Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony

Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony
Cover art, featuring Monokuma (top left) and the students of Ultimate Academy
Developer(s) Spike Chunsoft
Publisher(s)
  • JP: Spike Chunsoft
  • WW: NIS America (PS4, PSV)
  • WW: Spike Chunsoft (Win)
Director(s) Shun Sasaki
Producer(s) Yoshinori Terasawa
Programmer(s) Kengo Ito
Artist(s) Rui Komatsuzaki
Writer(s) Kazutaka Kodaka
Takayuki Sugawara
Composer(s) Masafumi Takada
Series Danganronpa
Platform(s) PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, Microsoft Windows
Release PlayStation 4, PS Vita
  • JP: January 12, 2017
  • NA: September 26, 2017
  • EU: September 29, 2017
  • AU: October 6, 2017
Microsoft Windows
  • WW: September 26, 2017
Genre(s) Adventure, visual novel
Mode(s) Single-player

Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony[lower-alpha 1] is a visual novel adventure game developed by Spike Chunsoft for the PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita and Microsoft Windows. It is the third main title in the Danganronpa series and the first in the franchise to be developed for home consoles. The game was released in Japan in January 2017, and in North America and Europe by NIS America that September.[1][2][3] A Microsoft Windows version was also released at the same time.[4]

Gameplay

Danganronpa V3 continues the same style of gameplay as the first two Danganronpa games, which is split into School Life, Deadly Life, and Class Trial segments. During School Life, players interact with other characters and progress through the story until coming across a murder and entering the Deadly Life, after which they must gather evidence for use in the Class Trial.[5] Roaming around the world and interacting with objects during both School Life and Deadly Life will yield experience points for the player. Experience points are used to level up and with each level players obtain more skill points which enable the player to equip skills to help with Class Trials. Like in previous games, Class Trials largely revolve around the Non-Stop Debate, in which characters discuss the case, with the player required to use Truth Bullets containing evidence against highlighted statements determining whether someone is lying or telling the truth.[6] During Non-Stop debates that appear to have no clear contradictions, players can now use Lie Bullets to break the conversation with a False Counter.[7] Returning from Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair are Rebuttal Showdowns, in which the player must debate with a specific character in order to reach a contradiction.[8]

Danganronpa V3 adds new gameplay elements to the Class Trials. Mass Panic Debates involve multiple characters talking over each other, making finding the correct statement harder, while Debate Scrums have groups of characters argue against each other, requiring the player to use statements from their side against the other side's statements. New mini-games are also added. Epiphany Anagram 3.0 requires players to use light to pick out letters spelling out an answer. Excavation Imagination is a puzzle game requiring players to remove colored blocks in order to reveal an illustration. Finally, Brain Drive sees players driving a car, collecting letters for a question that they must then answer.[9]

As in the previous games, there are also various modes outside the main game. The Death Road of Despair minigame is accessible by visiting the area under the manhole in the school: it is a platform game intentionally designed with a very high difficulty level, in which all 16 students try to escape the Ultimate Academy for Gifted Juveniles while trying to evade bombs, traps and holes. After finishing the main game, other modes are unlocked. Salmon Team Mode is an alternate mode similar to School Mode and Island Mode in the previous games, in which Monokuma decides to cancel the killing game and turn it into a dating reality show, allowing players to bond with the other characters. There are also two brand-new modes. The first one, Ultimate Talent Development Plan, has the player choosing any character from Danganronpa V3 (or from Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc and Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair, after unlocking their cards) and advancing in an 8-bit game board representing their school life at Hope's Peak Academy while they increase their skills and interact with other characters. After completing this mode for the first time, a new mode is unlocked, Despair Dungeon: Monokuma's Test, where the player uses the characters developed in Ultimate Talent Development Plan to stop a horde of Monokuma creatures unleashed by the Monokuma Kubs in an 8-bit turn-based RPG game.

