As someone who adores the Ace Attorney series and hasn't had time to continue with my best friend (who I'm dubbing it with), I was feeling more and more that I wanted to scratch the itch I've been having lately, both for murder mystery stuff and wanting to play another long game after beating Persona 3 Reload recently. I went in with an open mind after hearing about its reputation, but I'm glad to say, it didn't disappoint. The premise is really interesting and each case works more and more in favour of what it sets up. I wasn't a fan of the first and third cases because the killers were so obvious it hurt, but they were still pretty fun times all around. All the cases are really solid and the fourth and fifth especially hooked me in more than I'd been hooked in quite a while (not counting Persona 3 Reload since I played Vanilla before it). Even though the story was mostly strong, the main appeal of this game for me is the mechanics. I love every aspect of the class trials, especially Closing Arguments which is easily my favourite part. Speaking of, the music is absolutely amazing and Climax Reasoning (the theme for the Closing Arguments sections) is one of my favourites, along with New World Order, Box 15, Box 16, Trial Underground, and all the class trial themes. The art and stylization are also great and these elements along with the music really help set the tone of the story and give it this unique identity I can't find anywhere else. Other than the first and third case having obvious killers, the only other issue I have is a specific plot twist I didn't like from the sixth case and it didn't help that the part after the reveal felt like it was dragging on for too long. I definitely need to play the sequel soon because there's a lot I want to see how the series progresses from here. Overall, Danganronpa exceeded my expectations and turned out to be a fun murder mystery game with a dreadful tone that kept me engaged for most of its runtime.