Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony
Year: 2017
Developer: Spike Chunsoft
Publisher: NIS America
Platform: PC, PS4, PS Vita
PEGI: 16
Published: 10/11/21
Developer: Spike Chunsoft
Publisher: NIS America
Platform: PC, PS4, PS Vita
PEGI: 16
Published: 10/11/21
Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc is by quite a considerable margin my favourite game on a handheld platform. Whilst I’m not 100% sold on the game in a home console format with the PS4 re-release, I have lost many hours to replaying it on my PS Vita. Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair was similarly a game I adore, though not quite as much as the original, and that comes down to what I feel is a clunky ending and some iffy writing.
Along with the spin-off Ultra Despair Girls, Danganronpa spun a complex narrative web that had me completely enthralled by its crazy world and over the top characters. But it took me a long time to get around to playing Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony, and not for any reason other than I hadn’t been in the right mindset for it. But having recently replayed the entire saga I felt that now was the right time to finally dive into the third mainline entry to once again witness an epic battle between hope and despair. Unfortunately, Danganronpa V3 was everything I didn’t want from a Danganronpa game.
Killing Harmony sees you play as Kaede Akamatsu, the Ultimate Pianist and a student at the Ultimate Academy for Gifted Juveniles. She and her fellow fifteen classmates awake with no knowledge of who each other are, what this school is, or how they got there. Unable to escape the school, the group are welcomed by Monokuma, a black and white robotic bear. Monokuma explains that the students must partake in a killing game, and the only way to leave the school is to either get away with murder or be one of the last two surviving students.
As the bodies start to pile, Kaede and her fellow classmates must work together to analyse each murder and successfully convict the right culprit in order to live another day.
Along with the spin-off Ultra Despair Girls, Danganronpa spun a complex narrative web that had me completely enthralled by its crazy world and over the top characters. But it took me a long time to get around to playing Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony, and not for any reason other than I hadn’t been in the right mindset for it. But having recently replayed the entire saga I felt that now was the right time to finally dive into the third mainline entry to once again witness an epic battle between hope and despair. Unfortunately, Danganronpa V3 was everything I didn’t want from a Danganronpa game.
Killing Harmony sees you play as Kaede Akamatsu, the Ultimate Pianist and a student at the Ultimate Academy for Gifted Juveniles. She and her fellow fifteen classmates awake with no knowledge of who each other are, what this school is, or how they got there. Unable to escape the school, the group are welcomed by Monokuma, a black and white robotic bear. Monokuma explains that the students must partake in a killing game, and the only way to leave the school is to either get away with murder or be one of the last two surviving students.
As the bodies start to pile, Kaede and her fellow classmates must work together to analyse each murder and successfully convict the right culprit in order to live another day.
The premise to Killing Harmony is once again the same as Trigger Happy Havoc and Goodbye Despair, which could be seen as tiresome but the Danganronpa formula of Battle Royale meets Phoenix Wright has always been enjoyable so long as the eclectic cast of characters are well written, and the cases are mind bogglingly brilliant.
Unfortunately, Danganronpa V3 has neither of these two key facets, and as a result the experience become an exercise in tedium rather than a thrilling mystery. That’s not to say that Killing Harmony doesn’t have any good ideas, because the first chapter in particular delivers a fresh and exciting new spin on the established Danganronpa formula that fans of the series won’t see coming. Sadly, once this first chapter is out of the way, Killing Harmony not only rests on its laurels, but outright excels in dialling back on what made the first two games enjoyable and doubles down on bad writing, vulgar ‘comedy’ and exceedingly simple murder cases that never manage to surprise or shock the player.
The gameplay of Killing Harmony is closer to Trigger Happy Havoc than Goodbye Despair, with the Ultimate Academy and its grounds being able to be explored as a fully 3D environment, and the interactions with your 2D classmates taking the form of visual novel style conversations. You’ll spend time making bonds with your classmates and learning more about each of them, until one of them is found dead, and then you must scour the nearby vicinity for clues which you will then present in a class trial to find the murderer.
