Do you like anime and an interesting murder mystery that’ll have you guessing on who murdered who all the while having an adorable-­looking­-but-­insane-­sadistic bear? If you answered yes with many exclamations, get ready to spend long sessions on this gem of a game, ‘cause you ain’t gonna wanna put this game down until you’ve solved each case! I suggest having some coffee nearby.

The opening of the game showcases a man strapped onto a rocket which is set to take off by a monochromic bear. With stylistic presentation of the murder, the rocket sets off, the man entrapped in it, and launches into space, falling back to Earth with only bones of the poor victim as the sadistic bear hysterically laughs. Foreshadowing future insanity to come.

Set in Hope’s Peak Academy, in our favorite place Japan, we are introduced to our protagonist, Makoto Naegi, who won the raffle that is held every year for a chance to enter the renowned school that is built for students who are the best at what they do, called the ‘Ultimates’. Makoto having won the raffle was now the ‘Ultimate Lucky Student’. However, luck has a dark sense of humor and turns Makoto’s start of school to be the worst day of his life. He becomes trapped inside the school along with the other not-­so-­lucky students, taken over and controlled by the monochromic, evil, sadistic robot bear Monokuma. It’s worse than the time when I was the shy kid in the start of middle school who didn’t have any friends, who hated every moment of that first day, but at least I wasn’t imprisoned by some adorable psychotic bear and now I do have friends! For now…

Makoto and the other Ultimate students are now forced to live in the high school in a communal life until the day they die. They are prompted with two options: 1)live the peaceful communal life, becoming friends and build strong lasting friendships, or… 2)kill your fellow classmate, become blackened, and try to get away with murder without getting caught! The latter is obviously chosen, the game needs to be interesting somehow. Fuck peace and friendships, right?! That shit’s boring!

And this game would probably would’ve bored me if it didn’t also have a colorful cast of characters to engage the player into the world of Danganronpa. Some notable characters are Byakuya the Ultimate Affluent Progeny (or as I would like to call the Ultimate Arrogant Asshole/Tsundere), Celestia the Ultimate Gambler with her nerve-racking calm demeanor and Lolita outfit, and my personal favorite, Hifumi the Ultimate Fanfic Creator, I just loved his stereotypical otaku personality!

The unique art style of Danganronpa has also certainly enhanced the character’s personality as each pose and animation matches the way act. The above glorious picture for example.
Each one of the characters has a significant role in the story, making none of them feel like they were just there but integral for the plot to move forward. Unlike for a certain game… *cough* Halo 5 *cough*.

While the story of the game is obviously the main course of the visual novel game, the gameplay itself is, while simple, engaging in its own right.

When you’re not reading dialogue after dialogue, you’re exploring the wonderfully crafted environment in a 2.5d look that is your school. Whether you are looking for clues for the investigation or casually strolling around and finding characters, that look like life sized cardboard cutouts, it certainly isn’t slightly terrifying at all when you approach these standee-­like characters!

You can also go to a shop to buy gifts and give to the appropriate characters. It’s like Social Links from Persona, only you don’t really have any romance arcs with any of the female characters, but that doesn’t stop us from claiming our chosen waifus! Kyoko Kirigiri is best girl! You are rewarded a perk when you have invested time with a character that you can use for the trials to make it a little easier but honestly, it’s practically pointless as you don’t really need it, you can just skip all of that and do just fine.

And speaking of the trials, it is made up of mini­games that allow players to use all their gathered clues and accounts collected on their handy, dandy, e­Handbook to have heated discussions on who is the murderer of the current case. Whether you are having to point out contradictions in a student’s claim or bring up a subtle clue that would change the whole course of the trial; tension builds up from the game’s awesome soundtrack (although it honestly makes me think I am in a fighting game, ready to perform combos rather than busting the culprit. I can’t help but think “Ready? FIGHT!!!”.) But to make these trials a little more interesting, your clues and accounts, ‘Truth Bullets’, will make or break your chances of finding the culprit if you do not choose the correct Truth Bullet for a specific moment in the trial. There also happens to be a small rhythm game when you are close to breaking down on who the culprit is and also a puzzle game where you piece together the evidence into a comic strip and get to see the scene reenacted, which was enjoyable seeing as it has a comical effect on the whole tension of the situation.

While I did enjoy the gameplay aspect of the game, albeit a lot, the investigations and trials do not have a time limit which made it feel less urgent. It didn’t feel like there was real stakes on the line when I am taking my sweet time to investigate every nook and cranny to find the last clue in order to progress the game, despite the claims that Monokuma throws out that we have a limited amount of time. It also didn’t help that even when I messed up shooting the Truth Bullet at the wrong time and moment, even after I have ‘lost’ the game, I can always continue from the last save.

However, despite some hiccups to the immersion into the gameplay aspect, I loved the game and every moment of it. I remembered when I heard about the game through watching a video from
AlphaOmegaSin. He showcased his collection of PS Vita games and when I caught sight of this gem, I thought why not. For $30 from a local game store, I got my money’s worth and I don’t regret my purchase. And that’s why I highly recommend Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc if you have a PS Vita or Steam as it deserves to be in your gaming library!

Now off with you! I must continue to play my beloved video games until my heart’s content! Or take time to go to sleep… either works! To the Man Cave!

About the Author

Gerardo Sanchez

I’m just an ordinary gamer who happens to have no human form! Thanks for reading my bio man! Much love.