It’s hard to believe that it has been twenty years since South Park premiered on Comedy Central and that it has just entered its 21st season and is closing in on almost 300 episodes. While no one could have predicted the show’s success, the foul mouths of Stan, Kyle, Kenny, and Cartman have resonated with America, making South Park not only one of Comedy Central’s highest rated shows of all times, but also one of the longest running animated sitcoms of all time as well.
With so much popularity surrounding the South Park franchise, it didn’t take long for the video game industry to capitalize on its success. Multiple games were released throughout the series’ run from a first person shooter to a tower defense game, but none of them were particularly good or really captured the humor of the show. In 2014, South Park: The Stick of Truth launched to positive reviews, creating a game that was not only fun to play but captured the essence of the show.
Due to the game’s success, it seemed only natural that South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone would follow up with a sequel, this time creating a satire of the superhero industry that has flooded theaters over the past decade. South Park: The Fractured But Whole is nothing short of a love letter to the animated series and it is filled to the brim with so many secrets and inside jokes that only the biggest fans of the show would catch. While there is a lot to do in The Fractured But Whole, there are plenty of secrets buried deep within the game. Whether you’ve already beaten the game or just purchased a copy, here are a few things that you may not have known about in The Fractured But Whole.
25 Go To Canada… Sort Of
If you played through The Stick of Truth, you probably remember at one point traversing through Canada… and it being one of the more interesting levels in the game as the country looked like an 8-bit video game straight from the NES era with a world map overhead view along with an 8-bit version of Bigger, Longer, and Uncut’s “Blame Canada.” While Canada doesn’t play near as an important role in The Fractured But Whole, you can still visit it… well, sort of.
Canada is located in the same area as it was in the game’s prequel, Northeast to the U-Stor-It. There will be a farmer blocking your path and he will be impossible to get past until you get the ability to stop time with your farts (I feel like there will be a lot of sentences in this list that I never thought I’d write). After solving a simple puzzle using your new ability, you will be able to get past the farmer and reach Canada’s border. Those familiar with the show will remember that a couple of seasons ago, the Canadian Prime Minister erected a wall to keep Americans out of Canada, an obvious dig at Donald Trump. While it may not be as exciting as actually visiting Canada like in the first game, it’s neat to see the game carry on the continuity from the show, eh?
24 Howdy Ho! Meet Mr. Hankey!
It’s unfortunate to see that Mr. Hankey’s role has been made much smaller this time around as compared to The Stick of Truth, but I guess since he had a decent role before, Trey Parker and Matt Stone wanted to focus on different material. Mr. Hankey still makes a cameo at the very least, but he is rather easy to miss unless you back track later in the game to an area you already explored.
Once you’ve teamed up with Toolshed, a.k.a. Stan Marsh, you’ll be able to use his sandblaster ability in the South Park Community Center. In the women’s bathroom, break the wall behind the trash can finding an area where you can use Toolshed’s buddy ability. After using Toolshed’s sandblaster ability on the pipes, the pipes will erupt and force… well, a mountain of excrement out of the bathroom stall along with our favorite Christmas poo Mr. Hankey. Normally, I’d advise against this, but the mess is totally worth it to bring forth some Christmas joy!
23 Fight Morgan Freeman
The Fractured But Whole deviates from traditional RPG tropes, avoiding an extensive end game or any crazy optional bosses that require hours of grinding… yet the game does throw in one optional boss that could be easy to miss if you aren’t prone to whacking random NPCs.
Morgan Freeman appears early on in the game as your mentor and occasionally shows up throughout the game in “force ghost” form in order to teach the new kid how to progress throughout the game… and naturally, gaining more freckles every time he explains something. To fight Morgan Freeman, all you have to do is visit his taco shop Freeman’s Taco (because why not have him run a taco shop?) and hit him a few times until he challenges you. It’s important to note that he won’t fight you if you are playing as a black character and that you probably shouldn’t challenge him unless you’re pretty much toward the end of the game as he is the most difficult fight in the game.
