Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc recently hit Xbox platforms for the very first time back in January (day 1 on Game Pass no less!). In celebration, I wrote this piece giving the rundown and explaining why you should consider giving it a try. This has been in the works for a while now, because the game in question is dear to my heart and I wanted to do it justice. You can be the judge on whether I succeeded.
The following piece is completely spoiler-free. The screenshots were carefully selected from the Prologue and Ch. 1. This experience benefits tremendously from going in (mostly) blind, so I’ve got you covered.
I play a lot of good stuff (at least, I hope so), but there are two elements that work in tandem to push a title over the edge into “favorite game” territory: atmosphere and soundtrack. Of course, story is important too, but I’ll forgive a few writing quibbles (e.g. the entire fifth arc of Persona 5) if a game manages to pull me in with its atmosphere, and keep me there, enraptured by its music. A visual novel lives and dies by the strength of its presentation, and thankfully Danganronpa offers some of the best you’re likely to find. Trigger Happy Havoc is the first game in the series – arguably the least best, but that’s like when Germaine Greer suggested that Leonardo da Vinci was a “sloppy artist” and that The Last Supper was “one of the worst”… it’s still da Vinci.
Damn, no one ever wants to go anywhere with me…
You play as Makoto Naegi, dubbed the “Ultimate Lucky Student” after he wins a raffle to attend Hope’s Peak Academy, a prestigious high school filled with prodigies and celebrities known as Ultimates. Once there, he and 14 others find themselves trapped and forced to live a communal life within the school’s walls. Monokuma – the series’ iconic Fluffy Mascot Character™️ – makes himself known, as well as his mission statement to spread despair throughout the halls of Hope’s Peak. He offers the students an out: if one were to murder a fellow classmate and side-step condemnation via a class trial, they’ll be allowed to leave while everyone else’s lives hit the chopping block. Makoto must work with his new friends (and rivals) to find a way out of this ontological hell, discover the secrets behind Monokuma and Hope’s Peak Academy, and keep his peers from succumbing to the temptation of easy freedom. Each of the 6 chapters is split into two halves: Daily Life and Deadly Life; if you’ve played an Ace Attorney game before, this would be akin to the Investigation and Trial phases. Daily Life offers equally heavy doses of drama and slice-of-life fun, while Deadly Life arrives once a student’s body is discovered, where you’ll search for “Truth Bullets,” or evidence that’ll be used in the subsequent class trial. These segments play out in visual novel form, with the added ability to freely roam around campus in first person.
Sayaka is best girl.
During Daily Life, you’ll encounter segments known as Free Time, where you can hang out with fellow classmates of your choosing (extenuating circumstances occasionally barring), and experience their Free Time Events – aka FTEs, which are similar in concept to Social Links or Confidants from the Persona series; reaching specific ranks in their FTEs will grant you a special ability that can be used during the class trials. To progress these ranks, you’ll need to offer your friend a gift that they like/love, which you can get from spending coins on the MonoMono Machine in the school store; these coins can be found by searching the school, or earned in large sums by excelling during a class trial. It’s essentially required that you use an online gift guide, lest you risk forfeiting that opportunity to rank them up (of which you only get so many). I wish their preferred gifts had been made more intuitive, since there are over a hundred to collect; the sequels streamlined the FTEs, having a set number of 6 ranks and only 1 unlockable skill per character, but the ambiguity of presents still remains an issue. I recommend using this beautifully comprehensive FTE guide, to make the most out of your Free Time and presents giving (special thanks to Steam user HeeHo for authoring this bang-up guide).
You’ll be wanting to give these characters presents too, because they’re great! I love them to death (often literally). This isn’t the best Danganronpa cast – that honor far and away goes to Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony – but there’s a lot to love here with these quirky personalities. I love Celestia Ludenberg, the Ultimate Gambler, who’s hilariously arrogant and “above it all” (if you’ve ever seen Kakegurui, she’s basically a prototype Yumeko Jabami except relatively more composed). Another hilarious one is Hifumi Yamada, the Ultimate Fanfic Creator, an embarrassingly pathetic weeb who prefers “2D girls” – he’s basically me and I hate it. Each mainline game has a rival, and that position here belongs to Byakuya Togami, the Ultimate Affluent Prodigy – a brilliantly pompous, blowhard heir to a global empire, and shit stirrer for his own amusement. There’s too many to list here, but they’re all pretty fun.
