D4: Dark Dreams Don’t Die – at least no Kinect makes sense

The creator of cult hit Deadly Premonition talks to GameCentral about the PC version of D4 and hits about his future plans for more games.

To say that the unveiling of the Xbox One was memorable is something of understatement. We were there in person, at Microsoft’s HQ in Redmond, but for various obvious reasons the games unveiled that day aren’t really what stick in our mind… except for D4: Dark Dreams Don’t Die.

D4 is the follow-up to Deadly Premonition, the indescribably odd cult hit from Hidetaka Suehiro, aka SWERY. The two games are, at least for the moment, unconnected but despite a few qualms we loved it when it was released last September on Xbox One. We get the feeling very few other people even know it exists though, which is hopefully something that will change with the recently announced PC version.



You can read our original review of the D4 here, where we try our best to describe its bizarre mix of Telltale Games style episodic adventure, slapstick QTE mini-games, and SWERY’s inscrutable sense of humour. The PC version is basically the same but removes the Kinect controls of the original, adds in all the extra DLC, and smooths out the frame rate to 60 frames per second.


But in trying to organise a series of email Q&As we were more interested in finding out when more episodes would be released and whether there’ll ever be more Deadly Premonition. We’re not sure we really got any answers, but as ever with SWERY (we’d interviewed him once before in 2011) it was fun just trying to find out…

GC: What’s the current status of D4 and can we expect more episodes this year?

HS: Your question is making my mouth tingle… But at the time, I can’t say anything about that. Please just keep a close eye on @swery65.

GC: Rumours suggested that Microsoft got cold feet about the project and refused to continue to help fund it – is that true?

HS: Wow! People are so excited for the next episodes of D4 that they’ve started spreading rumours like that? Awesome!!

GC: Who is publishing the PC version of D4 and do you still have an ongoing relationship with Microsoft?

HS: As I announced officially, PLAYISM will be publishing the PC version of D4. In order to make sure a game as mysterious as D4 can penetrate the PC market, I need a community that brings me close to the players, so I needed to select a partner who had a scale and way of thinking that was similar to Access Games’. As far as PR for the PC version goes, I intend on using my own time and legs to talk to more with the players, in my own words.

Of course, I still have a good relationship with Microsoft. I’m just always thinking about the best course of action for each specific situation.

GC: How far have you planned out the story and how long are individual seasons intended to be? Episode Two was much shorter than Episode One, so which is indicative of future releases?



HS: I finished the story surrounding Little Peggy’s murder in April 2013, but I can’t reveal any more details about it yet.

GC: How pleased are you with the first two episodes of D4 and what do you think were the most successful elements?

HS: How pleased was I? ‘I’ve never once made a perfect omelet in my entire life!’

I think that with D4, our greatest success was getting players who normally hate motion controls to enjoy playing D4.

D4: Dark Dreams Don’t Die – don’t let SWERY’s dreams die

GC: How do you respond to accusations that some of the characters relied too much on stereotypes, and could be construed as sexist or homophobic?

HS: Currently, there are no homosexual characters in D4. Meta-wise, there are certain elements I put in that express Forrest Kaysen’s love for David Young. (Emotions similar to homosexual love that exist beyond a deep friendship.) But there isn’t a single character for whom ‘being gay’ is part of their personality.

If those accusations are referring to Duncan, then let me make it clear. He isn’t homosexual, he’s object-sexual. Something completely different. If there are people out there who are confusing these two things and saying that D4 (or SWERY) is homophobic or discriminatory, then I think they may be guilty of committing some discrimination of their own, deep within their psyches. And that’s a shame.

GC: Japanese developers often seem to have little experience with PC gaming, so are you confident that D4 will look and play at least as well as the Xbox version?


HS: D4 is Access Games’ first PC game. Therefore, I think there may be some people out there who are worried about the answer to that question. But please, there’s no reason to worry. I gave direction during the transfer to PC, and the entire D4 team is working on it. We’ve been doing the proper quality checks, ensuring game stability, and communicating with the players as much as possible!