Whilst a little tired at this point, that recycled gameplay loop of Danganronpa is not the issue here, but it is instead the new aspects of Danganronpa V3 that hold it back from being enjoyable.
As previously stated, the characters of Killing Harmony are real duds. Whether it’s Shuichi Saihara, the Ultimate Detective with as much personality as wet cardboard; Miu Iruma, the excessively foul mouthed Ultimate Inventor; Kokichi Oma, the Ultimate Supreme Leader who always contradicts himself and has his logic run in circles just to irritate you; or Gonta Gokuhara, the Ultimate Entomologist so dumb he can’t even form a cohesive thought. There are far more characters to meet in Danganronpa V3, but every single one of them will have you wishing for the cast of Danganronpa 1&2 to return. They’re all token stereotypes with no originality to them, and the dialogue is so cringeworthy all of the time. Danganronpa’s dialogue has always been a little cheesy at the best of times, and Ultra Despair Girls started to tip the scales from edgy to offensive in the way it handled some sensitive subject matters, but Danganronpa V3 takes it one step further by having almost every interaction be cringe worthy, offensive, or kind of concerning that the team of writers aren’t sexual predators.
Unfortunately, Danganronpa V3 has neither of these two key facets, and as a result the experience become an exercise in tedium rather than a thrilling mystery. That’s not to say that Killing Harmony doesn’t have any good ideas, because the first chapter in particular delivers a fresh and exciting new spin on the established Danganronpa formula that fans of the series won’t see coming. Sadly, once this first chapter is out of the way, Killing Harmony not only rests on its laurels, but outright excels in dialling back on what made the first two games enjoyable and doubles down on bad writing, vulgar ‘comedy’ and exceedingly simple murder cases that never manage to surprise or shock the player.
The gameplay of Killing Harmony is closer to Trigger Happy Havoc than Goodbye Despair, with the Ultimate Academy and its grounds being able to be explored as a fully 3D environment, and the interactions with your 2D classmates taking the form of visual novel style conversations. You’ll spend time making bonds with your classmates and learning more about each of them, until one of them is found dead, and then you must scour the nearby vicinity for clues which you will then present in a class trial to find the murderer.
Whilst a little tired at this point, that recycled gameplay loop of Danganronpa is not the issue here, but it is instead the new aspects of Danganronpa V3 that hold it back from being enjoyable.
As previously stated, the characters of Killing Harmony are real duds. Whether it’s Shuichi Saihara, the Ultimate Detective with as much personality as wet cardboard; Miu Iruma, the excessively foul mouthed Ultimate Inventor; Kokichi Oma, the Ultimate Supreme Leader who always contradicts himself and has his logic run in circles just to irritate you; or Gonta Gokuhara, the Ultimate Entomologist so dumb he can’t even form a cohesive thought. There are far more characters to meet in Danganronpa V3, but every single one of them will have you wishing for the cast of Danganronpa 1&2 to return. They’re all token stereotypes with no originality to them, and the dialogue is so cringeworthy all of the time. Danganronpa’s dialogue has always been a little cheesy at the best of times, and Ultra Despair Girls started to tip the scales from edgy to offensive in the way it handled some sensitive subject matters, but Danganronpa V3 takes it one step further by having almost every interaction be cringe worthy, offensive, or kind of concerning that the team of writers aren’t sexual predators.
The gameplay of the class trials was always the highlight of the previous two mainline entries, and for the most part Danganronpa V3 maintains that excellence. However, there are some alterations made that still make it the worst example of this style of gameplay in the series. First up is now as well as agreeing or disagreeing with someone’s statement by providing evidence, you can present a lie in the hope that it will trip someone up and reveal themselves as the culprit. However, the class trials are totally scripted, so this kind of organic gameplay doesn’t work the way it should as you can only lie at very specific points, and it’s not indicated when you can or should do that. As someone who has played the previous two mainline Danganronpa games multiple times I found it impossible to work out when I was supposed to be lying to progress the trial, and relied on a community walkthrough each time I got stuck about how to present a lie. It’s an unnecessary and overly complex mechanic that has no need being in the game as it adds no extra depth but causes a whole lot of headaches.
