I originally picked up Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc because I was crazy about Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward and wanted a similar experience that involved puzzles, investigations, and deep interactions with interesting characters. While Danganronpa might not be quite as deep or as challenging as Zero Escape, I had an absolute blast playing the game and am very excited to play the sequel.
In Danganronpa, you play as Makoto Naegi, an average teenager who has been invited to attend the elite Hope's Peak Academy. The school serves as a launching point for extremely successful high school students, all of whom possess "ultimate" talents that range from "ultimate fanfic creator" to "ultimate pop star." Makoto has no obvious talents, and is labeled as the "ultimate lucky student" because he won a lottery to gain admission to Hope's Peak.
Unfortunately, Makoto soon begins to question his luck—and discover his true talents—when the first day of school turns into a deadly game. The headmaster, a sadistic bear named Monokuma, informs Makoto and his fellow students that they have a choice: They can live out the rest of their lives within the walls of Hope's Peak, or they can attempt to "graduate." Only one student is able to graduate, and must do so by murdering a fellow student and getting away with the crime after a class investigation and trial.
Danganronpa allows you to strike a fun balance between getting to know your new classmates and wondering which one of them will be the next die or kill someone. The writing is quirky and had me laughing out loud despite the dark subject matter, and even the characters who ultimately disappointed me had some redeeming qualities. (These qualities are further drawn out in "school mode," which takes place in an alternate timeline and can be accessed after you beat the main story.) As you lose friends and progress through the story, you also slowly solve the mysteries that surround the school and the deadly game within.
The game's murder puzzles are also a good deal of fun, and they become increasingly elaborate. If you're looking for a Zero Escape-level challenge, you will be disappointed. While many of that game's puzzles frustrated and even infuriated me before I figured them out, Danganronpa very smoothly led me to every relevant clue and helped me piece all of the information together. Even when I went into a class trial before I was 100% certain of what happened, the natural progression of the trial eventually guided me to the correct solution.
Although solving the actual murders is not particularly difficult, Danganronpa's class trials offer added challenges because they take on the form of minigames. Rather than simply lay out what happened, Makoto is forced to spot contradictions in his classmates' arguments and shatter them with "truth bullets" that represent various pieces of evidence. At times, fellow students will not even listen to him and he is forced to overcome their stubbornness by playing a rhythm game. These minigames become incrementally more challenging as the story progresses.
After the main story, Danganronpa offers "school mode," which allows you to socialize with the characters from the game and obtain special endings for each of them. Unfortunately, school mode becomes extremely drawn out and repetitive, and I was relieved to finally round up all of the endings so that I could be finished with it.
Overall, Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc is one of my favorite PS Vita titles. The story is crazy, the characters are genuinely interesting, and the puzzles are delightful. This is also not a game that takes itself too seriously—it pokes plenty of fun at itself, at video game tropes, and at anime stereotypes. Most importantly, the main story kept me engrossed all the way through. Definitely give it a shot.
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