Plot

High school student Kaede Akamatsu is kidnapped and awakens in the Ultimate Academy for Gifted Juveniles,[lower-alpha 2] where she meets fellow student Shuichi Saihara and 14 others. The group is abruptly accosted by a series of bear robots also known as the Monokubs who expose them to a "Flashback Light". When Kaede next awakes, she remembers her life as the Ultimate Pianist, while Shuichi is the Ultimate Detective. Their other classmates each have their own talents and histories. Monokuma arrives and informs the students that the only way to escape is to successfully kill another student and get away with it in a subsequent Class Trial. If nobody is killed within two days, Monokuma will prematurely end the game by killing all of the students.

Shuichi reasons that there must be a mastermind controlling Monokuma, and Kaede works with him to set a trap to expose the mastermind just prior to the time limit. However, concerned that there would not be enough time to stop the mastermind, Kaede secretly alters the trap to kill the person it catches. Unfortunately, amnesiac Rantaro Amami is caught and killed instead of the mastermind. During the following class trial, Kaede attempts to uncover the mastermind but fails. She confesses to her crime, encourages Shuichi to keep going, and is executed.

Although brokenhearted at Kaede's death, Shuichi soon develops a friendship with the Ultimate Astronaut, Kaito Momota, and the Ultimate Assassin, Maki Harukawa. Several more murders take place, all of which Shuichi is able to solve, though he is often vexed by the Ultimate Supreme Leader, Kokichi Oma. The students find additional Flashback Lights and gradually remember that they are students of the reopened Hope's Peak Academy, who were sent into space in the hopes of preserving humanity after meteors began to fall upon the Earth and a deadly epidemic had ravaged the remainder of the population. Kokichi reveals the outside world to be destroyed and claims to have returned the spaceship to Earth and masterminded the killing game before kidnapping Kaito.

Shuichi, Maki, and the other students stage a rescue mission with the aim of saving Kaito and stopping the game, only to discover an unrecognizable corpse. Further complicating the mystery is the arrival of a massive Exisal mech—one of five previously piloted by Monokuma's children—whose unseen pilot sounds and identifies himself as Kokichi but bears the idiosyncrasies of both Kokichi and Kaito. During the ensuing trial, it becomes clear that Kokichi was not the mastermind and only claimed as such to stop the killing game: Kokichi convinced Kaito to kill him and then pretend to be Kokichi in the hopes of creating a crime Monokuma could not solve and defeat the game. His identity exposed, Kaito emerges from the Exisal and urges the survivors to uncover the truth before being executed.

Unwilling to continue the game, the Ultimate Robot, K1-B0, decides to destroy the school, giving Shuichi until dawn to find the mastermind. Shuichi, Maki, and the other survivors - the Ultimate Magician Himiko Yumeno and the Ultimate Cosplayer Tsumugi Shirogane - investigate the school and discover evidence contradicting their memories, as well as inconsistencies in Rantaro's crime scene. They further learn that Rantaro was the Ultimate Survivor, having taken part in a previous killing game. Shuichi calls a final class trial to re-try Rantaro's case.

At the trial, Shuichi accuses Tsumugi of being the mastermind, having killed Rantaro and framed Kaede. Tsumugi confesses and reveals that the students' memories, talents, relationships, and personalities are entirely fake, the Flashback Light being a brainwashing device and the destroyed world being a sound stage. The students are in fact taking part in "Danganronpa 53 (V3)", the 53rd season of a lethal reality TV show watched by millions based on the fictional Danganronpa media franchise. All of the Ultimates, barring K1-B0, were ordinary individuals who willingly had their previous lives' memories permanently erased in exchange for a talent and a fake background; many, including Shuichi, Kaede, and Kaito, are revealed to have joined purely for fame, fortune, or the thrill of the game, and were far less trusting and altruistic than their killing game selves. K1-B0 is revealed to be the camera for the viewers, and possesses an antenna that lets him hear the audience's opinions on the show, who encourage him to battle Tsumugi's despair with hope. Tsumugi offers the students the choice: "hope", where she is executed but the students must choose two of their own to take part in the next killing game as Rantaro, a survivor of the 52nd season, did; or "despair", where K1-B0 will be executed and the game will continue.