22 Get Berated For Cheating
Early on in the game, you need to gain access to the Coon’s lair which is in Cartman’s basement. There is a security system set up that requires a password for entry. If you explore Cartman’s house, specifically his room, you can find the code that grants you access to the basement.
The game is somewhat self aware about whether you actually find the code or not. While many players will likely find it by exploring, we still live in the internet age where solutions to video game puzzles can easily be looked up on the internet. If you put in the correct passcode before finding it in Cartman’s notebook in his room, Cartman will then call you Tom Brady dressed as coach of the New England Patriots, Bill Belichick and accuse you of cheating.
21 Find Microaggressions To Gain The Upper Hand
PC Principal is one of the more notable characters to debut in South Park in recent years and his inclusion in The Fractured But Whole is more than welcome. Lacking any real name or history, all we know about PC Principal is that he is the typical meathead fraternity bro who loves political correctness, trying to turn the prejudices of South Park on its head.
Known for attacking people when he hears microaggressions, or casual derogatory remarks toward minorities, PC Principal teaches the new kid how to detect microaggressions… which in the game is pretty obvious since the term “Microaggression!” will be shouted after someone uses one in the middle of battle either belittling your ethnicity or gender among other things. If you catch it by pushing the button prompt in time, you will be able to get an extra attack on your foe classic PC Principal style. To have PC Principal teach you about microaggressions, visit him in Crunchy’s Micro Brew.
20 Change Your Race Or Ethnicity
Making decisions like creating a character at the beginning of a game is usually something that sticks throughout your adventure in most video games. This isn’t really the case with The Fractured But Whole since most things that seem like major character creation choices are something that can be changed on a whim. The same thing goes for your race and ethnicity.
PC Principal will help you determine your ethnicity and race on your character sheet along with teaching you about microaggressions. PC Principal will ask you to go out in the world and target five microaggressions for him. After doing so, you can actually return to Crunchy’s Micro Brew to speak to him at any time in order to change your race or ethnicity. There isn’t much of a reason to do so, but your character’s background will change how other characters interact with you on the streets so it’s interesting to see the results. Not only that, but it also helps if you created a black character and wanted to change in order to fight Morgan Freeman.
19 Leave No NPC Unfarted On
If You played The Stick of Truth, you probably won’t be surprised to see that farting is a central element once more in The Fractured But Whole. Not only does it fuel multiple attacks, but it also powers up your buddy abilities as well. The new kid certainly does have one amazing ass… no wonder the kids dubbed him Butthole.
While there really isn’t much reason to use your farts outside of battles, other than to power up your buddy abilities or to make a gas tank explode, farting in public does still have quite a bit of comedic value to it. Thankfully, you can pretty much fart on any one in the town of South Park. Even though there isn’t much of a purpose to it, it is still fun to hear the townspeople’s reactions as you fart on them.
18 Get Extra Loot In Your Room
Pretty much anything with a gold/yellow handle can be interacted with in The Fractured But Whole. That includes treasure chests, doors, boxes, and drawers. It’s good to keep your eye open for these specific items as loot will often respawn throughout your adventure in South Park.
One of the more notable respawn points for loot is the new kid’s toy box in his room as it will frequently be getting new loot such as items or costumes throughout the game, but that can easily be missed if you’re not rechecking areas you’ve already searched. Anytime you see the toy box icon over your house on the world map, that means there is more loot worth going back to check for.
17 Search For Yaoi Drawings
One of the more interesting plot points in South Park over its past few seasons was the developing relationship between Tweek and Craig… two characters who rarely interacted with one another throughout the series, yet the Asian girls of South Park Elementary developed an affinity for drawing Yaoi featuring the two, causing the town to cheer their relationship on and eventually having Tweek and Craig giving in to just dating one another. It’s a long departure from when the two were being tricked into fighting one another in season three. It seems like these two’s lives are always being affected by the meddling of others!
