The Baconing

The Baconing borrows much of its gameplay from the two previous titles in the DeathSpank series, DeathSpank, and DeathSpank: Thongs of Virtue. As with the previous games, this title is an action RPG. The game can also be played cooperatively, with the first player controlling DeathSpank and the second having a choice to control one of four sidekicks. Hothead Games addressed a concern from fans about fetch quests, a quest which involves retrieving an object for the person giving the player character the quest.

The player can now have the character execute a shield bash to push enemies away. This ability can also be used to reflect incoming arrows back toward enemies.

The game opens with a bored DeathSpank, the series' protagonist. Having defeated all of his foes in the land, he decides to try on all six mystical Thongs of Virtue at once, and in doing so inadvertently creates an evil incarnation of himself, the AntiSpank. DeathSpank must then travel the land to destroy five of the six Thongs of Virtue in the Fires of Bacon. Once he is successful he can defeat the AntiSpank and bring peace to SpankTopia.

The Baconing was announced on May 25, 2011 for the Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3. DeathSpank was dropped from the game's title, though it is a continuation of the DeathSpank series. Producer Mike Inglehart stated "This new title isn't DeathSpank 3 or DeathSpank: The Baconing, instead it should be thought of as The Baconing." Inglehart elaborated by saying that "this is a standalone experience that will appeal to fans of the DeathSpank character, but also to gamers everywhere who love unique and engaging video games." Inglehart also clarified that the DeathSpank prefix was not removed due to copyright or trademark issues.

To promote the game Hothead Games ran an Ask DeathSpank questionnaire on game's official website. Fans could submit their questions to be answered by the game's protagonist. It was released on August 30, 2011 in the U.S. on the PlayStation 3 as part of the PSN Play promotion on the PlayStation Network, and on August 31, 2011 in the PAL region. The Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows and Xbox 360 versions were released on the same day.

The game received "mixed" reviews on all platforms according to the review aggregation website Metacritic.

Several reviewers praised the game's colorful characters, humor and voice acting. Will Herring of GamePro commented in his review that The Baconing has "clever writing and great voice acting throughout". Eurogamer's Christian Donlan called the PS3 version's writing "witty stuff" and added that "the script can't wait to shoot off on strange tangents". Tom McShea of GameSpot also praised the Xbox 360 version's cast and called them both "oddball" and "amusing". Nicholas Tan of GameRevolution felt that the dialogue was over-the-top and enjoyable as well.