Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc
I could hardly bear the despair
Why
- Wacky cast of characters you might actually end up attached to
- Ensures you have enough knowledge to solve mysteries while letting you make the connections
- Interesting minigames to make points during the class trials
Why Not
- Dialogue is often painful/repetitive
- Some of the mysteries are ridiculously convoluted/probably don't stand up to scrutiny
- Sometimes leans too hard on shock value/anime tropes
Impressions
Danganronpa has a lot of problems. The dialogue is generally so poorly written I skim-read 80% after the first chapter, it leans on shock value/edginess a bit too much and there's exactly one 'meaningful' choice in the entire game. But honestly, I had a good time with it.
It's basically a visual novel with occasional sections where you walk around the school choosing which of your fellow nutjobs to socialize with. Various events lead to a lot of murders happening, which you'll gather evidence about then use said evidence to convince your peers to convict the right person, avoiding you all being killed in their place.
Finding the evidence is hand-holdy to nearly the point of annoyance for the entirety of the game, though the hand-holding is at least somewhat in character for those who do it. Putting it all together in the class trials is much more engaging, since you usually won't have a clear idea of what happened until you start arguing with everyone else. The timed minigames add just enough pressure to stop you taking the time to think everything through carefully, so it's definitely possible to make mistakes on later, more complex cases.
95% percent of your time will be spent outside those minigames though, likely clicking through painfully written dialogue as fast as humanly possible. I liked the overall story despite its flaws, but it's full of shonen-style talking a lot without saying anything. Despite this there are some well-written moments, and the characters have enough personality to shine through despite me skimming their dialogue at max speed. If you watch anime/read manga you'll probably be able to endure the dialogue and appreciate the game for what it is, but if you don't interact with Japanese Culture much you're probably gonna drop it before the first chapter finishes.
Overall a pretty engrossing story with some strong characters and minigames, as well as a very distinctive style/soundtrack. If you don't mind a shonen-style story and like mystery/visual novel style games I'd recommend giving this one a go, but absolutely not if you're a kid or likely to have one looking over your shoulder lol.