Danganronpa 2 is an interesting sequel that takes the core aesthetical mix of murderous insanity and exaggerated dark humor in an iterative if somewhat separate direction. It reflects a bit on the flaws of the previous games but ultimately doesn't do a whole lot to fix them, and more so swaps them out with something else.
The core plot is still a walking trash fire, with convoluted elements that walk straight off a cliff at the conclusion arc, leaving no satisfaction other than making true on just being insane as the game's first step let on. Characters are a bit more fleshed out now, with some interesting relationships and a few good motivations, but the game also does a good deal of throwing that out just to hit the core themes of the previous game, with one character in Case 3 especially turned straight into fucking mush for the sake of a gotcha. The game also ditches its grounded and dismal atmosphere for something way more surreal, and that doesn't come off as a welcome change because again, DR2 doesn't have much more of interest to say with it. This kinda leaves the setting to be a lot less memorable overall.
What is fun though, are the cases. They're an entire step up from DR1 by having more intricate puzzle solving structure to them, with situations so bizarre and outlandish but with case logic so strictly put together that each reveal in-game is interesting as it is satisfying to figure out. Each case still has a decent who dunnit, and a crazy interesting how dunnit. The why dunnit is still a crock of shit, but at this point it's something you have to accept when jumping into this game. In general the HEART of DR2 is still almost entirely absent for much of the runtime.
That's probably the most grueling flaw that DR is in no rush to fix. At the end of the day, DR is comfortable in drenching itself with an insane and somewhat satisfying junk food look, and leaves you with very little to mull over aftewards.
The core plot is still a walking trash fire, with convoluted elements that walk straight off a cliff at the conclusion arc, leaving no satisfaction other than making true on just being insane as the game's first step let on. Characters are a bit more fleshed out now, with some interesting relationships and a few good motivations, but the game also does a good deal of throwing that out just to hit the core themes of the previous game, with one character in Case 3 especially turned straight into fucking mush for the sake of a gotcha. The game also ditches its grounded and dismal atmosphere for something way more surreal, and that doesn't come off as a welcome change because again, DR2 doesn't have much more of interest to say with it. This kinda leaves the setting to be a lot less memorable overall.
What is fun though, are the cases. They're an entire step up from DR1 by having more intricate puzzle solving structure to them, with situations so bizarre and outlandish but with case logic so strictly put together that each reveal in-game is interesting as it is satisfying to figure out. Each case still has a decent who dunnit, and a crazy interesting how dunnit. The why dunnit is still a crock of shit, but at this point it's something you have to accept when jumping into this game. In general the HEART of DR2 is still almost entirely absent for much of the runtime.
That's probably the most grueling flaw that DR is in no rush to fix. At the end of the day, DR is comfortable in drenching itself with an insane and somewhat satisfying junk food look, and leaves you with very little to mull over aftewards.