The average rating says I'm in the minority for enjoying it this much but oh well, it's a clear step up from the first game in so many ways.

The graphics are a big improvement - better looking sprites, and more personality in the backgrounds. There are a ton of little additions (like each character getting a different KO animation if they're hit with a special move) that don't affect the gameplay but are still cool anyways. Some are pretty standard, like shirts getting ripped or masks flying off, but others are pretty comical, like Temjin rolling backwards about ten metres into a standing position before slowly flopping down again. The game doesn't really take itself too seriously (understandable because it's a generic fighting tournament rather than a rescue mission like the first game) and is all the stronger for it.

The fighting is also much refined from its predecessor - the controls are very responsive and it was very fast for its time, leading to some very intense battles. The characters also have vastly expanded movesets which makes the core of the gameplay almost unrecognizable from the first. Further, one thing I always like about this game is that taunting actually serves a purpose besides cherry-tapping: it actually makes your opponent lose focus and drains their special meter!

I'll grant that the AI is super cheap and unfair making the story mode an exercise in frustration, but there really isn't much story in this anyway. Thanks to its fast-paced fights, big movesets and generally lighthearted tone, it's one of the best in its era for VS play.

‘Jumpy, did you know that 9/11 was an inside job?’

So I bought this game mainly to fill that Danganronpa-shaped whole in my heart. What did I get? An utterly insane story with pretty fun puzzles.

It’s worth noting that I played the Nonary games version as opposed to the original DS release. So to get it out the way: yes the twist at the end is absolutely genius if you played the DS version.

So this game’s got a lot going for it. Firstly I really like the setting. Having 9 hours to escape a sinking replica of the Titanic is a really unique set up. However I have an issue with the way characters are written. When I first saw the characters I was dying to learn more about them, their motiveations, interests, beliefs, etc. However I felt like I never really learned any of this. For example let’s look at Clover. So what do we actually know about her? She has a brother, she was in the first notary game, she wants a princess bed and…that’s about it. For most characters we know basically nothing about them. Like what do they do for fun? What do they work as? Have they got any friends? I feel like most of these questions are never answered for the majority of the characters. One moment of frustration was in door 6 when Santa mentioned that he had a conversation with Ace about his past and learnt that he’s the president of a pharmaceutical company. Why can’t I do that? Why can’t the player have conversations with the characters during the escape room segments to actually learn more about them? It becomes more frustrating when you remember that almost every escape room has a character go on a tangent about some random scientific study or concept. So you’re telling me that Clover just had to explain the ship of Theseus to us instead of actually telling us more about herself? This becomes more of an issue considering that these spews of random knowledge never actually fits the character. Tell me why the hell Seven happens to know that exactly 307 Titanic survivors were rescued by the Carpathia. How does he coincidently know the exact number? Characters really are a mess and it’s a shame. I wish we could have learned more about them since they all seem genuinely interesting. But oh well.

Next is the gameplay. So I really like the escape rooms. Each one is expertly made and very fun. I never really found myself stuck for too long with any of them but each room was still memorable. The other half of the gameplay is the visual novel sections. Now my problem with it is the choices you make. I felt like so many of these choices felt arbitrary and pointless. Take for example when Santa offers you a bookmark in the fourth door. When I first played through the game I refused to accept it. I did this because taking it seemed like such an obvious choice and I wanted to see what happened if I did otherwise. However all this resulted in was me not being able to comfort Clover by giving her the bookmark which ultimately leads to a bad ending. If refusing to accept the bookmark only prevents you from getting the good ending, then what’s even the point of it? There is literally no reason for anyone to refuse the bookmark. I thought it would lead to story differences but no. It just locks me into the same bad ending as choosing the incorrect sequence of doors. I’m thankful that I played the Nonary Games version since if I didn’t I would have to REPLAY THE ENTIRE GAME MULTIPLE TIMES TO ACTUALLY SEE THE TRUE ENDING. But luckily for me, I can just skip to any point in the story. So that makes it at least a but more bearable.

Finally we come to the main draw of the game: the utterly ridiculous and nonsensical story. What the hell even is this? I was taking the story seriously until Akane started talking about how she believes that a mummy sunk the Titanic. WHAT?! The nonsense just keeps going and going with morphogenetic field this, story of the two Santa Clauses that. And I loved every second of it. The story is so unintentionally hilarious at every turn that it’s impossible not to love it. If you wanna have a fun time please play this game.

Overall I think this is a pretty solid game. It’s by no means the deep and complex masterpiece that so many people claim it to be. It is a utterly bonkers ride from start to finish with fun puzzles occasionally sprinkled in.