Matt Stone reveals ‘revolutionary’ feature of South Park: The Fractured But Whole

South Park creator Matt Stone has revealed that players will be able to choose to play as a girl in this year’s South Park: The Fractured But Whole.

“You can be a girl. Very revolutionary. Very 2016 of us,” revealed Stone during an interview with Entertainment Weekly.

Stone explained that design decisions made in The Stick of Truth meant it wasn’t possible to offer playable female characters, but he and co-creator Trey Parker are pleased to have that option in the new game.

“In Stick of Truth we got halfway through the game, and we had narratively come up with the big Girls’ Quest halfway through it. [The Girls] were a faction in the fantasy world. And then someone’s like, ‘What if you want to be a girl?’ Narratively, it didn’t work. We’d have to sh- can the whole game. So we just left it the way it was. This time, we obviously wanted to add that.”

Stone says that unlike Ubisoft’s mega hit The Division, choosing to play as a girl will result in characters treating you differently.

“It actually turned out to be quite a bit more work,” said Stone. “I’m also playing The Division – I’m not just saying that because it’s Ubisoft. I made the character look like my wife, just because I thought that was funny, running around New York shooting people looking like my wife. But the game doesn’t treat you that differently. The guys still shoot you. The game doesn’t really react that much differently. That’s cool for that kind of game.

“It’s been a funny journey to go through, introducing something that we thought would just be a cool feature. You’re a girl! But now they’re going to treat you different.”

Stone also believes the option to play as a girl will be a popular choice, noting that “we figured everyone’s gonna pick it”.

South Park: The Fractured But Whole releases on PS4, Xbox One and PC on December 6. Pre-order the game now on Amazon(?)

Source: Entertainment Weekly