Realizing either choice will still continue the killing game, Shuichi encourages the students to abstain from voting, meaning everyone will be executed but the killing game will also end. The viewers hack K1-B0 and force him to serve only as a conduit for viewer votes, but Shuichi uses this to make an impassioned plea directly to the viewers to stop watching. At the vote, all parties abstain including Tsumugi and K1-B0, the former willing to sacrifice herself to continue Danganronpa and the latter indicating the audience has given up on Danganronpa. As the remaining viewers tune out, a defeated Tsumugi orders K1-B0 to destroy the school. He does so, killing Tsumugi in the process, then activates his self-destruct feature and deliberately flies into the glass dome surrounding the school, sparing the others and allowing them to escape. Shuichi, Maki, and Himiko consider the possibility that Tsumugi was lying about their past selves willingly signing up to participate in Danganronpa, and about the original editions of Danganronpa being fiction, and depart for the real world.

Development

Danganronpa V3 was produced by Yoshinori Terasawa, and planned and written by Kazutaka Kodaka,[10] while the character design is done by Rui Komatsuzaki.[11] The game was developed at the same time as the production of the anime series Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School, which Terasawa and Kodaka described as being difficult; they still try to develop both projects without making any compromises, as such an opportunity does not arise often. The "V3" in the game's title was chosen to differentiate it from the anime; the "V" is short for "Victory". Terasawa and Kodaka described the game's production level as being much higher than that of previous games in the series.[12]

There was division among the staff in the development team regarding whether the game should be a sequel or something new; because of this, it was decided to make something that was both a sequel and new.[12] The game's theme is described as "psycho-cool".[13] As with previous games in the series, the game's original score was composed and produced by Masafumi Takada.[14]

Promotion and release

The existence of a third Danganronpa title was first teased in September 2013 with the announcement of Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls.[15] In March 2015, Kodaka revealed that Danganronpa 3 was in early development.[16][17] The game was announced at Sony's Tokyo Game Show presentation.[18]

The game was released for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita in January 12, 2017 in Japan. A playable demo featuring Makoto Naegi and Hajime Hinata, the protagonists of Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc and Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair, was released on December 20, 2016.[19] The limited edition of the game will include an original video animation based on Goodbye Despair, titled Super Danganronpa 2.5: Komaeda Nagito to Sekai no Hakaisha.[20] Coinciding with the game's Japanese release, Danganronpa V3-themed PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita consoles will be released in Japan.[21] NIS America released the game in English on September 26, 2017.[22]

Two multiple-disc soundtrack albums containing music from the game were released on February 24, 2017, both through composer Masafumi Takada's music label, Sound Prestige Records.[14]

Reception

Reception
Aggregate score
AggregatorScore
Metacritic(PS4) 81/100[23]
(Vita) 80/100[24]
(PC) 80/100[25]
Review scores
PublicationScore
Destructoid10/10[26]
EGM8/10[27]
Famitsu37/40[28]
Game Informer7/10[29]
GameSpot7/10[30]
IGN8/10[31]
Polygon8/10[32]

Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony was well received by critics,[23][24] and was the second highest rated PlayStation Vita game and fiftieth highest rated PlayStation 4 game of 2017 on the review aggregator Metacritic.[33]

Danganronpa V3 was awarded by Famitsu with a score of 37/40[28] Within its first week of release in Japan, the PlayStation Vita version sold 76,166 copies, whilst the PlayStation 4 version sold 40,006.[34] By February 2017, the PlayStation Vita version had sold over 115,840 copies in Japan.[35] The Steam release had an estimated total of 73,400 players by July 2018.[36]

Accolades

The game was nominated for "Best Visual Novel" in PC Gamer's 2017 Game of the Year Awards;[37] for "Best Portable Game" in Destructoid's Game of the Year Awards 2017;[38] and for "Best Adventure Game" and "Most Innovative" in IGN's Best of 2017 Awards.[39][40] It won the award for "Best Plot Twist" in Game Informer's 2017 Adventure Game of the Year Awards.[41] In addition, the game was nominated for "Game, Franchise Adventure" at the 17th Annual National Academy of Video Game Trade Reviewers Awards.[42][43]

