Next up will be the 2nd game in the series, Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair. The series follows up on the success of the first game and offers a more extended gameplay experience compared to it.

 

Story

This Danganronpa follows Hajime Hinata, a student who doesn’t know his natural talent but has a deep admiration for the school where the best of the best study is Hope’s Peak Academy. The story jumps to a cutscene where he is greeted by another person, who, like him, doesn’t know what has happened and knows where he woke up. The story again jumps to the day Hajime prepares to enter the school. Upon stepping in, his memories blackout, and enters a weird space in which the only path is through a weird door. Once he opened the door, he is met with the other ultimates in what looks to be a classroom of the school. From there they are eventually greeted by a rabbit named Monomi and explained that they are there to gather hope shards (after being shown that they are actually on a beach). Suddenly a voice was heard which leads to the return of the first game’s antagonist, Monokuma, reigniting another killing game.

 

Gameplay

Gameplay is as expected for the main series of the game, which is the classic per chapter investigation and leads up to the final class trial to find out who has done it. If you were to compare this to the first game, it’s a more extended version of the original mini-games from the first game, albeit some new tweaks, as well as some new ones that also help out in the overall story. The key difference between this game and the original from a story perspective is the addition of mid-trial save points, making the trials nearly twice as long, allowing for more gameplay and words to rebut.

On the subject of the trial, the game also allows you to consent to what a character says, which makes you agree with their statements, rather than objecting against it. Other than those minor additions, it’s largely a familiar setting for those playing the series.

 

Opinion

Again, being an opinion piece, it may not be the same for some people, but I’ll place it 3rd on the premise that it doesn’t tack on too many things that Danganronpa already introduced and is praised for. While the extended gameplay on the trial is nice, it does feel draggy at times and some of the counterpoints can be confusing to point out but for those wanting more Danganronpa in your run, the sequel gives you that fix, hands down.

The last major Danganronpa release to date, Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony serves as an evolution of the previous 2 iterations while also being a bit different in the aesthetics of the art direction as well as the approach to the game.

 

 

Story

This Danganronpa follows our protagonist, Kaede Akamatsu, who was abducted by a group of strange people and mysteriously wakes up in a locker of a classroom to which she was followed by another abducted person, Shuichi Saihara. Both are unsure of how they got in their predicament until they went outside the classroom and are greeted by a menacing machine which makes them run to the gymnasium where they meet other people, eventually finding out they are the participants of a killing game organized by Monokuma and his Monokubs.

 

Gameplay

What makes this better than the first 2 games is the mechanic of being able to find a single lie in the chaos of looking at 3 people’s accounts, which makes for an extra challenge. Another great mini-game to play in the classroom trial is the connect-the-dots style where you match or predict a reply between two sides that agree/disagree with one another. It initially looks like chaos but when you line everything up, the argument gets straightened out and keeps the conversation on the right path.

One point in Danganronpa V3 that is unique is the ability to lie about your statements, allowing you to use such a lie to bring out the truth. That contradictory statement makes more sense in-game, but it’s a nice way to liven up the ways you can get the truth and find the subsequent culprit in the trials.

Other than those, it’s your usual Danganronpa formula of solving problems, learning characters, and the intrigue of unraveling the bigger picture.

 

Opinion

This game feels like a great reset for the game, as there isn’t much connection to the older games other than concept and pacing while being its plotline. The mechanics here are so fun, especially the two mini-games I mentioned above. The characters look pretty interesting and the minigames and presentation make it a visual treat compared to the first 2 entries, but that is just being biased to the fact that the game is out 5 years after the 2nd game, so that’s that. While the ending is a subjective thing to nitpick, I’d leave it to you to know how the game wraps up, as some may accept the ending while some may hate it outright, so take that truth with a grain of salt (or was it a lie?).

The original game just feels so good to play even after all these years, and given that this was the game everyone saw and associate with when learning about this series, it’s only fair that Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc takes the top spot for this ranking.

 

Story

You follow Makoto Naegi, a high schooler who was luckily drawn in from a random batch to be a student in the prestigious Hope’s Peak Academy. Once inside, his vision suddenly fades, and eventually wakes up in a classroom. After roaming around the school, he meets with the other ultimates in the building, wondering as to what their strange situation is. They are then told via an intercom that they proceed to the gymnasium, revealing a strange black and white bear named Monokuma, the headmaster of the school. After knowing that they will be locked in the school forever, he offers up the chance of escape to those desperate through a killing game, setting up the story and adventure of Danganronpa.

 

Gameplay

The gameplay is standard across all 3 games, but the core of it is being a mix of typical visual novel reading with adventure elements via searching for clues in the investigation period. On the class trial part, there are a lot of fun mini-games to go around, Hangman’s Gambit, a rhythm-based game where you tap on a circle in time to break words down, and a few other games that keep the game interactive. The other attraction of this game would be the free time events that allow you to interact with the characters and give them gifts to be able to know them better and give you skills that help you in the class trial. A short and sweet overview of what Danganronpa is.

 

Opinion

This is a guaranteed success for those liking Danganronpa as the characters are presented well, the trials being short but meaningful, and the music while searching for clues is what makes this game such a fun experience. As sequels pour in, many of those elements seen in the first game have been expanded, tweaked, and added on to that makes for their own experience and joy, but all that is possible because of the good start this game has offered. The artwork has always been a staple in what makes Danganronpa recognizable, and seeing it first in this game just gives a great 2D visual that fans have loved for so long.

 

 

Conclusion

As with many game reviews, it is definitely up to you to know if you enjoy the series or not, but with the points listed here, there’s enough given out to possibly throw yourself into the mystery visual novel genre, more specifically this series. With that in mind, try this game if you love that Sherlock Holmes-like feeling of finding out who the killer is and solving the mysteries that the game presents, and again, you better have those words ready to call out the one responsible as they’ll be sent to their grave if they don’t, literally.