4/5 ★ – JustTru's review of Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair.

Significantly less consistent than the first, there are some moments where it really drags, and once or twice I even remember being genuinely confused about how they managed to handle a sequence so poorly. The only steady issue I can find though is the island setting, I think one of the most chilling parts of this concept is the clean, enclosed environment. Chapter 4 is probably my favorite section of the game simply because of how claustrophobic and delirious everything feels and I think the open air of the island sort of takes away from that for most of the game. But really most of my complaints are just nitpicks because when this game is good it's really really REALLY good. The characters are ten times more interesting than the last game, all of them are memorable and funny but also have their own little arcs and emotional moments as well, making it easy to get invested in them despite the unrealistic settings. The mystery element of the game is played up much better as well, with a lot of it tying into personal character motivations and backstories so they can be unraveled throughout the narrative in a perfectly steady way. Nagito alone is the poster child of this game though, and for good reason. So many different eccentricities, twists and reveals within his character arc and I love it. He's smart, unpredictable, and warped in a way that fits this concept perfectly. And, of course, the finale is the best "return to the source" arc I ever could have imagined. Really the game's exactly what a sequel should be, something that could easily be wholly standalone but instead decides to build on and reference the concepts of a previous work in a way that could never be done without the serialized format. The atmosphere just keeps getting more unique, the characterization better and better and the lines between fiction and reality blurred more and more. Can't wait to see what they do with V3!