Of the many impressive games shown off during Ubisoft's briefing at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles this week, only one had the audience laughing hysterically one minute, oohing and aahing over a gameplay mechanic the next, and then shuffling uncomfortably at a risqué reference they weren't sure if they should find funny.
The game is called South Park: The Fractured But Whole, a name that describes the comic-inspired narrative of the upcoming role-playing game while also making sure that anybody who says it out loud sounds like they're discussing anal tears.
When I catch up with South Park's two creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone at E3 this week, Parker insists I don't call it by a shorter name or acronym.
"No, you gotta say the fractured … but … whole thing every single time," he says. "My favourite part of the whole game is the title."
"You can just call it butthole," Stone suggests.
Following the kids from South Park as they roleplay two crews of superheroes, FBW sees the characters fighting crime but also fighting a civil war among themselves over what it means to be a superhero.
"Cartman's vision of what you do as a superhero is sort of to take care of your brand and your image," Parker says.
"Sometimes he's thinking about fighting crime but he's really thinking about the big picture. I think kids today just really think that's being a superhero. You make a tonne of money and you figure out what your franchise is."
In the game, you play as the same 'new kid' who starred in the previous incarnation, The Stick of Truth. But while you spent that game rising through the ranks to eventually become king of all the kids, FBW takes place the very next day, when the game has shifted from emulating fantasy stories like Lord of The Rings and Game of Thrones to emulating comic book movies. So "you're back to being a douchebag again".
While the character theme has changed, it still plays like a role-playing game, as you explore the world and battle by taking turns to move around and deploy your powers. Also the same is the touch of nostalgia that comes with kids acting out their fantasies with total sincerity.
"We're having fun with that whole [superhero] language for the comedy, but really the game is about [how] you're a dork kid in town," Stone says. "You're the new kid in school. They're always going to treat you like a shit, and so you have to earn their trust."
The mix of juvenile comedy and intelligent satire all seen through the lens of schoolchildren will be familiar to viewers of the 19-season TV show, which is usually written and produced the week before broadcast to ensure maximum topicality. While its main characters and propensity for vicious satire and foul language remain, the tone of the show has matured since its early days, something Parker and Stone put down to their own growth.
"We just got older. We got better at what we were doing. When we started we were still relatively young," Stone says.
"We also kind of did the show just to make each other laugh and make our friends laugh," Parker adds.
"And now we're older and our friends are all older, so what makes them laugh is different shit. What we're paying attention to is different."
There have been a few South Park video games over the years, but Stick of Truth was the first to be written and overseen by Parker and Stone. In fact the first three games to carry the licence – they were released in the show's early days as it was becoming a mainstream phenomenon – were trashed by critics and the show's creators alike, for just not being that funny.
"We hated them," Parker says. "That's why we said 'no more video games', and there was a moratorium on them for 15 years because of those [licensed games]."
But once the pair – avid gamers themselves – realised consoles had reached a point where they could conceivably produce a game true to the show itself, they started kicking around some ideas to "finally do a game right".
Stick of Truth released to acclaim in 2014, but some critics were harsher than others – namely Parker and Stone themselves.
"We were reading reviews of Stick of Truth and it was like, 'Oh my god, so funny, so whatever, but it's not really an RPG ... The combat – you just kinda want to skip it,'" Parker says.
"We were like, 'Shit!' We really thought it could be both."
Stone says that first game was essentially a pilot.
"We learned a lot," he says.
"It's great – we're proud of it – but it's like, you just get it done and you're like, 'Oh, I think we just figured out how to do it.'
By revamping the game's combat system to be much more active and complex, and tying the comedy more closely with gameplay, the pair and development partners Ubisoft hope to finally deliver a South Park game that meets their own high standards.
"It's not like, you got to a place and then earned a joke," Parker says.
"That's the challenge. That's what we're trying to do."
The game is due for release in December on Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC.
The author travelled to Los Angeles as a guest of Microsoft.
