If you were ever a fan of video games in the 1980s, 1990s, or early 2000s, one thing you can’t really argue about is how memorable video games could be at the time. In the first decades of the medium, which included quickly increasing popularity, developers seemed to have a hidden pledge to make titles that would be memorable. Video games, heroes, and villains that would be engraved in the minds of all who played them. In these years, it was an accomplished goal. In those years, we got some of the most recognizable icons of the medium. Heroes like Mario and Luigi, Sonic the Hedgehog, Cloud Strife, and Gordon Freeman. Villains like Bowser, Dr. Robotnik, Donkey Kong, SHODAN, and the G-Man. Locations like Black Mesa, the Von Braun, Liberty City, Tamriel, and Silent Hill. We had greats like Deus Ex (a game that people reinstall every time the name is spoken), Silent Hill 2, the Resident Evil remake, Fallout, and so many more. Even some of the so-called “worst” games of the time, like John Romero’s Daikatana, were memorable in some way.

Compare those decades to recent years is almost like comparing day to night. In the modern era of the medium, things have gone downhill from memorable to generic and forgettable. With the rise of the modern military first-person shooter and the newly jumpscare-laden survival horror genre, originality is difficult to come by. For every unique concept like Clive Barker’s Jericho or Brutal Legend, we get two derivative games like Resident Evil 5 or Outlast. Very rarely does something unique come out and, more often than not, it gets sunk under the sea of sequels and spinoffs. In this modern day of playing it safe, something has to happen for a unique title to get noticed. Something good. Something that would almost be like a miracle.

This was the case with a little-known video game named Deadly Premonition, which was released in 2010. Its release date wasn’t the best, being released to shelves shortly after big hitters like Silent Hill: Shattered Memories and Aliens vs Predator. It also had to contend with the strong popularity of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, which was released about 3 months before Deadly Premonition’s February release. Upon its initial release, it didn’t seem to have too much luck. Despite a budget price of $20, Deadly Premonition looked to be a generic survival horror game, with its cover depicting a screaming victim and a raincoat-clad killer in the background. However, a miracle went the way of Deadly Premonition: Two conflicting reviews. One was from IGN, which awarded the game a score of two out of ten, calling the game a literal “system seller”. The second was from Destructoid, who conversely awarded Deadly Premonition a perfect 10/10, calling it a “beautiful trainwreck”. Once people took notice, the game sold more, and players saw what Deadly Premonition was. It was a survival horror game with shooting similar to Resident Evil 4, but it wasn’t generic. On top of that, there was much more. Deadly Premonition was survival horror, but it was also a mystery game that gave similar vibes of Heavy Rain. It was even a open world game with a living town that gave fond memories of the beloved Dreamcast classic Shenmue. Then, almost like a cherry on top of a sundae, Deadly Premonition was a loving homage to the quirky TV series Twin Peaks. Deadly Premonition was, unarguably, unique. Compared to the games so many compared it to like Heavy Rain, Resident Evil, and Grand Theft Auto, Deadly Premonition wasn’t run-of-the-mill, derivative, or even remotely generic. It was unique.

But it was also a budget title, a middle market game, through and through. This is where the game’s audience either loved or hated it. Some players claimed dated graphics, unpolished gameplay, and the bizarre writing was inexcusable. Others, however, saw charm. They saw a charm and love that few video games could deliver. It was a modern day Shenmue for many. A game so full of ambition, detail, content, and care, that faults could be forgiven. To the former crowd, it was bargain bin garbage. But to the latter, Deadly Premonition was art. It was quirky, bizarre, off the wall, funny, scary, sad, amazing, and a bit bad at times. But it is art. Deadly Premonition is art because of what it does. With its limited budget, Deadly Premonition did so much more than the average video game. A detailed story with successful emotional range and realistic character actions, a living world that feels like a mixture of Twin Peaks and Shenmue, and varied gameplay with plenty of depth gave way to an experience that was nothing but memorable. It led way to an experience that many claim to be their favorite of all time, an opinion that I wholeheartedly share.

