About two weeks ago, the South Park Pandemic Special aired and tackled the pure chaos that is 2020. The story brings together several elements of the pandemic such as faked Zoom calls, the return to school, social distancing, and masks, while also tackling ideas of police brutality and more. South Park's Pandemic Special pulled big numbers when it aired, and it's clear why. Although its critical reception was slightly mixed, South Park's signature humor is a much-needed way to laugh during such trying times.
With 2.3 million views on Comedy Central and 4.05 million overall, it's the highest-rated South Park episode in seven years. While it's promising for the show's official 24th season (which remains unannounced), it's also promising for yet another game in the series. South Park: The Stick of Truth and South Park: The Fractured But Whole were solid RPGs set in the in-show universe, and this pandemic episode could and should be used to inform the next entry in the franchise (which, too, remains unannounced).
The Last Game: The Fractured But Whole
Stepping foot into The Stick of Truth's New Kid, players become involved in a civil war between the South Park kids in trying to make their own superhero franchise in the Fractured But Whole. This turns into a conspiracy of crime, monsters, and more, with the game offering players a better RPG class system than its original. South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone were mostly involved, although reports indicate this slowed down the further into development the game got, due to their busy schedules.
As such, the next game is likely far away if it hasn't already entered development. Ubisoft has had some games delayed that could have pushed the next entry off, but as projects like Assassin's Creed Valhalla, Far Cry 6, Immortals Fenyx Rising, and Rainbow Six Quarantine come to an "end," Ubisoft may be finding its new normal. That means smaller franchises like South Park may get their time to shine, as more resources could appear elsewhere.
Although it could still be quite a few years, as both games were subject to numerous delays, 2020's not soon to be forgotten. So whether 2-3 years from now or sooner, if we're lucky, there's the content and time to make the sequel to South Park: The Fractured But Whole special.
Elements of the South Park Special
There are several elements of the South Park special that would translate to its game world well. Police become the teachers at the school, and while this may just be for the special, it would be especially potent if it carried into the 24th season. This would open a way for the next game to explore South Park's school but add a nice twist to it. In this way, instead of fighting Hall Monitors, the police could easily be satirized here.
The general social distancing would see less characters in concentrated areas, but it would also open up some unique storytelling in South Park: The Fractured But Whole's sequel. Build-a-Bear could become a main hub, and many characters like Butters could find themselves in unusual positions. Combat could also build off of this, making a joke out of social distancing fighting and potentially even having it occur "online." There's also the Pandemic Special strand itself from Tegridy Farms that would be an interesting in-game item, and the plethora of Randy Marsh's moustaches that could appear. Or, even more to that, there could be fights over how to where a mask, which is as funny as it is sad.
How the residents of South Park view doctors in such times, how the in-universe President could be involved, and more are all interesting ways to present a game without necessarily changing the game world. Further, South Park: The Stick of Truth had a macguffin of sorts in the titular item, and something like the Pangolin could be so yet again. The way this special presents the world of South Park is very different from the typical world yet ripe for an appearance in video games.
Theme of the Next South Park RPG
There's one caveat to this, though: the South Park Pandemic Special is, in a way, just another episode. Of course, it's an hour long, but it's not an episode with a particular subtheme to it. Both past games have used these to expand on a fantasy style story, with the first game clearly being a fantasy game and the latter being a superhero game. The question thus becomes what kind of theme would work with a game using the Pandemic Special as a jumping-off point.
Of course, a standard South Park setting would likely still work if lose some of its mysticism, while a brand new theme or alter egos for the characters being invented exclusively for the game offer a unique experience. There's a lot of options in the main show itself, though. For example, many characters like Cartman and Butters have alter egos based on vampires, and it could become a horror-styled RPG building from Fractured But Whole's From Dusk Till Casa Bonita DLC. This would work hand-in-hand, as it would be far from the first "horror game" based on a pandemic, but it is one that would work well with the style of the special.
Alternatively, it could go more in-depth with the idea of social distancing, and specifically, how social influencers and social media has played such a big role in keeping many sane. Alter-egos like "Cartmanbrah" would work well here, if it didn't go into a full cyberpunk, battle online style of game. It would be interesting to see the characters in a "digital" form battling against the pandemic, but in general, there's a ton of options for the next game, particularly how it uses (if it does) the content of this special.
Ultimately, it remains to be seen when and if another South Park RPG drops, but with few games that could safely and effectively satirize 2020's chaos, there's room for this to be something more.
South Park: The Fractured But Whole is available now for PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.