Survive the Island in this murder mystery sequel | First Impressions - Danganronpa 2

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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.

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 "ultimate" students with exceptional talents worthy to be called “Ultimate”.

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.

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.

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.

So far, the game is more or less on par with the first game, feeling like an Episode 2 that continues the theme of the series with only changes to the story, setting, and trials. 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.

Full Review will be posted soon here on Taptap! Stay tuned!