by an internal studio. It remains to be seen exactly what comes of this, as it is presumably in the absolute earliest stages of development, but there are two major games to keep players busy in the meantime.
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One Big Reason to Play South Park: The Stick of Truth and The Fractured But Whole
While fans may appreciate the older games and the more recent mobile game is fine and all, there’s no toppingSouth Park: The Stick of TruthandSouth Park: The Fractured But Whole. Both games reviewed well, with the first one typically average in the mid 80s for critic scores and the latter for lower 80s. And while it’s been 7 years since the first game and 4 years since the second, these games hold up incredibly well. Graphics, tone, and everything about these games screamSouth Park, and they would do well going into 2027 as well.
As such, there’s no reason not to pick them up and play them ahead of the upcoming release. Not only would it show what the franchise is capable of, but it could show where the games could improve. Of course, there’s no telling if the new game would release as something similar to the two aforementioned games or something completely different, but it’s hard to pass on the former, likely even for the creators. Sure, they could make anything, but they were both heavilyinvolved in the development ofThe Stick of TruthandThe Fractured But Whole,despite how difficult juggling all of their work must be. That’s because there’s a certain, unique vision inSouth Park, and it’s hard to imagine anyone else capturing that.
It’d be interesting to see what theme the new game takes on, with everything fromSouth Park’s pandemic specialand sports teams to itsGuitar Heroepisodes and more working as good inspiration. Notably, none of this is even required but would likely be involved. After all,The Stick of Truthtook the rise of TTRPGs and ran with it, whileTheFractured But Wholedid the same with super heroes. There’s enough out there to make a music-based, sports-based, horror-based pandemic, a streamer-based game, or even a cyberpunk-based game, with that being the short of it. There’s no limit to the potential.
A Handful of Smaller Reasons to Play the South Park Games
While preparing for a new game in a franchise by playing the older games ought to be a time-honored tradition, there are a handful of other reasons too. As mention, both games released on the rise of a particular popular brand, but those are still going. If anything, TTRPGs have only increased in popularity online, with shows like Matt Mercer’s Critical Role and more appearing on places like Twitch. In the same vein, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has come a long way since 2017, with Thanos' defeat inEndgamebring that storyline to an end andshows likeLokibringing in the Multiverse. In fact, a multiverse-basedSouth Parkgame could be interesting to see as well.
And, at the end of the day, there’s always one reason to revisit past favorites: they’re fun. Both games are relatively short romps that can easily fit into otherwise busy schedules, with theStick of Truthtaking about 11 hours to beat and 20 hours to get 100% completion.South Park: The Fractured But Wholetakes slightly longer to beat, being about 17 hours for the main story and 27 to do everything. Either way, the future is looking bright for the franchise, but that doesn’t mean fans shouldn’t celebrate its past.
South Park: The Fractured But Wholeis available now on PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.
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