GC: What new changes and additions will you be adding to the PC version and will it still support Kinect?

HS: There have been a lot of changes to the PC version. We got rid of all the Kinect controls and redesigned the game so that it could be played entirely with the mouse. I think that’s the biggest change. We also rebuilt the gameplay system, of course, as well as the user interface. It also moves at 60 fps now, load times are shorter, we redesigned the balance, fixed known bugs, and did everything we could to make D4 a more comfortable experience.

GC: In general what is your view of the PC as a gaming format? In the West it has seen a resurgence of interest in recent years thanks to indie gaming, but very few of these titles are from Japanese creators. Do you think this will change in time and is the PC better suited to a game like D4, or at least the audience that would appreciate it?

HS: Compared to consoles, I think the PC has really become a household item. Not just businessmen, but students, housewives, doctors, writers, firemen, policemen, and even monks in temples have PCs. With that in mind, I think the vast continent that is the PC market holds infinite possibilities for games.


Now, you can use a piece of hardware that you already have in your home to check out a game. That’s pretty amazing when you think about it. And the truth is, ever since I announced the PC version of D4, I’ve gotten a ton of support from people in all sorts of different countries. People in countries nearby, as well as people on the other side of the globe… I’m not even sure where some of them are from! But they all say they want to play D4.

Now I think I finally know what ‘global entertainment’ really is. From here on out, culture like movies, novels, comic books, art, and music are all going to have to globalise how they’re released if they want to catch up to video games.

Currently, there are very few Japanese games that have been developed for the PC market, which I think is largely in part due to the current environment Japanese people live in. How’s it going to change from here on out? I’m not sure, but at the very least, I’m personally working hard to transmit information to the entire world. I think that’ll connect us to the future of games.

If even just a little of what I’m doing and the way I think could reach the talented creators of the future, then that’d be truly wonderful.

That’s why I’m praying from the bottom of my heart that people around the world will embrace the PC version of D4.

D4: Dark Dreams Don’t Die – almost as odd as Deadly Premonition

GC: Are you ever intending to return to Deadly Premonition with a new game, and if not what else are you working on at the moment?

HS: Deadly Premonition is always on my mind. But I have no idea what form it’ll take, when it’ll appear, who I’ll work on it with, or how I’ll present it. The only answers are in the coffee.

Aside from that, I’m also working on a story about a high school girl detective who uses the imagination (fantasising) energy from masturbating to help her solve murders. But all the publishers keep telling me ‘There’s no way we could put out such a perverted game!’ LOL!

I wish someone would let me make it.

In closing, I want to thank you very much for thinking about D4 and giving me this interview. D4 is a completely different game from Deadly Premonition. The characters, story, graphics, animations, audio, and game experience are all completely different. But they’re both pieces that I poured my soul into, and I think they both turned out pretty well.

I hope those who played Season One, as well as those who have yet to play it, will continue to play D4 in the future.

GC: Was there any deeper meaning behind the D4 and Deadly Premonition April Fool and could there really be a crossover?

HS: People’s brains are incapable of imagining things that are ‘impossible’. If people can imagine it, then there’s a possibility that it could become real. It all comes down to whether people have what it takes or not.

GC: Can you talk at all about your other upcoming projects and what formats they will be on?

HS: Upcoming projects… you mean aside from D4? Hmmm. I’m working on a lot. But it’s all stuff that I can’t talk about yet. Access Games is doing work for bigger companies and working on our own original projects. We’re also working on VR stuff, of course. And personally, I’ve been working on writing a novel.

But I’m not sure which of these things will reach a stage of completion where I can actually reveal them to you all. I might be able to release them all, and they might all end up as failures.

That’s why it’s fun to create, and why I can never stop doing it.

Thank you so much for this interview.

I Love You All!!

Formats: PC

Publisher: PLAYISM

Developer: Access Games

Release Date: 5th June 2015

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