South Park: Snow Day!
Developer: Question LLC
Publisher: THQ Nordic
Platforms: PlayStation 5, PC, Switch, Xbox Series X/S (Reviewed)
Release Date: Available Now
Price: $29.99 USD – Available Here $59.95 AUD – Available Here
Overview
The South Park franchise has seen various video games released for it all the way up to a year after the entire series debuted in 1998 with an N64 FPS that is collecting dust in my old collection of N64 games in the garage. Developed by Acclaim, who released a myriad of different South Park games exploring different genres over the years, this was a rough start for the franchise’s video game history that was then given additional smaller releases later on. Thankfully Ubisoft managed to salvage that history with a pair of RPGs that managed to present a South Park story the way fans would expect while delivering some wonderful turn-based gameplay at the same time. Seven years later and now with a new publisher holding the license, THQ Nordic has taken South Park‘s latest game in a new direction by focusing on roguelike fighting and co-op multiplayer. The question is, is South Park: Snow Day! a step in the right direction or has the developer stepped in some “dark matter” instead?
Story
A blizzard unlike anything the small Colorado town has ever seen has struck South Park to the point that stores are buried under mountains of snow, people are freezing into blocks outside, and of course, toilet paper is now gold. With such a blizzard going on school has been canceled and Cartman, the Grand Wizard King, is bringing everyone together for a new game to play out in the snow, because even though it may seem like the apocalypse, a free day off of school means plenty of time to beat each other up only this time with a whole new set of rules since the New Kid keeps messing things up.
Yes, despite being from a new publisher, South Park: Snow Day! quickly makes reference to the fact that it takes place both after the Stick of Truth as well as the Fractured but Whole by mentioning that the New Kid in town always ends up getting OP and ruining their fun playtime, even outdoing their previous superhero abilities. Still, as the most important and only New Kid in town despite there being at least three other New Kids at any given time, the player is tasked by Cartman to take out the king of the Elves, Kyle, believing him to be the reason for the endless winter. From here begins a rather short storyline that revisits a number of familiar elements explored mostly from the Stick of Truth while also bringing in some long missing characters from the main South Park series.
Despite being only about four hours in length total with most of the cutscenes set at the start of a stage and at the end, usually right before and after a boss battle, it is clear that Matt and Trey had their hands in at least writing the storyline here as the series’ signature humor remains solid throughout. It is also nice that, as mentioned before, some long missing characters feel like they are given a bit of extra time in the spotlight here though we won’t spoil it here. It is also worth noting that while there are no additional story segments after the player completes the game, there are some variations to stages from time to time. This can include NPCs as well, as in one run through a stage saw the New Kid stealing a certain magazine from sixth graders only for the next time in the stage saw the New Kid gathering items for Jimbo and Ned to sell for toilet paper.
These variations are rather minor, and players do unlock an additional option for “Pact” challenges with a familiar character to be accepted for bonus rewards once players beat the game but this does little to actually encourage replaying through simply for variations of the story. It also feels that, despite featuring a long missing character, there is a surprisingly small amount of actual South Park characters in the game given the massive amount available, with even many of the extra kids not in the game in any way or given a single line.
Gameplay
South Park: Snow Day! eschews the familiar RPG formulae that fans have grown familiar with over the last couple of games in favor of a 3D action game where players will find themselves taking part in roguelike runs through stages. This means that players will pick their weapon and ranged weapon type, of which there are only three of each kind, and set off into a stage to fight through waves of enemies in various locations before facing off against a boss at the end. These bosses range from simply being damage sponges that players must beat down like normal to, a few later ones, having a couple of unique mechanics of their own to try and mix things up a bit. The only problem is, the actual combat itself rarely feels like it has any weight to it and the controls themselves feel clunky at best.
Players will be able to wield either dual daggers, a sword and shield, or a great axe and none of these melee weapons feel like they have much impact to them, even with appropriate upgrades and cards applied. This is especially true when it comes to facing off against bosses who will jump around freely without reacting to player damage at all, even if they are inflicting them with multiple status effects at the same time. As for navigation, players are given a fairly floaty jump to navigate the snowy town of South Park and it is often unclear where players can actually climb, including invisible walls being placed in various locations and a dodge that never feels great to use and has a cooldown timer. Combine this with the lack of a lock-on and combat can feel half-baked at best.
