PSA: Deadly Premonition Switch Has An Annoying Bug, Swery Promises Patch Coming

One of the more surprising announcements in the September 2019 Nintendo Direct was the immediate release of Deadly Premonition, the cult hit horror game, on Nintendo Switch--rebranded as Deadly Premonition Origins. Though it's an easy way to catch up with the 2010 classic, a persistent bug may put off some players.

Based on our playtime, the audio in the open world is inconsistent and will sometimes cut out altogether. The protagonist's lines while driving will sporadically not be delivered, or some ambient sounds will work while others don't. For example, you may hear footsteps but not gunfire. Cutscenes also suffer audio issues, ranging from the audio stopping partway through to delivering music without dialogue. We streamed the game today, and as you can see in the video replay above, we encountered the issue again.

A horror game with inconsistent sound can be especially distracting, which makes the Deadly Premonition port hard to recommend in its current state. It also appeared to have a water texture missing in an opening cutscene. GameSpot has contacted Toybox Inc regarding the bugs. On Twitter, series creator Hidetaka Suehiro (aka Swery65) apologized for the "bad porting" and said the publisher will be announcing a patch as soon as possible. In a threaded reply, though, he asked users to please refrain from reporting bugs to him personally.

The Nintendo Direct also brought word of Deadly Premonition 2: A Blessing in Disguise. The sequel will bring back Swery65, and is slated for release in 2020. It will be a prequel set in 2005, and it takes place in a small Louisiana town called Le Carré.