Thongs of Virtue Storms Onto The North Pole and Into Your Consoles

Back in July, the world met DeathSpank.  Dispenser of Justice, Vanquisher of Evil, and Hero to the Downtrodden.  He was a character just ridiculous enough to work, so ridiculous in fact that a full blown sequel is set to be released a mere two months after the original game!! Bearing the purple Thong of Justice, DeathSpank is now on a new mission, to recover the remaining Thongs of Virtue.  Watch the trailer below before we go any further:

Prepare for more zany enemies, more ridiculous loot, and more evil vanquishing than ever before.  This game is 50% bigger than the original, but it’s all killer and no filler!! Featuring non-stop over the top hack n slash action and  the trademark humor of Ron Gilbert (Monkey Island/Maniac Mansion)  DeathSpank is destined to become a classic. Check out the Ripten review of the original DeathSpank HERE.

Without giving too much away, let’s just say that this game takes “over the top” to a whole new level.  Not only just swords and axes!! Our hero now wields flamethrowers and machine guns!!  And what would a Ron Gilbert game be without pirate ships!?  Take down nuns and chickens and even storm the North Pole to take down Santa Claus!!  What? You don’t believe me!?  Then watch this video you nonbelieving nonbeliever!! I’ll teach you not to believe in things!!

So anyway, we decided to catch up with DeathSpank and Thongs of Virtue producer Hamish Millar from Hothead Games to get some insight into just what makes DeathSpank so awesome.

DO:  So, DeathSpank: Thongs of Virtue, a full blown sequel to a game that just came out a few months ago . . . what gives!?

HM:  Yes, as ridiculous as the game itself (laughs)

DO:  Why is an arcade title the way to go with a game like this?  Why not a full blown retail release?

HM:  It was a combination of publisher and developer decisions.  You can easily bring titles to the downloadable space with less cost than you can with retail, and that enables you to take more risks and have more fun.  Coming up with a game like DeathSpank that has such a unique flavor is a risky thing to do right?  So the downloadable space just seemed to make the most sense to us.  And from what we’ve seen, it’s paid off.

DO:  So was Thongs of Virtue already planned during the development of DeathSpank?  or are you guys just really fast at making games!?

HM:  Well yes, it was.  The first game was all about figuring out, “Who is DeathSpank?  What sort of world does he live in?  What does that world look like?  Who are the other characters who inhabit that world?  What’s the tone of the game?” So once we established that, the mind just starts to go wild with all the possibilities of what we can do with a game like this.  The second game was well into development by the time we were putting the finishing touches on the first. But giving it a cliffhanger ending was a huge point of contention amongst us, so we weren’t sure how to bridge the two games.  However, after extensive playtesting, it seemed that people just really wanted to play more, so we went in that direction (cliffhanger), and it seems to have worked :-)  For those not familiar with the original DeathSpank, there will still be an introductory section, and then you’ll end up right back where you were at the end of the first game.

DO:  Was there any trepidation when making a game like this?  Did you ever think that people just wouldn’t get it?

HM:  Basically there was so much passion between Ron (Gilbert) and the team, that we decided to just go for it. And once we started to see it come together, with the art style and voice actors, we had the feeling that we were on to something pretty special.

DO:  Since the original DeathSpank was successful, was that why you wanted to get this one out right away?

HM:  Well, it’s not often you have a sequel already loaded into the barrel and ready to fire like this.  So for the fans who really wanted more, we were happy to be able to deliver for them.

DO:  Besides the obvious, what makes DeathSpank so unique?

HM:  Well , we had this idea for a character than was the ultimate parody of every video game hero, just such a ridiculous hero.  Then, once Michael Dobson started speaking for the role, we knew we’d found our DeathSpank.  We just really wanted him to take the piss out of all other video game characters, and we think he does.

DO:  So, What’s with the thongs?

HM:  (Laughs)  That was a high level idea from Ron, and a bit of a play on Lord of the Rings.  We wanted to wrap up the first game with a bit of a secret that Lord Von Prong’s power was coming from the Thong of Courage. And we’ve really managed to flesh out Ron’s thong idea with all these different thongs and different powers and enemies to fight within the second game.

DO:  Ok, but … why thongs!?

HM:  (Laughs) I dunno, Why not thongs!? In order to really answer that question I think you’d really need to pry open Ron’s head.

DO:  Haha, indeed.  So what’s new in Thongs of Virtue and how are you taking the ridiculousness to the next level?

HM:  Well the game’s about 50% longer than the original . . .

DO: Wow.  That’s like . . . a lot!!

HM:  Oh yeah.  Well in the first game, we had one tyrant, in one land.  And now we’ve got a whole bunch of tyrants.  So we’ve just put DeathSpank in all sorts of crazy environments.  Lets see what else . . . there’s a prostitute, you kill a nun, you get an achievement for ruining Christmas (really late spoiler alert!!) Sometimes we wonder if we’ve gone too far . . .

DO:  Nah, I think you’re right on point.

HM: (Laughs)

DO:  So, if this is another successful DeathSpank game, what do you see as the future of DeathSpank and the future of Hothead games?

HM:  Well, I’d love to speculate on that, but having just given birth to two games, we’re all pretty exhausted and want to see these two be successful.

DO:  Any plans for an uber full blown console 3D DeathSpank!?

HM:  Hah, well there’s no plans at this time, but I have to say I think DeathSpank would look amazing in 3D.

DO:  Ok, so one last question, what is the greatest thing about DeathSpank?

HM: (Chuckles) Hmm, definitely just the character himself.  What makes him so great is that he doesn’t take himself too seriously, and neither do we.

Well, one thing you can take seriously is the amount of fun you’ll have playing Thongs of Virtue.  It’s not often you come across a game that is fun as well as legitimately funny.  And for a mere $15, how can you go wrong!?

DeathSpank: Thongs of Virtue is available TODAY (9/21) on PSN and TOMORROW (9/22) on XBL

Even though it’s 50% larger than the original, it’s still the same price!! What are you waiting for!?  Christmas?  Screw Christmas!! There is justice to be dispensed!!