Review for Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony. Game for PC, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita, the video game was released on 12/01/2017 The version for PC came out on 26/09/2017
About seven years after its debut, Danganronpa drove tens of thousands of fans crazy, bringing us the passion for the struggle between hope and despair, studded with grisly deaths and sad stories. On PlayStation 4 it is possible to recover the whole saga, starting from Danganronpa 1.2 RELOAD to then move on to Ultra Despair Girls, which narrates some events that occurred between the first and the second game. However, to reach an epilogue it will be necessary to watch the anime Danganronpa 3, which will finally provide a worthy and satisfying ending. The new chapter of the saga, called Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony, does not continue the events narrated previously, but provides for a completely new setting, with new characters and a new story, in which the cruel returns Monokuma, a must in every game in the series.
Sixteen friends who kill themselves
Inside a school where only the best in each field are present, to the point of being called "Ultimate", the two protagonists, Kaede Akamatsu (Ultimate Pianist) e Shuichi Saihara (Ultimate Detective) find themselves in a classroom, totally devoid of memories other than the awareness of what their natural talent is, and then they get to know their classmates.
Everything seems shrouded in mystery until the moment they appear Monokuma, the bear-shaped robot who proclaims himself the principal of the institute, and his five Monokuccioli, characterized by poses and colors that make even the Super Sentai pale. As also happened in the old chapters of Danganronpa, Monokuma intends to force the sixteen boys to kill each other, with the threat that only by participating in this deadly game will they be able to be "promoted" and thus leave the school. When a student kills another, all participants will have to call a trial in which they will have to try to find the killer and vote: in the event of a right majority the killer will be killed and the game will continue, but in case of error the guilty will be promoted and released while everyone else will lose their lives. Will the heroes of this story be able to work together to find a way out, or will they abandon themselves to blood and despair?
More of the same
The gameplay of Danganronpa V3 is similar to that of the previous main chapters, so if you have read our review of Danganronpa 1.2 RELOAD you will have already understood that for most of the time what we will do is read hundreds of lines of dialogue in a visual novel that tells about friendships, hopes , despair and death. We will be able to move from one place to another in the school by walking so as to continue in the story, investigate the murders, or decide with whom to increase our friendship during our free time, but apart from this last possibility, everything will be very linear and free of choices. .
Once you've spent hours following the plot, we'll reach the moment when the gameplay shines with its own light: the processes. As those who have already played the previous chapters will remember, during the trials we will have to literally "shoot" bullets containing our clues on the sentences spoken by the other characters, so as to highlight the contradictions and thus try to discover the culprit. During each process there will be many other minigames, which multiply especially in Danganronpa V3 which reaches the largest collection of activities among all the titles in the series, between "battles" group against group in which we will have to match each sentence with the right clue, taxi rides worthy of Outrun to correctly answer the questions whose answers are displayed as crossroads, and chaotic discussions in which the characters will all talk together and we will have to extricate ourselves through rivers of words by finding the right sentence to oppose. The variants are many, and if we combine this with the exciting plot it is very difficult to take your hands off the joypad.
Continuity or laziness?
The technical area of Danganronpa is the increasingly difficult one to discuss. Danganronpa 1 and 2 were games developed a long time ago for the PSP, so they had minimalist graphics, with static images and settings made as if they were cardboard from pop-up books. Danganronpa V3 it is instead developed on Playstation 4: although an improvement is clearly visible, especially regarding the resolution or some transition effects, we are essentially left with the same technical rate as seven years ago. Quite complicated to decide if this was actually a deliberate choice to keep the same original style or if it is more of a laziness of the developers. The fact is that everything remains absolutely enjoyable, especially for those accustomed to the previous chapters, while it could leave newbies confused.
The soundtrack is always at the highest level, with new and old traces that always instill the spirit of tranquility or anxiety relating to the situation in which you are at that moment. Applause as usual for the dubbing, present in both English and Japanese, and the longevity: the game, in addition to the canonical 30-35 hours for the plot, also allows several extra activities such as the casino, the search for collectibles and a mode "Peaceful" in which to make friends with classmates.
Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony restarts the magic of the series so that it can be enjoyed by both newbies and veterans, with a reboot that offers lots of brand new ideas and never gets bored. Of course, the title must be evaluated as a visual novel, and not as a video game that may not appeal to those looking for continuous action to blow from orb. Those who buy Danganronpa V3 are those in search of a beautiful story, full of meanings and emotions, ready to be moved by the ideals of the protagonists to whom they become attached and feel a blow to the heart at the moment of their death. Who will survive?
► Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony is a Visual Novel type game developed by Spike Chunsoft and published by NIS America for PC, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita, the video game was released on 12/01/2017 The version for PC came out on 26/09/2017
