Groundhog Day: Like Father Like Son is a direct video game sequel to the original Groundhog Day film.
You play as the charming but arrogant Phil Connors Jr., who grew up alongside his brother Jake and sister Sophie in the shadow of their father - a man who spent a lifetime repeating a single day until he had made it perfect. But for Phil Jr., today is the worst day of his life. He's trapped back home in Punxsutawney, the small town he thought he'd escaped, where he can't even get a decent cappuccino - and he's going to have to repeat the day over and over, until he learns the true value of friends and family.
The game was released exclusively for VR, and can only be played on the HTC Vive or the Oculus Rift as well as the PlayStation VR. The gameplay consists of fixing various problems throughout the day so you can progress a little bit more than before, and eventually find better and faster solutions for the problems so you can finally achieve that perfect day.
This game provides examples of:
- Ascended Extra: Ned Ryerson factors a lot more into the story this time. He annoys Phil Jr. as much as he did his father, but Ned spearheads the efforts regarding Phil Sr.'s commemoration ceremony in the park, Jr. used to date Ned's daughter Sarah, and fanning the flames of their old romance provides a mirror experience of Sr. wooing Rita in the film.
- Calling the Old Man Out: Phil Jr. felt hopelessly stuck in his father's shadow, since Phil Sr. had accomplished so much and helped so many people, and he was always receiving reminders of those feats coupled with nuggets of wisdom he thought sounded came from fortune cookies. It often led to frustrated arguments between the two.
- Cassandra Truth: Phil's children always thought his stories of being trapped in a time loop were "fables" or "metaphors"; it's only when Phil Jr. tells them about his own entrapment that they realize he was telling the truth.
- Cutting the Knot: After you complete a segment's given puzzle, you're given information that you can use in future loops to automatically get its good result, such as ordering breakfast from the Tip-Top Cafe for delivery to the Conners home.
- "Groundhog Day" Loop: Being a sequel of the Trope Namer, this was a given as Phil Jr. repeats February 1st endlessly until he gets it right.
- History Repeats: Sarah seems to be an expy of Rita as she appeared in the film, with Phil Jr. trying desperately to impress her with bartender skills as well as a private guitar concert so that they can have a perfect day and reignite their love. Subverted when it turns out that Elise, the girl who calls Jr. in the morning, is his current girlfriend, and she is pregnant with his child, leaving no room for romance with Sarah.
- Must Have Caffeine: Jr.'s brother Jake craves a cappuccino, and unfortunately for him, both the espresso machine at home and the one at the Tip-Top Cafe are both out of order.
- Precision F-Strike: When you throw the alarm radio playing "I Got You Babe" after a couple loops, Phil Jr. responds thusly.Phil Jr. Shut the fuck up!
- Ruder and Cruder: Oh yes. Since it's not restricted by a PG rating like its predecessor expect characters to frequently drop f-bombs, especially Phil Jr.
- Shrine to the Fallen: After Phil broke free from his time loop he put up a mural of Old Man Collins, the one person he couldn't help no matter what he did.
- Took a Level in Kindness: The apple doesn't fall far from the tree in terms of this. Just like his father, Phil Jr. slowly but surely goes from a vain arrogant narcissistic Manchild, to an altruistic, optimistic, responsible family man, though he can still be a bit blunt.