Multiple Yaoi drawings were featured in the episode “Tweek X Craig” and they make an appearance in The Fractured But Whole… forty to be exact. While it is an optional side quest, you can pretty much find these drawings everywhere, turning them into Craig’s father to earn loot and other surprises.
16 Capture Any Moment With Your Phone
Your phone does a few nifty things in The Fractured But Whole, serving as Butthole’s main menu and hub for navigating various menus. Surely, you’ve noticed that you can take a bunch of selfies with various South Park residents as that’s how you befriend them on Coonstagram, but did you know you could capture pretty much any moment with a selfie?
You’ll often explore the town of South Park stumbling upon bizarre and humorous things and often times you’ll wish you could capture the moment. Yes, consoles and PC already offer screenshot options, but there is a novelty to snapping a selfie and saving it right to the new kid’s phone. To take a selfie, just hit the selfie button you’d hit when befriending someone on Coonstagram and get snapping!
15 Customize Your Smartphone
There was a time when kids would play with Hungry Hungry Hippos or Super Soakers to pass the time… these days, it seems like every kid six and up has a smartphone. That’s okay, though, because your smartphone in The Fractured But Whole will serve many uses throughout your adventure! But just because you have a virtual cell phone that was designed by Ubisoft doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be able to customize it the way you want to.
Go to the settings on your phone in order to customize your phone to your liking. You can change its color along with its wallpaper which varies from anything from nature settings to snapshots you’ve taken in the game. You can even change the background to Tweek and Craig Yaoi drawings if that’s your thing!
14 Change The Difficulty Whenever You Want
South Park: The Fractured But Whole isn’t exactly a difficult game. Most veteran video game players will be able to make there way through the town without too much trouble, but every so often, there might be a tricky battle that you’ll have trouble with… or maybe you’re hoping for a bit more of a challenge.
Luckily, you can also change the difficulty whenever you wish in the game simply by going to the main menu and going to “Combat Difficulty.” Unlike choosing your skin tone at the beginning of the game, this actually changes how difficult enemy encounters are. However, changing it to a lower setting or changing your skin tone to a non-black character could limit you from getting the trophy for beating the game on the highest difficulty setting.
13 Buy You’re Own Superhero Swag… Literally
One cool feature that is pretty unique to The Fractured But Whole is the ability to create your own superhero swag, not in the game, but in real life to show off to all your friends. You can actually upload your character design to your Ubisoft Club account. This will allow you to use your character to design different patterns, allowing you to purchase customized T-shirts, mugs, and other garbage that you don’t really need straight from Ubisofts online store. Depending how much of a fan you end up being of the game, you have to admit that it’s a pretty neat feature tucked into the game.
12 ‘Member That One Episode Of South Park?
If you played The Stick of Truth or have spent enough time visiting random shops on the streets of South Park in The Fractured But Whole, you’ve probably noticed that a bunch of South Park’s radio stations play a bunch of popular South Park songs, whether it is some of the hit musical numbers from the episode “Elementary School Musical” or some of Lorde’s hit singles performed by Randy Marsh. There are tunes ranging from two decades worth of South Park.
It is definitely worth nothing that similar Easter eggs can be found on television too. If you go into someone’s house, it is usually worth turning on the television set in the living room as there will be different broadcasts ranging from episodes of “Terrance and Phillip” to segments from the local news channel. All clips were used in previous episodes of South Park and there is a healthy amount of content, likely revving up your nostalgia and making you scream “I ‘member that episode!”
11 Play A Better Version Of Flappy Bird
There’s a pretty humorous nod to the 2013 mobile game Flappy Bird that everyone seemed to be obsessed with a few years back. When the game launched, a whole bunch of apps appeared trying to copy Flappy Bird’s success, so it’s great to see The Fractured But Whole spoofing it in their own game.
