Danganronpa brings some great ideas to the table, but ultimately fails to do anything meaningful or creative with them. While the graphics and music are really great, and the gameplay passable, the biggest flaw is the writing.
In my opinion, two things are necessary for the death-game format to work well; fun characters and solid mysteries. This game has neither. Nearly every character - out of the initial 15 - feels purposefully written to be as obnoxious and boring as possible. By the end of the game, I'd only connected with three of them, two of which had died early on. And if you're not invested in the cast, it's difficult to care when someone dies.
I also thought the intrigue just...wasn't there. Admittedly, I might be spoiled by the zero escape series, but Danganronpa never felt like it could focus on a secret long enough to build it up. Any time a new, mysterious, paranoia-inducing twist is hinted at, it's inevitably revealed in the next hour. You don't spend hours wondering who a masked participant really is, or find a weird clue that rattles around in your head until its relevant twenty hours later. It's all disappointingly simple.
Danganronpa - putting it bluntly - is baby's first death-game. That's not a bad thing, and indeed, I don't think Danganronpa is a bad game in isolation. You can have fun with it, and I can see why its a cult-classic. But if you're already familiar with the genre before you play it, Danganronpa feels a bit disappointing. All it does is wet your appetite, and make you wish you were playing your personal favorites. And while Danganronpa does pull some good story beats in its final hours, its not enough.
If you've never played a death-game before, and you want a friendlier starting point, I'd say give Danganronpa a try. And if you're a bored teenager who wants to try Danganronpa out because you like the aesthetic, then give it a shot. But if you're not particularly interested in the art or music, and if you've already played similar games before, I'd say Danganronpa is an easy pass.
In my opinion, two things are necessary for the death-game format to work well; fun characters and solid mysteries. This game has neither. Nearly every character - out of the initial 15 - feels purposefully written to be as obnoxious and boring as possible. By the end of the game, I'd only connected with three of them, two of which had died early on. And if you're not invested in the cast, it's difficult to care when someone dies.
I also thought the intrigue just...wasn't there. Admittedly, I might be spoiled by the zero escape series, but Danganronpa never felt like it could focus on a secret long enough to build it up. Any time a new, mysterious, paranoia-inducing twist is hinted at, it's inevitably revealed in the next hour. You don't spend hours wondering who a masked participant really is, or find a weird clue that rattles around in your head until its relevant twenty hours later. It's all disappointingly simple.
Danganronpa - putting it bluntly - is baby's first death-game. That's not a bad thing, and indeed, I don't think Danganronpa is a bad game in isolation. You can have fun with it, and I can see why its a cult-classic. But if you're already familiar with the genre before you play it, Danganronpa feels a bit disappointing. All it does is wet your appetite, and make you wish you were playing your personal favorites. And while Danganronpa does pull some good story beats in its final hours, its not enough.
If you've never played a death-game before, and you want a friendlier starting point, I'd say give Danganronpa a try. And if you're a bored teenager who wants to try Danganronpa out because you like the aesthetic, then give it a shot. But if you're not particularly interested in the art or music, and if you've already played similar games before, I'd say Danganronpa is an easy pass.