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

Coming off of Danganronpa 1, I was excited to play this one, coming in with high expectations. Overall I felt it was a solid game, although I think I liked Danganronpa 1 a bit more. Using the first as a point of comparison, gameplay remains largely the same. You’ll have school life, investigations, and class trials. There are a few new mini games in class trials that either are a solid improvement (Logic Dive), or a step back (Improved Hangman’s Gambit). Everything else is more or less unchanged. I guess the biggest change is that the map is huge now. Instead of a school, you’re on an island with plenty of new islands that open up. Expect to move around a lot. How people could even run into each other on accident with an entire island resort makes no sense to me. I preferred the claustrophobic setting of the first game as I felt it added to the atmosphere and propelled the narrative forward. Being trapped on an island resort would be a dream for most people. The characters are solid and you really warm up to them over time. They’re surprisingly deep (in free time events), but fall into classic weeb tropes during the story that make me glad no one is watching over my shoulder as I play. (Fuck kazuichi soda, who’s entire character is being a pervert, and no he’s not the only one either). I ended up liking most of the characters by the end, though I felt DR1 had better inter-relationships between the characters. I also felt the protagonist this time along was incredibly boring, even though that same complaint is used against DR1’s protagonist. The story is a bit more complex, and a little longer as well. There are interesting twists and turns, and the story does advance the narrative at a solid pace. There’s also a decent connection to DR1 that I wasn’t expecting, which was some nice fan service, if nothing else. Most of the trials are surprisingly complex and I can admire the thought put into them. Overall, I think Danganronpa 1 was a bit better for me not because it was, but because it was first. DR2 doesn’t change up the formula much, but it’s a fun time if you’re into it. And this game is going to make me watch my first anime, so I probably should knock it down a star.