Notes

  1. ↑ Known in Japan as New Danganronpa V3: Minna no Koroshiai Shingakki (Japanese: ニュー ダンガンロンパV3 みんなのコロシアイ新学期 Hepburn: Nyū Danganronpa V3: Minna no Koroshiai Shingakki, lit. New Danganronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Mutual Killing)
  2. ↑ Known in Japan as Sai-shū Gakuen (才囚学園)

References

  1. ↑ "Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony launches September 26 in North America, September 29 in Europe". Gematsu. Archived from the original on 2017-02-18. Retrieved 2017-12-27.
  2. ↑ McCarthy, Caty. "Danganronpa V3 Gets September Release Date, Creator Reveals the Story's Themes". USgamer. Archived from the original on 2017-02-19. Retrieved 2017-02-18.
  3. ↑ "Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony launches September 26 in North America, September 29 in Europe - Gematsu". Gematsu. 2017-02-17. Archived from the original on 2017-02-18. Retrieved 2017-02-18.
  4. ↑ ONE PR Studio. "SPIKE CHUNSOFT Unveils Fire Pro Wrestling World, Danganronpa Series Game Launch Dates and More at First-ever Western Gathering During GDC 2017". Games Press. Games Press Ltd. Retrieved 6 March 2017.
  5. ↑ "New Danganronpa V3 details Academy for Gifted Prisoners, game flow". Gematsu. 17 October 2016. Archived from the original on 24 December 2016. Retrieved 15 December 2016.
  6. ↑ "Spike Chunsoft Reveals New Danganronpa V3 Game for PS4/Vita". Anime News Network. September 15, 2015. Archived from the original on July 30, 2017.
  7. ↑ "【速報】『NEWダンガンロンパV3 みんなのコロシアイ新学期』が発表！　対応機種はPS4とPS Vita【SCEJAカンファレンス2015】". Famitsu. September 15, 2015. Archived from the original on September 17, 2015.
  8. ↑ "New Danganronpa V3 introduction trailer; Nonstop Debate, Lies, Panic Debate, and Rebuttal Showdown detailed". Gematsu. 24 October 2016. Archived from the original on 30 November 2016. Retrieved 15 December 2016.
  9. ↑ "New Danganronpa V3 details Akamatsu, Amami, Iruma, Ouma, Monotarou, Monokid, more; first character trailer". Gematsu. 7 November 2016. Archived from the original on 27 November 2016. Retrieved 15 December 2016.
  10. ↑ Romano, Sal (November 30, 2015). "New Danganronpa V3 has a completely new setting". Gematsu. Archived from the original on November 30, 2015. Retrieved December 1, 2015.
  11. ↑ "Dengeki PlayStation creators questionnaire: Level-5, Capcom, Square Enix, Koei Tecmo, SCE, and more". Gematsu. Archived from the original on 7 October 2015. Retrieved 4 December 2015.
  12. 1 2 Romano, Sal (2015-12-08). "New Danganronpa V3 has Scrum and Panic Debates". Gematsu. Archived from the original on 2015-12-09. Retrieved 2015-12-09.
  13. ↑ "New Danganronpa V3 and Danganronpa 3 anime debut at series press conference". Gematsu. Archived from the original on 2 December 2015. Retrieved 4 December 2015.
  14. 1 2 Greening I've c, Chris. "New albums coming for Danganronpa sequel and localisations". Video Game Music Online. Archived from the original on 1 February 2017. Retrieved 23 January 2017.
  15. ↑ "Danganronpa: Another Episode announced for PS Vita - Gematsu". Gematsu. Archived from the original on 7 August 2014. Retrieved 13 September 2014.
  16. ↑ "Danganronpa Team Is Thinking About Making Danganronpa 3 - Siliconera". Siliconera. Archived from the original on 16 September 2014. Retrieved 13 September 2014.
  17. ↑ "Game Writer: Danganronpa 3 is In Early Development". Anime News Network. March 5, 2015. Archived from the original on April 28, 2015. Retrieved April 30, 2015.
  18. ↑ "Danganronpa V3 Announced For PlayStation 4 And Vita". Siliconera. September 15, 2015. Archived from the original on September 18, 2015.
  19. ↑ "Danganronpa V3 demo launches December 20 in Japan". Gematsu. 8 December 2016. Archived from the original on 10 December 2016. Retrieved 15 December 2016.
  20. ↑ "New Danganronpa V3 Game to Bundle Original Anime on January 12". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on 19 December 2016. Retrieved 15 December 2016.