Can’t believe they stole my likeness! I should sue.
Upon replaying a bit on Game Pass and having watched a lot of anime recently, the incredible dialogue immediately jumped out at me; the character writing is very strong and manages to avoid a lot of pitfalls of genericness that often plague these types of stories in Japanese media (go watch King’s Game: The Animation, a similar killing game scenario, and you’ll see exactly what I mean). It’s not perfect by any means, but it made for a solid foundation for the sequels to evolve and expand upon to its logical conclusion. Of course, I can’t write about this game without mentioning the hammy King of Despair himself, Monokuma. He’s an omnipresent, ever so hilarious villain who presides over the trials and pops up during your slices of life at the most inconvenient times, just to troll you like the reprehensible dick that he is. An absolute monster that commits horrible atrocities throughout the series, but well balanced by his “devilish charm” and adorable design. I guarantee that the secrets behind his origins will shock you in ways you’ll never see coming.
What a great guy.
The story is intense, packed to the gills with twists and thrills, and no aspect better encapsulates this than the class trials. Back to Ace Attorney, the gameplay is similar to those iconic courtroom trials, except with more involved gameplay and less mind-boggling logic overall (that difficulty spike is saved for the sequel, Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair). You and your remaining classmates must deduce who among you is the killer, and you’ll accomplish that by talking it out, uncovering game-changing twists that shake the entire narrative, with recurring minigames popping up throughout. The most prominent of these is the Nonstop Debate, where all involved parties voice their opinions in rapid succession, and you must find the contradiction amidst the cacophony; you’ll literally fire your evidence, your Truth Bullet of choice, at a physical representation of their statement, in gameplay reminiscent of a light gun shooter. There’s other elements to these trials, but this piece is already starting to feel wordy, so I’ll go ahead and let you discover those for yourself. The trials only ever get longer as the series progresses, with the final trial here clocking in at a whopping 2-3 hours (which more or less becomes the norm by V3, as the stories become even more complex), but seeing as these are the standout moments of the games, I’m more than okay with it. These segments are actually fully voiced too, which is a very nice touch that brings a rich flavor to the presentation – the English dub is amazing and definitely the way to go here, as I actually prefer it to the Japanese voice acting.
This screenshot is from the Hangman’s Gambit trial minigame, which is easily the worst one, and only continues to deteriorate in the sequels, with its “upgraded” iterations. I had to be very selective about what I showed from the Ch. 1 trial, to avoid spoilers.
As this was originally a PSP game, the developers were limited in what they could achieve graphically. However, I believe these limitations actually work in the favor of the game’s atmosphere, offering a strikingly unique art style. Hope’s Peak Academy is characterized by hallways of sterile colors and flat textures, banging into your skull like a drum, this foreboding sense of dread – any given moment you’re having a laugh with your friends, it could very well be the last time you ever see them alive. You never know what rooms and revelations you’ll stumble upon as you uncover a new floor of the school during each chapter. The 2D character art is also stunning – their designs are very readable and immediately convey a sense of what they’re all about. This is juxtaposed nicely against the 3D environments, giving a charming diorama feel to the aesthetic.
A E S T H E T I C
Finally, the soundtrack. Holy Mother of God, the soundtrack. Masafumi Takada channeled the sounds of the heavens with this spellbinding blend of jazz, electronica, and rock. The piano-driven “Beautiful Death” is an absolutely haunting masterpiece that paints an aural picture of a world forsaken by hope. The whimsical “Beautiful Days” plays during Free Time, scoring snapshots from within the eye of the storm – the only time anyone is truly safe. “Mr. Monokuma’s Lesson” is obnoxiously epic, a very befitting theme song for his character – just to name a few examples. I’m listening to the OST as I write this, and as I do, I’m transported back to when I first ever played this game; soaking in the atmosphere, and basking in the birth of a new love.
Oh brother, you think this is crazy? Just wait for the sequel.
That’s what the Danganronpa series has become for me: one of my foremost video game loves. It wasn’t long ago that I first experienced this series – in fact, it was only the beginning of 2021, around a year ago now – but it caught me by surprise, like a knife to the heart, and I will forever cherish it. That fixation started here, with a humble visual novel by the name of Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc. If you’re in the market for a stylish, well-written, and atmospheric new obsession (and don’t mind doing a ton of reading), consider giving it a try.
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