A murder mystery experience to remember | Full Review - Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc

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Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc is a visual novel murder mystery title that was originally released for PSP back in 2010 and was ported to mobile platforms in 2012.

🟩Pros

+A compelling murder mystery premise

+Unpredictable story full of twists and turns

+A mix gameplay of visual novel, first person exploration, and adventure

+A sharp anime art style and a surprisingly good soundtrack

🟥Cons

-Pacing can be too much, game can feel long winded at times.

A group of high school students find themselves trapped in their new school and are forced to participate in a twisted battle royale game of murder and survival.  The player takes on the role of Makoto Naegi, the game's protagonist and one of the students trapped inside the school Hope's Peak Academy. Throughout the game, Makoto must work with his fellow classmates to uncover the truth behind the school's mysteries and survive the deadly game they have been forced to play.

Makoto is just a new student in Hope's Peak Academy, a prestigious school who has invited “Ultimate” students to enroll. These ultimate students are generally the best of the best when it comes to a certain aspect. Ultimate Pop Sensation, Ultimate Baseball Star, Ultimate Writing Prodigy, etc. You, on the other hand, are the Ultimate Lucky Student, an average student who just won an entry into the school via a lottery.

The game's main antagonist is Monokuma, a bear-like creature who forces the students to kill one another in order to escape. There are a bunch of house rules set for the students, but the main one is that they are trapped living in the school forever, unless somebody commits a murder against the other students, and then a trial begins.

If the killer is correctly revealed, the killer dies and the game continues. If not, then everybody else dies and the killer “graduates” and is allowed to re-enter the outside world. This trend of murder and trial will continue until  there are two students left. This is highly reminiscent of Werewolf or more popularly in recent times – Among Us mashed up with Battle Royale mechanics.

The over-the-top Anime-like characters have widely differing personalities, backstory, and possible motives. They are all well-written. It is definitely an intriguing premise especially with how the story and the characters are laid out. It’s a mix of Among Us and Battle Royale, but there is actually a compelling narrative being played out.

As for the graphics and soundtrack, it is a given that it looks like Anime, but the actual setup is the school is entirely rendered in a mix of 3D and 2D cell-shaded graphics, while the characters themselves are simplistic stationary cardboard cut-outs populating the map. The soundtrack is surprisingly good with a mix of upbeat electronic jazz and rock that perves a the perfect ambient music for all the murder mystery experience.

The game is divided into two main parts: the school life/investigation phase and the class trial phase. During school life, the player must explore the school, talk to fellow students, befriend them and even build relationships. When somebody dies, it switches to ‘deadly life’ where you can gather clues and evidence to use during the class trial phase.

This includes examining crime scenes if there’s any, questioning witnesses, and searching for hidden items. The investigation phase is a crucial part of the game, as the evidence and clues gathered during this phase will be used during the class trial phase to solve murder mysteries. The system is pretty hand-holding and guided, ensuring the player sees all important information before leaving an area, and the option to just mark every interactable entity in a given scene.

The trial phase involves a series of mini-games that are used to determine the identity of the murderer. The player must use the evidence gathered during the investigation phase to refute false statements and identify the killer.

The mini-games include a rhythm game where the player must shoot down words as they appear on the screen, a debate game where the player must match their evidence with the correct statement, and a puzzle game where the player must piece together the events leading up to the murder. These mini-games are kinda out-of-place but are a challenging yet fun experience, and they add a depth to an otherwise pretty guided investigation experience.

As the game progresses, the player will learn more about each character through their interactions with one another and through the investigation and class trial phases. The game does an excellent job of making the player care about the characters (including their own) and their fate, which makes the game's twists and turns (and there are a lot) all the more impactful.

The game is divided into chapters, with each chapter focusing on a new mystery. While this works well for the most part, there are times when the game's pacing can feel slow, especially since it is mostly composed of reading text dialogue between the characters. Some of the investigation phases can drag on for hours, and the class trial phases which can also take 1-2 hours can feel repetitive after a while. Despite that, Danganronpa is a solid experience nonetheless if you are really immersed in its murder mystery story.

Conclusion:

Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc is definitely a hidden gem that is worth checking out for fans of visual novels, adventure games, and murder mysteries. It’s quite old and quirky, but it still holds up well as far as the narrative and the presentation goes.