In terms of Deadly Premonition’s look, the game runs on an in-house engine, with the NVIDIA PhysX engine used in tandem with it. Judging it on visual fidelity, Deadly Premonition does look dated in most areas. Most compare it to a competent Dreamcast title or late PS2 game, which isn’t all that far from the truth. The majority of textures can be blurry, animations can be stiff and repeated, most models are low on polygons, and effects like explosions aren’t exactly the best. On the bright side, though, the framerate is steady at 30 FPS. It certainly doesn’t look bad in terms of this side, but it isn’t the best or anywhere near groundbreaking. However, it’s in the visual style where Deadly Premonition succeeds. In terms of this style, Deadly Premonition is very appealing, even beautiful. The level design is perfect, ranging from creepy sawmills to the town of Greenvale itself. The town itself is perfectly-sized, being large enough for deep exploration, but small enough to make sense for the setting. On top of that, the designs for character models, while slightly low-polygon, are full of artistic flare, such as the proper look of protagonist Francis York Morgan to the outright creepy sight of the Shadows.

Like the graphics, many people will find similar mixed results in Deadly Premonition’s sound design. The overall effects are mixed, though mostly good. The weapons sound reasonably powerful, cars have good engines, and monsters are downright creepy sounding. But on the bad side, explosions do sound weak, and the melee weapons don’t really give any kind of satisfying punch. On the other side of this, though, Deadly Premonition’s voice acting and soundtrack are truly great. The voice acting is done incredibly well, with the rather small cast doing incredible jobs with their characters. From the stern attitude of town sheriff George Woodman (Casey Robertson) to the rhyming of Michael Tillotson (Andrew Ceglio), each character is given a realistic, yet bizarre personality. Of special mention is Jeff Kramer, who plays the role of protagonist Francis York Morgan, a character full of personality. From a love of cigarettes and movies to his best friend Zach, Francis York Morgan is as bizarre and lovable as he is relatable. Finally, there’s the soundtrack. Composed by Riyou Kinugasa, Takuya Kobayashi, and Hiromi Mizutani, Deadly Premonition’s soundtrack is most comparable to Twin Peaks, as both use smooth jazz and otherwise relaxing tones to set the mood. Unlike Twin Peaks, Deadly Premonition’s soundtrack has tracks that appear randomly and in almost out-of-place ways. But it works like a charm, with many tracks being fun to listen to.

Deadly Premonition’s story begins on a ritualistic note, with twins Isaach and Isaiah Ingram coming across the hung body of Anna Graham, a young girl who held a place in the heart of the small Washington town of Greenvale. In response, the FBI sends in Special Agent Francis York Morgan (call him York), a profiling expert, who is sent to the town to investigate the murder, as it may hold connections to a series of murders he’s investigated across the country. Teaming up with local law enforcement like Sheriff George Woodman and Deputy Emily Wyatt, York starts to connect Anna’s murder to the other series of murders, all the while uncovering the dark secrets of Greenvale.

On the surface, Deadly Premonition seems almost completely like a copy of Twin Peaks, and true, the beginning of each bears similarities. Both involve small Washington towns with dark secrets that have been the site of grizzly murders, with an eccentric FBI agent being sent in. However, after this beginning, Deadly Premonition quickly forms its own path and tale. One way in which these two are separated are in the several characters. Every character in Deadly Premonition is realistic and memorable. From York’s love of cinema and conversations with Zach, Thomas MacLaine’s sensitive attitude and great cooking, George’s rotten attitude but love of the job, and several others, Deadly Premonition is home to memorable characters. On top of that, their reactions are realistic. Especially true to this is a growing romance between two characters, which feels plausible and true to life. Finally, there’s the writing itself. Deadly Premonition is intriguing, funny, creepy, and absolutely engrossing. The mystery is truly well done, and is fully enhanced by the emotional range of the game, which goes from quirky comedy to the real life psychological horror of the murder of a close one in a small town. It really makes you want to play all the way to the ending, which is incredibly satisfying.

