Deadly Premonition

you hear that, Zach? getting the game to run properly on PC is a survival horror in itself

Let’s get one thing straight right out of the gate: Deadly Premonition is not a good game. The controls are a crime. The combat feels like it was added two weeks before launch by someone who had only seen guns in movies. The driving mechanics? I have piloted shopping carts with better handling. The graphics range from “late PS2” to “why does the rain look like glitter glue?” And I love it. I love it. I don’t love it in a “so bad it’s good” way. I love it in a “this is art and I will protect it with my life” way. This game is magic. It’s Twin Peaks fanfiction filtered through espresso, surrealism, and budget-induced delirium. It’s awkward, charming, deeply broken, and somehow manages to be one of the most memorable experiences I’ve ever had in gaming. You play as FBI Special Agent Francis York Morgan—a man who talks to his imaginary friend “Zach” in the middle of conversations, ranks coffee on its emotional honesty, and casually comments on 80s horror movies while investigating brutal murders in a cursed forest town. And somehow? It works. The story is genuinely compelling. The characters are weirdos in the best way. And despite the technical mess, the game somehow manages moments of sincere beauty and emotional weight. Now, about my Steam playtime. It says like 3 hours. That’s a lie. That’s the Steam version being Steam. It crashed, froze, glitched out, and lost save data like it was part of a performance art piece. I played way more than that. At least 30 hours across reinstalls, alt-tabs, and weird workarounds. And I don’t regret a single second. Not even the time I got stuck in a wall. Twice. Is the game good? No. Is it great? Also no. Is it somehow essential? Absolutely. Deadly Premonition isn’t a game you play because it’s good. It’s a game you play because it stares into your soul, hands you a turkey sandwich with strawberry jam, and tells you to believe in the heart of the town. It’s terrible. It’s brilliant. I love it unconditionally. And if you don’t, that’s okay—Zach and I understand.

Your game is crashing in the hospital because it's looking for a file in your game's /updata/movie folder that isn't there. It doesn't actually use the video files in there as far as I can tell, except to check to see if they're there. If one is missing, the game crashes. The subfolder /updata/movie/prm can be used as a sort of manifest to see which files are missing. Because the game doesn't actually play those video files, you can resolve the issue by creating a blank text file and saving it with the appropriate name (the first missing file is ScnD03.wmv, names are not case sensitive) and making sure to add the .wmv file extension. If you want, you can even replace the existing .wmv files in the /updata/movie folder (DO NOT REPLACE THE FILES IN /updata/movie/prm) with blank text files saved with the .wmv file extension and cut the game's filesize by over a third.
You're welcome.
P.S. If you find the game crashing for you at the same spot repeatedly, try taking a different route. I find that trying to take Adam's St toward the hospital in Chapter 6 does this.

An ambitious, unconventional and gripping game held back somewhat by a low budget and technical problems. This game will really fight you at times and you've got to push on. Twin Peaks X RE4 X Silent Hill X a lot of other things. If you want a truly unique experience I cannot recommend this enough.
Quick summary of what I used: DPFix patch (settings tweaked to taste), Deadly Premonition Controller+ Steam input layout (this one fixes the right stick. The game also has issues with triggers, so swaps trigger and button functionality). Set Win95 compatibility for the games .exe's and then restart your PC so you can up/down further (You can get by without it, but you NEED that aiming later on to beat that game). See PCGamingWiki page for details.
PRO TIPS
- Save save save save save save. Save often.
- Back up your saves often. As often as you want, for me that was every 2 hours or so, just in case.
- The game has a tendency to crash and be hard locked during a certain chapter (8 or 9 roughly? Smoke cigs inside the diner before leaving. See PCGW.) Keep all your saves just in case!. Your save is in the game's main folder with the .exe, in the file "savedata" called dp.
- YOU CAN LEAVE STORY MISSIONS WITHOUT CONSEQUENCE. They just take place the next day, so don't feel bad about leaving them for side stuff. No Dead Rising "SCOOP LOST!" here. However, you CAN miss side missions, say... if anything happens to who gives you them...
- Some story missions "flow together", so you can't do side stuff with certain people between them.
- Side missions, there's a great steam guide for them listing how to find, start and do them:
- DO MISSION 4 (Dumbbell), THEN 5 (get a flower when it's raining) ASAP! It unlocks fast travel to anywhere you've been before with the Radio. YOU REALLY WANT THIS.
- The Spirit Maps you can buy from The Milk Barn store (talk to the rocker bro!) lead you to brief combat gauntlets and reward you with infinite ammo upgraded weapons, get them.
- Do side missions 24, 23, then 25 (they are rather short, don't worry, a cinch with fast travel too) to get increased item slots.
- Play darts and beat the high score at SWERY65 to earn increased weapon slots.

This is the greatest game of all time. Bad controls? Nope, that's intentional. Cliche dialogue? Wrong again, all part of the genius that is the story. Doesn't work on PC without mods? Well yeah but again, all part of the mystique. So bad it's good? HA, try so good it can never be reproduced. There's no world where a Twin Peaks video game could ever be good, so thank god we have this masterpiece. I saw this entire review in my cup of coffee

This is a godawful game. If you like this, I love you.
I'm convinced there's a Bethesda bug that accidentally launches the .exe file of this game instead of Starfield, hence all of the boiling hate. Either that, or when you double click on "Dragon Age: The Veilguard," this abomination pops up.
This is by far the worst game I've ever played, but it moved me tremendously and actually made me cry.
Zach, we should probably tell them to literally restart their computer to successfully beat the hospital level in Chapter 3, eh?
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Notes to my past-self:
* You will momentarily quit playing the game because of computer crashes. Eventually, you'll figure out that you need to save A LOT. Every chance you can. If a cutscene freezes, just restart your computer and you'll be able to continue. There are a lot of save points, so you won't ever lose much progress.
* The beginning will be really off-putting. Some kinda funny, juvenile things. But you will really start to like the game once it opens up. You get a cop car and get to drive around Greenvale, and you'll really love doing that.
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I feel bad for anyone who wants to play this but can't due to hardware/software issues. Luckily, my computer was able to run it, albeit with several hard crashes/freezes.
The game can be very gruesome and perverted and clunky, and so there's no way I would ever recommend it. But I'm compelled to someday make my own "Let's Play" series on this so more people can experience this game. I would honestly use this as an example of "video games as art". Only 6.1% of all players on Steam have reached the ending, and I'm SHOCKED the number is that high. But I'm really glad I contributed to that statistic.

Good luck playing this version of the game.
If you can get this version working or you want that legal gray spot of "well I payed for the game so I can pirate it". You are in for a bat shit insane Alice steps thru the looking glass mystery horror. Tho dated for even when it was released, it has that spark that makes it worth it.
HOWEVER don't expect this game to work on Steam. The pirates at least have the courtesy of making sure the game runs. Unlike Steam. Ya, anyone that quotes Gabe about piracy being a service problem, you are a fool. Steam was never about service or beating the pirates. It was about convenience to the already paying players. This game proving that.