Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony (PlayStation 4) Review

Anyone who has played a Danganronpa game before will know what to expect, and anyone who hasn't shouldn't start here, despite the promise of a new continuity being built. Once again, 16 Ultimate Students have been locked away within a school; if they want to escape there's only one way out - to kill one of their fellow students and get away with the murder in a class trial. Overseeing the fun and murder games is a cute little black and white teddy bear; so far, so similar. Spike Chunsoft knows what its fans like, even if it sometimes misses the mark. There have been plenty of mis-steps that the audience has been highly critical of in the most recent works, like Ultra Despair Girls and The End of Hope's Peak. Understandably, in many people's opinion, The End of Hope's Peak deserved to be a game in its own right.

Regardless, here the company is sticking with what has worked and the core is made up of the same elements that shot the franchise to cult fame. Each chapter is made up of trying to live a peaceful life in the school, wandering around and getting to know the fellow students, building friendships. Then the peace is shattered when a murdered friend has been found. An investigation then takes place to gather evidence, examining the scenes and gathering testimonies. Then, finally, a class trial takes place to establish the guilty, or "blackened" as they are known here. These trials are made up of numerous mini-games, which take the same form as the previous ones, along with a handful of extras. They are simple little distractions that help break up the truth bullet sections of the trials and are all enjoyable enough in their own regard.

The new cast is made up of the same quality of characters that have helped solidify the previous games' popularity. Utilising the same exaggerated caricatures and ridiculously over the top designs to craft a whole new class of Ultimate Students, it includes some fantastic characters that will quickly join previous instalments.

The hulking Gonta, for instance, is a hugely muscled and bespectacled wild man who was lost in the woods at age 10 and raised by either a group of wolves or dinosaur men. He's a sweetheart, wearing a suit and constantly striving to be a gentleman. Fittingly, he wouldn't hurt a fly, and so he is the Ultimate Entomologist. Then there is the creepy little sociopath named Kokichi Oma, who is the Ultimate Supreme Leader - an evil little nightmare who is constantly sowing seeds of dissent. The diminutive Himiko, the Ultimate Magician, is next up, and insists she's actually the Ultimate Mage and that all her spells are actually real magic. The always smiling, and utterly barmy, Ultimate Artist Angie is also there, coming from a tribal island and worshipping a god called Atua, and also there is the Ultimate Astronaut who feels like the hero of this story. Many great characters present but, of course, not all of these are going to survive until the end and those who spend their free time getting to know them will be in for some gut punches when stumbling upon their fresh corpses. Learn from the heartbreak of Chiaki, don't get attached…

The Class Trials and the characters have always been the major selling points of the series but they've done so well thanks to the smart writing and the core story. The writing and core story is that same high quality here too, there are absolutely tons of Easter eggs and parodies, especially in regards to other games and anime, and they are really well done, too; they will evoke regular big laughs. The individual kills and trials are of the same quality, too, with some inventive deaths. The problem with the writing comes right at the tail end. There is a major story twist that will sour many players. Even that is saying too much… but it's such a massive decision that it's hard to ignore.

As with all of the previous instalments, after finishing the story, some mini-games are unlocked to extend the life of the game over the already considerable lifespan it has. This time the mini-games are all based around the "Ultimate Death Card Machine," a system of collecting cards of each of the Ultimate Students from all three games, each of which is available in either Normal, S rank or U rank version. These cards are used for characters to use in a board game mini-game where they gain increases in levels and basic RPG stats, along with picking up currency to purchase special abilities.

The characters come in one of three types: caster, warrior, or all-rounder, and are used in the other mini-game, a dungeon-crawling, turn-based combat one. All three are closely linked; the board game has to be run repeatedly to create a team to run through the dungeon, which rewards coins and increases the rare drop rate of the machine; collect a team of rarer characters that has higher stats to take on more of the dungeon, and then repeat. There are 100 floors to overcome and it's a simple yet addictive distraction. On top of these mini-games, there are, as always, plenty of collectibles to find, art and movies to buy and lots more to give this a decent lifespan.