South Park: The Stick of Truth is a JRPG-style video game. South Park’s creators (Trey Parker and Matt Stone) were involved throughout the game’s production: they wrote its script, consulted on the design, and even voiced many of the characters as in the TV show. The Stick of Truth’s production was turbulent with the bankruptcy of the original publisher and its release date was postponed several times. The Stick of Truth was also subject to censorship in some regions because of its content. The game mainly had positive reviews from its critics and did well enough to merit a sequel, South Park: The Fractured but Whole.

Pros:

This game really creates a great playable South Park universe with an aesthetic that is true to the show and they are not trying to make it into something it’s not like the MUCH WORSE PS1 South Park video game. Classic tactless South Park jokes and social commentary are littered throughout and unlike some games that try to be funny and fail miserably, this game has some genuinely laugh-out-loud moments. I might be a bit biased here, but I love the return of the classic turn-based combat system they created and how they managed to create some good combos and tactics out of it, though if it is not your jam you might find it a bit repetitive. One of the things I liked a bit more was the social media-themed menu screen, it is well thought through and probably one of the more fun menu screens I have interacted with oddly enough. Collecting friends and Chinpokomon is surprisingly fun too. All of these things tied together really well to create an experience and universe proper to the South Park that we have seen and loved for a long time on TV.

Cons:

This game is littered with really disgusting and disturbing jokes. Anal probes, aborted fetuses, and that fucking last level, legit made me squirm at parts, but that’s what also makes it so great. I did find myself doing a bit too much of back and forth across the great, but somewhat limited world map. One of the biggest criticisms of this game is that it is a bit short and yes part of me wishes there were just a bit more area, options, and avenues to explore a bit deeper. Items and power-ups are comedically great, but many of them seem rather limited and some downright useless. This gets a bit compounded when the various combinations between the items feel a bit more arbitrary and doesn’t really push you to get a whole set or anything like that. I love the fact that you have so much customization, but there is so much that does practically nothing. When they go to nazi zombies it hits a little bit of a lull and they also mock themselves a bit here so I guess that at least helps the cliche nature of that section of the game.