  21. ↑ "Danganronpa V3 Getting A Limited Edition PS4 And PS Vita In Japan". Siliconera. 15 December 2016. Archived from the original on 16 December 2016. Retrieved 15 December 2016.
  22. ↑ "Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony Coming 2017 to PS4, PS Vita". PlayStation.Blog. Archived from the original on 2017-02-15. Retrieved 2016-12-05.
  23. 1 2 "Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony for PlayStation 4 Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved January 4, 2018.
  24. 1 2 "Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony for PlayStation Vita Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved January 4, 2018.
  25. ↑ "Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony for PC Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved January 18, 2018.
  26. ↑ Andriessen, CJ (September 19, 2017). "Review: Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony". Destructoid. Archived from the original on September 22, 2017. Retrieved September 19, 2017.
  27. ↑ Patterson, Mollie L. (October 3, 2017). "Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony review". Electronic Gaming Monthly. Archived from the original on November 1, 2017. Retrieved October 3, 2017.
  28. 1 2 Romano, Sal (December 27, 2016). "Famitsu Review Scores: Issue 1465". Gematsu. Archived from the original on December 27, 2016. Retrieved December 27, 2016.
  29. ↑ Juba, Joe (September 19, 2017). "Taking A Semester Off - Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony - PlayStation 4". Game Informer. Archived from the original on November 8, 2017. Retrieved September 19, 2017.
  30. ↑ Kemps, Heidi (September 28, 2017). "Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony Review". GameSpot. CBS Interactive. Retrieved January 4, 2018.
  31. ↑ Kemps, Heidi (September 22, 2017). "Danganronpa V3 Review". IGN. Archived from the original on September 23, 2017. Retrieved September 22, 2017.
  32. ↑ Lee, Julia (September 19, 2017). "Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony review". Polygon. Archived from the original on September 19, 2017. Retrieved September 19, 2017.
  33. ↑ Dietz, Jason (2018-01-02). "The Best Videogames of 2017". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on 2018-01-21. Retrieved 2018-01-31.
  34. ↑ Sato (January 18, 2017). "This Week In Sales: Kingdom Hearts Runs Out Of Games To Remix". Siliconera. Archived from the original on January 20, 2017. Retrieved January 20, 2017.
  35. ↑ Romano, Sal (February 22, 2017). "Media Create Sales: 2/13/17 – 2/19/17". Gematsu. Archived from the original on February 23, 2017. Retrieved February 22, 2017.
  36. ↑ Orland, Kyle (2018-07-06). "Valve leaks Steam game player counts; we have the numbers". Ars Technica. Condé Nast. Archived from the original on 2018-07-10. Retrieved 2018-07-11. Complete list. Archived 2018-07-11 at the Wayback Machine.
  37. ↑ PC Gamer staff (December 8, 2017). "Games of the Year 2017: The nominees". PC Gamer. Retrieved January 11, 2018.
  38. ↑ Moyse, Chris (December 13, 2017). "Nominees for Destructoid's Best Portable Game of 2017". Destructoid. Retrieved January 11, 2018.
  39. ↑ "Best of 2017 Awards: Best Adventure Game". IGN. December 20, 2017. Retrieved January 11, 2018.
  40. ↑ "Best of 2017 Awards: Most Innovative". IGN. December 20, 2017. Retrieved January 11, 2018.
  41. ↑ Favis, Elise (January 9, 2018). "The 2017 Adventure Game Of The Year Awards". Game Informer. Retrieved January 11, 2018.
  42. ↑ "Nominee List for 2017". National Academy of Video Game Trade Reviewers. February 9, 2018. Retrieved February 17, 2018.
  43. ↑ "Horizon wins 7; Mario GOTY". National Academy of Video Game Trade Reviewers. March 13, 2018. Retrieved March 14, 2018.
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