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The Raincoat Killer, the axe-wielding villain from Deadly Premonition, could eventually star in his own spin-off game, Swery 65, the creator of Deadly Premonition, told VideoGamer.com at gamescom last month.
“I can’t talk about everything,” he said. “One thing I’m working on right now is a new project, I’m working on a prototype for that. Another is a Deadly Premonition-related thing.
“There are many paths that I’m still considering, in that regard. A prequel is definitely one of the paths I still have in mind. Another approach is like a spin-off from Deadly Premonition where the main character would be the Raincoat Killer. That might be a cool idea. Other ideas involve ways of trying to get people who haven’t played Deadly Premonition to do that, but I’m still thinking about ways to do that!”
Last year Deadly Premonition drew attention for its inventive and highly unusual tone – qualities that helped critics to overlook its technical shortcomings. Swery says that he wants his future games to be equally distinctive.
“The universe that I’m thinking of right now would still maintain that same feel as Deadly Premonition. There aren’t that many games like that, that create that unified world, and it makes that game special. I’d like to make sure that’s an important factor in the next game I make, whatever that is.”
It seems unlikely that future projects will follow Deadly Premonition’s open world structure, however: “If I had a lot of time and money to make a similar type of game, I would definitely maintain that formula and strengthen it,” said Swery. “But as people already know, it took a long time to make Deadly Premonition. If people are willing to wait 10 years for my next game then I’d love to go down that path, but I don’t think people are willing to wait that long!”
Deadly Premonition was originally planned as a PS2 release, under the title “Rainy Woods”, and eventually was released on Xbox 360 last year. With regards to the long delay, Swery has mixed feelings.
“Was it a happy thing or was it a sad thing? It’s hard to answer, I suppose. When the game came out, yes, there was some regret there. It took so long, but the graphics and technical aspects were considered old on day 1. Spending so much time was definitely regrettable at that point.
“However, because of that time spent, I was able to create timetables for every single character in the story, and that was definitely a big plus for the game. It really helped the game to be unique.”
Swery added that he is still in search of a publisher for his next game, following a direct appeal made via his blog, earlier in the year.
Deadly Premonition is available now on Xbox LIVE’s Games On Demand. As I said in my review last year, it’s not the kind of game that comes along every day.
