DanganRonpa 2: Goodbye Despair Review - Hello Adventure

Luminous pink blood splatters on walls, cryptic hints that look as important as garbage, a cast of characters so zany they could look right at home on Cartoon Network… Yep, DanganRonpa is back.

For those that are unaware, DanganRonpa is a murder mystery slash graphic novel where you and a group of other teens are trapped with no hope of escape unless someone dies. When we last saw DanganRonpa released earlier this year we were trapped inside a High School struggling to survive when faced with a malevolent and all-round insane bear named Monokuma. Now we’re out of school and living on Jabberwock Island, a heavenly paradise where anyone would love to spend their days… That is, until Monokuma returns.

Those who’ve indulged in the original will find themselves in familiar territory. You play a young lad who has little to no idea what is going on and finds himself struggling to solve each murder in order to survive. Here’s the deal: If you want to escape and go home, you have to kill someone, if you are caught you will be executed. Students will try and hunt you down by way of a Class Trial, where evidence is weighed against testimonies of your group in order to come to a conclusion of whom the perpetrator may be. Unfortunately, if you pick the wrong suspect and the killer gets off the hook, everyone else – including yourself – will be executed. High stakes indeed.

 

DanganRonpa 2 is, like its predecessor, stylish with deep characters that one can become genuinely attached to, so as many of them turn out to be either killed or killers you will feel your heart become heavy in your chest.  The story is fairly interesting and relationships between the characters with have you glued to your PS Vita for hours, ever curious whom the next victim shall be and whom the killer is…

Players of games such as Phoenix Wright will find Class Trials familiar, albeit a more straightforward affair. You are given Truth Bullets – little nuggets of factual information – you can use to shoot down the contradictory statements your peers make in the search for the killer. DanganRonpa 2 also introduces Rebuttal Blades where you slice incorrect statements and cut the truth out.

What we have here is a game with a larger world and more to explore, but the same core mechanics that made the original enjoyable and addictive – a great story with style written all over it. Characters are likable and dislikeable in equal measure, whilst the areas looks lovely and give DanganRonpa 2 a fantastic atmospheric. The Island may be less confined than the High School of the predecessor but is by no means less creepy, with giant mechanised statues guarding entrances to certain areas to prevent early progression – the fear of death is everywhere and it is what effects the psyches of the colourful cast.

Graphically the game looks similar to the original, with nice character designs, good looking islands and areas; subtle improvements overall, nothing major.

The audio features many returning tracks that fans will enjoy, as well as introducing some brand new tunes which may very well outdo the soundtrack of the original.

 

This is yet another game where the story utterly absorbed me and the characters kept me playing. My natural curiosity is satiated when we get to the bottom of a murder, only for a hidden plot twist or death to happen and force me to continue playing. Your PS Vita hasn’t had a game like DanganRonpa 2 since DanganRonpa, and your cartridge slot will likely feel void until DanganRonpa 3 comes around…