4.5/5 ★ – benjaminoagain's review of Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair.

What a game! This is, so far (haven't played V3 yet), my favorite game in the Danganronpa series, and that says a lot, considering that I loved the 1st game as well. It was differently paced than the first game, but in a good way, that made the trials and the overall story more engaging. The overall story, the plot twists, the trials...everything regarding that, was better than the first game. I absolutely loved them. I sat there so many times with a wide open mouth, completely blown away by the course the story took. The story and the trials were among the most immersive I have ever encountered in any video game. I mean, it's genius and really well thought through. It goes in really creative directions, it's fascinating! I really liked most characters in this game as well. I didn't get as attached to most of them as the first game's characters, but I thought they were all well written. The character design and writing is flawless in Danganronpa in general. The soundtrack in Danganronpa 2 is even better than in the first game in my opinion. I like it a lot. All in all, this game is better than the first one and it's high up in my favorite games of all time top 10 list. I was blown away by it in many ways and can't recommend it enough (though, start with the 1st game). This one is hard to beat. ***SPOILERS*** I have a favorite character that I want to highlight, one that absolutely makes the game better by being present in it. A character that fascinated me and that, in my opinion, the game would suffer from being without. Nagito Komaeda is...arguably...a genius villain. I say arguably, because it's hard to completely label him as a villain. Absolutely bat sh*t crazy in the best way possible. I despised him and some of his actions...but Nagito is my favorite character in Danganronpa 2. See, a really good character doesn't have to be someone I like. If I ask myself if there was one character that Danganronpa 2 couldn't be without, the first one that comes up in my head is Nagito. Genius character and probably my 2nd favorite one in the entire series.