South Park: The Stick of Truth

Overview

South Park: The Stick of Truth is a role-playing game developed by Obsidian (with help from South Park Digital) and published by Ubisoft for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC on March 4, 2014.

Part of the South Park franchise (based on the animated TV series of the same name), the game combines a simplistic (yet deep) RPG system (from veteran RPG developer Obsidian) with an art and animation style directly reminiscent of the show (in similar vein to South Park Let's Go Tower Defense Play and South Park: Tenorman's Revenge).

Taking place in the fictional town of South Park, players control "the new kid" (a customizable silent protagonist, quickly nicknamed "Douchebag") as he attempts to make new friends and take part in an epic fantasy LARP session between the humans of Kupa Keep (led by Grand Wizard King Eric Cartman) and the Drow Elves of Larnion (led by Elf King Kyle Broflovski) as they fight over the "Stick of Truth", a magical relic granting unbelievable power. In classic South Park fashion, things soon begin to horribly devolve into madness that threatens the entire town.

The game received numerous delays, partly due to the bankruptcy of the game's original publisher, THQ.

Classes

As the player joins the LARP session, the New Kid is given the following character classes to choose from:

• Fighter
• Mage
• Thief
• Jew (Paladin/Monk)

Combat

According to lead designer Matt MacLean, the combat alternates between the New Kid and his/her companions, giving the player an opportunity to control the available South Park characters. Combat is supposed to resemble children play-fighting where something like a flaming tennis ball, in the mind of the child, is an actual spell. The inspiration for the combat is based off the South Park episode "Good Times With Weapons" (Season 8, Episode 1).

Combat Style

The combat is a turn-based system similar to that of Costume Quest and the Paper Mario series. Timed inputs will be used to block, counter, or inflict stronger damage on foes.

Equipment

Weapons have a homemade-look to them. In place of traditional steel swords and shields, characters will use weapons such as wooden swords, golf clubs, and spatulas. Weapons have upgrades available, limiting the amount of loot available during the course of the game.

The armor also follow the homemade-look like the weapons, so a cooking pot may be used in place of a traditional RPG helmet.

Enemies

While you will battle the warring alliances in the game of LARP, many other classic South Park "enemies" such as hippies, ginger kids, goblins, underpants gnomes, vampire kids and crab people will also make an appearance.

Game Censorship

Ubisoft announced that seven scenes in the game, each of them roughly twenty seconds long, will be censored in the console and PC versions in European and Australian territories. The scenes include abortion mini-games (on the player and on Randy Marsh) and several alien anal probings. The European version will replace the scenes with a background image and text written by Matt Stone and Trey Parker describing the censored scene, while the Australian version will simply have large text saying "CENSORED" accompanied by a picture of a crying koala.

Downloadable Content

The following DLC packs were announced by THQ, but it seems like those plans were cancelled when Ubisoft became the publisher of the game. According to Trey Parker and Matt Stone they do not want story DLC (Comic Con panel 2013).

Good Time with Weapons Pack

This pre-order DLC based off the episode "Good Time With Weapons'' and is the same for every region and retailer.

• Bulrog Chicken Attack - Turns normal enemies into helpless chickens.
• Cartman's Kick-ass Sai - Standard daggers are used by Cartman in the Good Time With Weapons episode.
• Samurai Warrior Costume - A samurai suit made of cardboard.

Mysterion Super Hero Pack

The Xbox 360 version of the game will include this exclusive DLC based off the episode "The Coon."

• Mysterion Special Attack - Mysterion joins the battle and helps defeat enemies using his stealth.
• Superhero Costume - Dress up as a Superhero and keep your identity safe from South Park citizens.
• Dagger of Cthulu - Use the switchblade that was used to stab Mysterion in the episode ''Mysterion Rises.''