The different styles of gameplay featured in Deadly Premonition certainly bears mention, as it initially seems to take cues from other games. Combat is similar to Resident Evil 4, detective work seems like a combination of LA Noire and Heavy Rain, and an open world that feels more inspired by the living worlds of Yokosuka and Hong Kong in the Shenmue series than to the chaos-driven sandboxes of the Grand Theft Auto series. But, as it does with the story, Deadly Premonition takes these somewhat familiar elements and combines them into its own thing. The game certainly feels immersive, believable, and just downright incredible during its open world and investigation elements. The town of Greenvale is full of side activities such as fishing and darts, as well as character-related side quests and collectible trading cards. There’s so much stuff to do in the open world alone, that you’ll often find yourself just exploring the town in a car, looking for things to do. However, this can breed danger in multiple ways. For one thing, you can’t stay distracted, as you’ll have to almost care for York. Throughout the game, you’ll have to make sure he eats, sleeps, shaves, and changes his clothing. These are unique additions that add a connection to the character beyond the dialogue. But the big danger comes from Greenvale itself, as the town changes after midnight. After midnight, the town gets overtaken by the Other World, which is one way the game gets its paranormal horror. When the town is taken over, enemies will litter the streets, and York will be chased if in a car. It adds some variety and tension to the nighttime occurrences in Greenvale. This same attention to detail becomes brought into the investigations, which have York searching the Other World-haunted murder sites for clues. These clues then clear up the events that transpired in that location, adding depth to the story and clues to the mystery.

It’s in these segments that Deadly Premonition shows its combat, which is easily the game’s weakest point. It’s not that it’s bad, because it really isn’t. The game uses and even improves Resident Evil 4’s combat style, and it does work and control fine. However, it can get horribly tedious. Enemy variety is mild, with the majority of enemies consisting of basic shadows or crawling shadows. The attack patterns of these enemies are basic and predictable, and encounters with the latter can use up all ammunition, if not prepared properly. Thankfully, the combat can be run past most of the time, which will be welcome by those who dislike the combat. The combat is also broken up by the investigations, as well as brief puzzles, encounters with the Raincoat Killer, and boss fights. The Other World puzzles are rather interesting, giving a time limit to think your way through a puzzle. These add needed variety, as do the welcome as extremely tense Raincoat Killer sequences. These sequences have the player hiding and then running from the Raincoat Killer. These segments are properly nail biting, and always come down to the wire. Finally, combat is broken up by boss fights, which are decent enough. However, the only memorable boss fight is the final one, which seems almost like an homage to Shadow of the Colossus.

With all of these gameplay elements and additions, you would expect Deadly Premonition to have a decent length to it. Well, to be expected, it does. An average playthrough on Normal difficulty with small exploration will often take around 15-20 hours. The game does encourage replaying through its story, with the hidden collectibles, leaderboards, hidden secrets, and 100% completion. For those seeking that 100% completion, though, be ready. 100% completion will take around 50-60 hours, which is easily comparable or superior to any big-budget RPG.

In an era of big-budget games that can’t separate themselves from one another, a game like Deadly Premonition, which can be highly original and creative with less than half the budget, is highly welcome, even if some don’t see it for the right reasons. There are few games that have this much love and care behind them, that the few that come out are easy to notice. Between this and other “middle-market” titles like the 2014 RPG Bound by Flame and the 2006 cult classic Hitman: Blood Money, games like Deadly Premonition should be plentiful and welcome. However, for now, let us enjoy what we want and can. As it stands, the best way to enjoy Deadly Premonition is to ignore all mainstream reviews and play the game for yourself. It’s an Xbox 360 classic, and a game that will stay in the minds of many forever. It’s a modern day Shenmue, and it’s worthy of that distinction.