Since the franchise's inception in 1997, South Park has only produced 9 games despite always being popular, but it seems the future is even brighter. The creators, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, signed a massive deal for South Park, ensuring the show will continue through 2027 and also funding a ton of other projects, such as movies on Paramount+ and a weed company.
What's more, the funding between it and elsewhere is also resulting in a new South Park game made by an internal studio. It remains to be seen exactly what comes of this, as it is presumably in the absolute earliest stages of development, but there are two major games to keep players busy in the meantime.
RELATED: Pokemon Fan Points Out Similarity Between Mudkip and South Park Characters
While fans may appreciate the older games and the more recent mobile game is fine and all, there's no topping South Park: The Stick of Truth and South Park: The Fractured But Whole. Both games reviewed well, with the first one typically average in the mid 80s for critic scores and the latter for lower 80s. And while it's been 7 years since the first game and 4 years since the second, these games hold up incredibly well. Graphics, tone, and everything about these games scream South Park, and they would do well going into 2027 as well.
As such, there's no reason not to pick them up and play them ahead of the upcoming release. Not only would it show what the franchise is capable of, but it could show where the games could improve. Of course, there's no telling if the new game would release as something similar to the two aforementioned games or something completely different, but it's hard to pass on the former, likely even for the creators. Sure, they could make anything, but they were both heavily involved in the development of The Stick of Truth and The Fractured But Whole, despite how difficult juggling all of their work must be. That's because there's a certain, unique vision in South Park, and it's hard to imagine anyone else capturing that.
It'd be interesting to see what theme the new game takes on, with everything from South Park's pandemic special and sports teams to its Guitar Hero episodes and more working as good inspiration. Notably, none of this is even required but would likely be involved. After all, The Stick of Truth took the rise of TTRPGs and ran with it, while The Fractured But Whole did the same with super heroes. There's enough out there to make a music-based, sports-based, horror-based pandemic, a streamer-based game, or even a cyberpunk-based game, with that being the short of it. There's no limit to the potential.
While preparing for a new game in a franchise by playing the older games ought to be a time-honored tradition, there are a handful of other reasons too. As mention, both games released on the rise of a particular popular brand, but those are still going. If anything, TTRPGs have only increased in popularity online, with shows like Matt Mercer's Critical Role and more appearing on places like Twitch. In the same vein, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has come a long way since 2017, with Thanos' defeat in Endgame bring that storyline to an end and shows like Loki bringing in the Multiverse. In fact, a multiverse-based South Park game could be interesting to see as well.
And, at the end of the day, there's always one reason to revisit past favorites: they're fun. Both games are relatively short romps that can easily fit into otherwise busy schedules, with the Stick of Truth taking about 11 hours to beat and 20 hours to get 100% completion. South Park: The Fractured But Whole takes slightly longer to beat, being about 17 hours for the main story and 27 to do everything. Either way, the future is looking bright for the franchise, but that doesn't mean fans shouldn't celebrate its past.
South Park: The Fractured But Whole is available now on PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.
MORE: South Park: The Vaccination Special Was a Major Improvement Over the Pandemic Special
