You might not know this, but that alarmingly good Paper Mario-inspired RPG, The Stick of Truth, and its sequel, The Fractured But Whole? As it turns out, those are based on what’s referred to as a “television program” called South Park. It might not be a videogame, but mercifully for my attention span, it does show brief gameplay of one in its most recent episode: Tolkien is seen playing none other than extraction shooter tour de force Arc Raiders.
Eurogamer highlighted a LinkedIn post that shared the story of how it came to be. Embark’s marketing lead, Ashley St. Germain, said of the cameo: “There’s a lot to be thankful for this year, but I don’t know how I’m going to top this week. On Monday South Park inquired if a character could play Arc Raiders in an upcoming episode, on Tuesday we provided footage, and on Wednesday we were in season 28’s ‘Turkey Trot’ episode. Like Tolkien, I guess a lot of us just can’t put down Arc Raiders.”
It’s not the first time South Park has referenced popular videogames with straight-up footage. The lauded “Make Love, Not Warcraft” episode primarily takes place in a Machinima-like rendition of the game itself, and while the show’s provocative humor might not be for everyone, its references to gaming are more attentive than most. It’s given back to the medium as well, both with the aforementioned RPGs, the recent good-not-great action game Snow Day, and that other one that got one of our lowest scores ever.
The story’s also an interesting peek behind the curtain at how chaotic and down-to-the-wire production on a South Park episode is. I suppose that’s the price of staying current.