This side quest could easily be missed if you aren’t deviating too far away from the main story, but at some point, Father Maxi should reach out to you letting you know when the quest is open and you’ll want to do it in order to finish up your character sheet anyway. This is probably one of the best scenes in the game, and without spoiling too much, you’re tasked with helping Seaman help a gay fish get his dead mother to heaven, because, hell, it’s South Park. Getting her to heaven requires you navigating a unicorn who farts rainbows through the skies with similar gameplay mechanics to Flappy Bird. Unfortunately, this is a one shot deal and can not be replayed later in the game.
10 Go Member Berry Picking
If you watched South Park’s 20th (!) season last year, you probably walked away a little disappointed. There wasn’t anything inherently bad per se, but Trey Parker and Matt Stone opted for telling more continuous storylines in recent seasons, causing a lot of jokes to become played out and stale by the final episode. While most of the season focused on the presidential election and Gerald Broflovski trolling people online, there was one inclusion that reappeared throughout the season that always got a few chuckles: the Member Berries.
It’s surprising to see that the Member Berries made it into The Fractured But Whole considering they debuted well into the game’s development cycle. They actually make a cameo as a collectible, which could easily go unmissed due to how small they are, but they are definitely worth keeping an eye out for as they get quite a few new lines. There is also a Member Berry Farm which is totally optional to visit and easily missed… but if you went on to try to find Canada, you have to pass the farm regardless.
9 Only Five Likes… Let Me Take Another Selfie
Selfies for the most part are an entirely optional side quest in The Fractured But Whole and really don’t offer too much of a purpose other than getting a few more experience points or getting more followers on Coonstagram. Every time you take a selfie, you get a screenshot letting you know the person you took the selfie with is following you now.
This isn’t really a feature that will appeal to everyone, unless you are a diehard Instagram user in real life and spend longer picking out the perfect filter over taking the actual photo. If you go up to a character you’ve already taken a selfie with, your second photo op will actually give you the option of selecting a filter unlike your initial photo, which is perfect if you really need to filter out your character’s blemishes.
8 Life After Death
If you’re familiar with the television series, specifically episodes centering around the superhero personas of Stan, Kyle, Kenny, and Cartman, you’ll know that Mysterion, Kenny’s alter ego is the only hero of the four with actual powers which is the inability to die. This of course explains why Kenny is able to die so many times throughout the series (well, sort of) and wakes up in his bed fine the next day with no one remembering the details of his death.
The Fractured But Whole touches on this a bit. Not only is Kenny somewhat overpowered compared to his comrades, possibly because he’s really the only superhero with actual powers, but his inability to die plays into the game. You’ll likely encounter this at some point, especially if you use Mysterion on your team regularly, but if Mysterion falls in battle, you will then get to use a ghost version of him along with completely different attacks than his living counterpart. It should also be noted that Mysterion’s ultimate attack will turn him into a ghost as well as he will go kamikaze on his enemies.
7 Read Your Coonstagram Frequently
Coonstagram is pretty much an optional fictional social media network that many players will likely ignore throughout their playthrough of The Fractured But Whole, but ignoring it is really only a disservice to yourself. While many social media updates will pop up on your screen (with almost unreadable microtext if you’re sitting at a distance), it’s usually better to read these in the actual Coonstagram app that you have access to in the main menu on your phone. Not only will you be able to recap missed messages from other characters, and check back in on your side objectives, you will also get some hilarious selfies from NPCs that you would miss otherwise along with a thread of comments between characters. Do yourself a favor and check your Coonstagram feed frequently.
6 Make Friends By Being A Conformist
Not everyone in the quiet mountain town of South Park is going to want to be your friend automatically just because you try to take a selfie with them. Plenty of characters hold certain objectives that must be met in order to get them to friend you on Coonstagram. While some might seem impossible to get and you may end up just not befriending them altogether, most solutions are pretty simple. It could be something as easy to changing your wardrobe to impress someone or being a certain type of superhero that one of your classmates like.
