A worthy sequel to the stellar murder mystery visual novel | Full Review - Danganronpa 2

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Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair is a murder mystery visual novel game, a sequel to the original Danganronpa game that still features the same adventure and investigative mechanics.

🟩Pros

+Compelling murder mystery premise

+Large map and a refreshing environment

+Story full of twists and turns

+Catchy upbeat soundtrack

🟥Cons

-Exaggerated logic with some of the cases

-Pacing is even worse than the first game, game can feel too long

Closely following in the footsteps of the first game, Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair is another entry into the intriguing murder mystery game series featuring high school students trapped in their school and forced to kill each other to survive.

The visuals however remain the same if not slightly improved. With a mix of 2D Anime style and 3D cel-shaded style for the environment and a cardboard cut-off design for the characters. The art style is charmingly simple but it has aged well all things considered, while also featuring an impressive catchy upbeat soundtrack.

In a literal refreshing change of setting, the game now takes place on a tropical island called Jabberwock Island (instead of the original academy in the first game). The player takes on a brand new role in Hajime Hinata, a student who has been accepted into Hope's Peak Academy, an elite school for "Ultimates" students with exceptional talents worthy to be called “Ultimate”.

Things quickly take a dark turn when Hajime and his classmates find themselves stranded on the island and forced to participate in a game of murder and deception orchestrated by a mysterious bear named Monokuma who has hijacked their vacation. Again, somebody needs to kill and manage to avoid being identified to escape the island and sentence everybody else to their death.

Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair is a standalone title, with its all-new cast of high schoolers, but I would still highly recommend playing the predecessor first, because this feels more like an Episode 2 of an anthology series and the first game does a more natural job in introducing the overall premise.

While the beach and island setting in Danganronpa 2 is indeed refreshing, it can also be a detriment because compared to the limited space of the high school where murders can take place, now six whole islands are available for all the students to roam and live in. This makes the murders a lot less believable to investigate, due to the massive increase in the scale of the location.

The main character this time around is not the Ultimate Lucky Student, but he has amnesia and can’t remember his Ultimate Ability, and still seems to still be an average joe like the first game’s protagonist and ultimate lucky student, adding more intrigue to the premise aside from the obvious impending murder mystery.

As in the previous game, the gameplay of Danganronpa 2 consists of exploration, investigation, and class trials. The island is divided into various locations, each with its own destinations, secrets and mysteries to uncover.

Players first play ‘daily life’ segments for each chapter, where the character is free to explore, talk, and build relationships with the character – which is then usually cut short by a murder. The game now switches to the ‘deadly life’ where they must investigate crime scenes, gather evidence, and interview NPCs in order to solve the murders that occur throughout the game.

The class trials, which take place after a murder has been committed, are the main source of “action” of the game. They consist of various minigames, such as debates, rebuttals, and logic puzzles, and require the player to use their deductive skills to uncover the truth and identify the killer.

The sequel now features much longer winded cases that can even take up to double the time compared to the first game. Especially the trials which can get tedious with all the back and forth-ing with the characters debating. However, the logic used in the murders have become more exaggerated and the suspension of disbelief needed are at a high. Consequently, I feel that the design of the case and trial are inferior to the first one.

The cast of characters are mostly on par with the first game. Well-written, full of personalities, and are a careful mix of both cliche tropes and subverting the players’ expectations.

To accommodate the game’s larger setting, the game now switches from a traditional first person exploration to a 2D side scrolling exploration, with the character now in sideways view. The 3D first person exploration phase is still present, but only at selected locations.

The various minigames that make up the class trials are all challenging and engaging, and the game does an excellent job of gradually introducing new mechanics over the course of the game. As for the investigative pace, the game also does a good job of guiding the player in interacting with the environment and finding clues.

One potential downside of the game is its pacing. The game is quite long, even longer than the first game. It is told in chapters divided into different phases (daily life, deadly life, and trials) taking several hours to complete each. While this isn't necessarily a bad thing, some players may find that the game's slow pace can drag at times, especially in the trial phase. Additionally, some of the minigames that make up the class trials can be needlessly frustrating or tedious, which can detract from the overall experience.

Conclusion:

Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair is a worthy sequel that continues the compelling murder mystery theme of the series, feeling like a proper Episode 2 with only changes to the story, setting, and cases. While it can be a good entry point to the series, I highly recommend you play the first game first before this one. However, for those who have already enjoyed the previous game, this one is worth a try as well.