Alongside the melee and ranged weapons players will also have skills they can use that are “magical abilities” that they need to get pissed off to use. The more damage players deal, the more pissed off they become and these abilities range from being able to place a healing totem for allies, an escape fart, or even using a cat to “Cheese” the enemy and turn them to your side. The element that makes the game a roguelike is that the game makes use of a card based system for upgrades during a stage run. At the beginning of every stage players can select a card that will provide a boost to one of their weapons or special abilities as well as a “Bullshit” card. The Bullshit card is of limited use and can trigger powerful effects to happen, such as giving players complete invisibility, summoning massive fireballs onto the field, or even spawning a swarm of allies to take down your foes.
In-between nearly every arena players will encounter Timmy who will randomly generate cards that players can pick from to continue to upgrade their abilities. Players can use TP (toilet paper) obtained from containers and defeated enemies to reshuffle offered cards or boost the effect of an offered card. It is also worth noting that players can also find Henrietta in some locations where they can sacrifice cards for extra boosts to other abilities or simply obtain some free TP or DM (Dark Matter). These are two of the three currencies available in the game with the final being PP (Platinum Pieces) that can be used to obtain some truly generic cosmetics. PP is obtained through in-game achievements and completing aforementioned Pacts. The Dark Matter is the game’s more permanent upgrade material as it can be used to permanently boost the New Kid’s stats such as dealing more damage, starting stages with TP, increasing their health, etc. Players can refund anything they spend if they don’t like the way they build their character at no cost which is a nice touch and allows for some experimentation.
Now, it is also worth noting that South Park: Snow Day! was designed for multiplayer in mind, with the primary option being for players to matchmake and go into a stage as four New Kids each with their own skill set and chosen equipment. Unfortunately the game lacks any local co-op and does not currently offer crossplay between versions so players may find themselves needing to fight alongside bots instead. These bots will randomly emerge from snow-piles to fight alongside the player whenever a fight breaks out and neither AI is competent in a fight. Especially since the AI appears to never use skills or abilities on their own. Both enemy and ally AI will often get stuck in object geometry, fail to properly follow the player, or, in one complete run ending bug, saw an enemy get stuck within a building and since players cannot continue until all foes are defeated, it reset the run. Thankfully, the game will point out remaining enemies once they are nearly all defeated, meaning players can hunt down any enemies stuck somewhere, unless of course they are unreachable.
Alongside the standard stages it is worth noting that the game does offer a survival style horde mode at the moment through Henrietta. This simply places players against waves of enemies in a decent sized arena with players being able to gain a new card or boost from either Jimmy or Henrietta between waves. Considering the game’s loose combat system, the horde mode doesn’t feel the best especially with AI companions, but it is an effective way to grind for upgrades should players actually feel the need for them as many of the upgrade paths unlock some rather mediocre abilities.
Audio & Visuals
For a brief moment South Park: Snow Day! takes advantage of the signature South Park 2D art style by presenting players with a few minutes that look right out of an episode until the game makes the transition to 3D once Cartman steps outside. Seeing the town of South Park in 3D is a bit enjoyable, especially since there are countless references to various locations and episodes buried in the snow, but the actual aesthetic of a blizzard covered town is incredibly bland. The character models make the transition to 3D well enough though enemy variety is extremely poor and, as mentioned before, the character costume items are as simple as they come, including no ability to change the appearance of your weaponry. That being said, the card art being crayon drawn is a nice touch while Henrietta’s goth cards are similarly spooky.
Thankfully Matt and Trey have made sure that all of the characters sound exactly like fans should expect them to sound as longtime fans of the series. This includes even characters not voiced by the pair as their voice actors have all reprised their roles in the game. The background music is unfortunately rather generic without even taking advantage of many of South Park’s original tracks to work with.
Overall
South Park: Snow Day! tries to place itself as a sequel to previous games in an attempt to establish its world and that works fairly well from a story standpoint as, what story there is in this fairly short and cheaper than average game, is a perfect fit for any fan of South Park with some great comedy and attention paid to what characters are present in the game, but unfortunately it falls short nearly everywhere else. It may sound like South Park, but between clunky combat, poor AI, lack of crossplay, and poor incentives to replay through stages simply to take part in a generic gameplay loop to try and see a few extra variations here and there or grind out upgrades, South Park: Snow Day! harkens back to the days where Acclaim held the reigns and that is far from a compliment.
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