As well as this the minigames such as Hangman’s Gambit and Logic Dive return but with redesigns. Logic Dive has been rebranded Psyche Taxi and is basically the same thing but takes longer, with Hangman’s Gambit being less fun, slower paced, and more infuriating than its previous iterations.
The presentation of Danganronpa V3 has also not been improved since Trigger Happy Havoc, which in some regards is fine because the art style still looks great, but in other areas, especially with 3D models, it feels cheap and hastily put together. Despite this game releasing seven years after the original, there has been no conceited effort to evolve the visual presentation established in that title, which is a true shame.
But Danganronpa V3 sounds just as great as ever with plenty of new songs on the soundtrack to dance along to. But it does also resurrect a whole host of older tracks, and unlike Danganronpa 2 it doesn’t do anything to make them feel new or refreshed.
As well as this the minigames such as Hangman’s Gambit and Logic Dive return but with redesigns. Logic Dive has been rebranded Psyche Taxi and is basically the same thing but takes longer, with Hangman’s Gambit being less fun, slower paced, and more infuriating than its previous iterations.
The presentation of Danganronpa V3 has also not been improved since Trigger Happy Havoc, which in some regards is fine because the art style still looks great, but in other areas, especially with 3D models, it feels cheap and hastily put together. Despite this game releasing seven years after the original, there has been no conceited effort to evolve the visual presentation established in that title, which is a true shame.
But Danganronpa V3 sounds just as great as ever with plenty of new songs on the soundtrack to dance along to. But it does also resurrect a whole host of older tracks, and unlike Danganronpa 2 it doesn’t do anything to make them feel new or refreshed.
I want to delve into spoilers for a little while so meet me at the last paragraph if you’re wanting to go into Danganronpa V3 blind. The ending sucks, and it’s really bad. I get what the developers were going for, with a Metal Gear Solid 2 post-modern dissection of what the series represents and what people want out of it. But unlike Metal Gear Solid 2, Danganronpa V3 drops all of this on you in the last thirty minutes and then just ends with no resolution. You literally finish the class trial and the credits just roll. I understand that it’s supposed to subvert fans expectations of the game, and the narrative explanation for this radical change is that the characters don’t want the player to be happy with the ending. Well, congratulations I suppose? But that’s awful writing. I’m fine having an ending I don’t like so long as it’s still put together well, this just gives you the finger and rolls credits without ever giving an explanation as to why. Not only did it sour the Danganronpa V3 experience even more, but it actually made me even question whether I want to play the old games again because it pissed me off so much. There’s also no attempt made to connect it to the previous two games, instead relying on the Danganronpa anime to resolve that storyline, meaning Killing Harmony also lies in presenting itself as the third entry in the Danganronpa series when in reality it’s a spin-off.
Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony is not a game I can recommend to fans of the Danganronpa series because of how hard it tries to ruin all the good things those two games had going for them. I also cannot recommend Danganronpa V3 to newcomers because whilst newcomers could potentially enjoy the experience, it’s just simply not as good as 1 or 2, so why bother?
It pains me to say that Danganronpa V3 was so bad that I’ll likely not return to the franchise for future instalments. As far as I can tell the game succeeded in its mission to subvert fan expectations, because it’s subverted me right out of the series and I won’t feel ready to return to it for a very long time.
Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony is not a game I can recommend to fans of the Danganronpa series because of how hard it tries to ruin all the good things those two games had going for them. I also cannot recommend Danganronpa V3 to newcomers because whilst newcomers could potentially enjoy the experience, it’s just simply not as good as 1 or 2, so why bother?
It pains me to say that Danganronpa V3 was so bad that I’ll likely not return to the franchise for future instalments. As far as I can tell the game succeeded in its mission to subvert fan expectations, because it’s subverted me right out of the series and I won’t feel ready to return to it for a very long time.