SWERY teases Deadly Premonition 2

Deadly Premonition designer SWERY has teased a sequel, and revealed his hope to release a Director's Cut of the first game this year.

Quirky open world horror game Deadly Premonition launched on Xbox 360 in 2010 and divided critics. Fans have hoped for a sequel ever since, but Hidetaka "SWERY" Suehiro has remained quiet - until now.

Last week Eurogamer caught up with the Japanese designer at Gamescom for an update. He confirmed that the original Deadly Premonition team is back together working on a new project to coincide with the 10th anniversary of developer Access Games.

"We're in talks with publishers at the moment, and we can't tell you about the platforms," he said. "But by next summer, I think everyone will have a good idea of what it's going to be.

"After Deadly Premonition everyone wanted to know when the next project was coming along. I told them it would be in 10 years' time. So I think they're still waiting!"

SWERY, who is searching for a publisher for the new project, stopped short of confirming the new game as Deadly Premonition 2. "Hmm, maybe!" was all he said.

But he did give us an idea of what he intends for the sequel, which he said he'd be honoured to make.

"In Deadly Premonition I really tried to focus on lifestyle and the relationships between the characters and experiencing those things in the game, and there just happened to be a murder mystery going on as well. But what I really wanted people to experience was those day to day things. In the new game that's going to be important as well. Plus some extra things I wasn't able to do before, and new original elements like the coffee fortune telling.

"I meet once a month with the producer of Deadly Premonition and we talk about various things. There are things I've come up with the producer has said no to. I suggested Deadly Premonition 2 should be as though Deadly Premonition 1 had never existed. I wanted to do everything from scratch, but the producer said I couldn't do that.

"So, for example, like with Spider-Man, you've got Spider-Man and the Amazing Spider-Man, so the same series but a different world. I wanted to do something like that but was told no. The producer said the fans love York, and so I have to carry on with him as the protagonist."

Meanwhile, SWERY confirmed his intention to release a Director's Cut of the first game during Access Games' 10th anniversary year - that is, at some point this year.

SWERY is after a publisher for this game, too, so was tight-lipped on details. "We are planning a Director's Cut of Deadly Premonition and there will be a proper announcement about that soon," he said. "I've been having a few meetings about that here as well.

"It's not finalised yet, but personally I'd like for us to be able to do it during this 10th anniversary year."

But, again, he did provide some details: "I'll be able to tell you more when the publisher has announced it formally. Just think about this as a rumour," he teased.

"We're working on the Director's Cut of Deadly Premonition, and I am writing some new script and scenarios. Whether those will be used or not, and how they'll be used, isn't decided yet.

"When Deadly Premonition went on sale, I got loads of feedback from the users, opinions, complaints. So I've got a list of about 200 things they want improved. I'm going through that list and choosing the things I think will be good to work on. I can't tell you in detail, but things like the controls and graphics."