Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc

 PC
User Score
8.6

Generally favorable reviews- based on 391 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 335 out of 391
  2. Mixed: 36 out of 391
  3. Negative: 20 out of 391

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  1. NeroNB
    Nov 21, 2022
    5
    shame that a concept as good as Danganronpa gets wasted on writing this bad. at least the soundtrack is a **** banger
  2. Human21
    Aug 5, 2016
    7
    Danganronpa: Trigger Havoc Happy, do I recommend it or not and why? I regret playing this game. It was enjoyable and the quality of the game was at least decent. But I found it not worth the time. I find a game worth my time when it is either very entertaining or when it is fullfilling in some way, for example by being very intelligent, thought provoking, or by providing fresh perspectiveDanganronpa: Trigger Havoc Happy, do I recommend it or not and why? I regret playing this game. It was enjoyable and the quality of the game was at least decent. But I found it not worth the time. I find a game worth my time when it is either very entertaining or when it is fullfilling in some way, for example by being very intelligent, thought provoking, or by providing fresh perspective or interesting emotions. I found it lacking on both.
    For me, it lacked entertainment because on the one hand the actual gameplay was too easy and not challenging or engaging enough (such as the murder trials) for a 'thinker' like me, and on the other hand the story was not that strong (sure the murder trials have unexpected twists and the whole setting of the game is one big mystery, but that is not enough for a strong story with character development, character interaction and character bonding). (Also, I found the mood very serious with not so much humor.) This is all in contrast to my favorite game Phoenix Wright (which also has more emotional depth). (People saying that this game is similar to Phoenix Wright motivated me to play this game.)
    About 'fullfilling'(/deep): sure themes like 'despair' and 'happiness' were there, but to me they were not fleshed out enough. Perhaps it was somewhat psychological ('who will commit murder?'), but not so much philosophical (apart from moral 'choices').
    Once you have bought this game and have started playing, you will likely want to know the rest of the story and spend many hours on this game; that's one reason why I wanted to warn people like me. Before I bought this game, I read quite positive reviews. Yes, this game has some strong points. But apparently, at least for me, only the highest quality or most intelligent games suffice, and this isn't one.
    I can only finish with: I had fun, and I am thankful for the game creators.    … Expand
  3. Silver_Celeste
    Jul 26, 2016
    6
    Danganronpa is an interesting murder mystery game, mostly comparable with the Phoenix Wright series, with a unique theme of despair and hope added in. As such, gameplay will mostly be just on the sidelines where the story and characters stand at the front, and will mostly decide whether or not this game is worth playing.

    --Story-- The premise is *read the synopsis*. This is a somewhat    Danganronpa is an interesting murder mystery game, mostly comparable with the Phoenix Wright series, with a unique theme of despair and hope added in. As such, gameplay will mostly be just on the sidelines where the story and characters stand at the front, and will mostly decide whether or not this game is worth playing.

    --Story--
    The premise is *read the synopsis*. This is a somewhat unique premise, having characters sealed in an area and forcing them to kill each other. The murders and investigations are smartly written enough, and the twists are fun and exciting, though due to obvious clues scattered around, the player more or less sees the twists coming from a mile away. This leads to an underwhelming feeling when all the characters are completely clueless while the player already knows who committed the murder, and perhaps with smarter writing the player could know as much as the characters know and be on the same page as them without doing the deus ex machina introducing a random piece of evidence later on. Despite this, the murders and investigations are interesting to follow along. The other side of the plot is mostly with the characters interactions and free time, which leads us to the characters.

    --Characters--
    Most of the characters are based off of some sort of trope along with a couple of traits added in, and herein lies the biggest problem I have with this game.

    Most of the characters aren't likeable, nor are they interesting, thus the player usually doesn't really connect with most of them nor care about them at all when they get killed.

    Aside from the very first character that's murdered, I cared very little about the characters that came after. This is mostly due to the fact that the game forces you to bond with this first character, and to an extent, the game did a rather well job setting the first character as a three dimensional person with goals and fears and whatnot, and I did feel something when she was killed, but aside from that, you are not forced to bond as closely with most other characters.

    However, bonding with the other characters is still optional, and the game encourages this by rewarding the player if you do bond with them. However, bonding is pretty shallow, and you mostly just learn a few facts and quirks about the characters before you are finished with them.

    This is bad for the constant 'despair' theme the game tries to hammer into your head, since you don't really care about the characters dying one after the other. Added with the fact that most of the characters are just tropes, it really hurts the game. It's as if the game is trying it's best to make you NOT to feel anything for the characters with the exception of the first one that dies.

    --Gameplay--
    Most of the investigation stuff is just pointing things out and walking around, while the highlight and most fun part of the game are the class trials.

    Instead of having the standard phoenix wright cross examination and objections, the game adds a gimmick to the 'pointing out contradictions' section, where instead of a steady still image of the witness, the camera flips to each character talking. This is honestly pretty exciting and more intense than the phoenix wright cross examinations, except that the game had to add stupid gimmicks. Instead of just clicking out contradictions, you have to, literally, shoot the contradictions like a FPS. This seems negligible at first, but as they add more and more gimmicks it just gets annoying, and becomes a chore to play.

    Aside from that, there are two other minigames shoved in, such as a really simple word match minigame and a stupid rhythm game which is extremely difficult to understand. These minigames are not pleasant to play and mostly just pointless.

    Despite all that, these minigames are mostly just negligible, they don't interrupt the flow and tension of the story too much, so they are mostly ignorable. The class trials are still the most fun and exciting part of the game due to the music and the cross examining.

    --Conclusion--
    Despite the poor characters and the tedious minigames, the story still manages to keep the player engaged and the gameplay manages to entertain and keep the tension going. Thus, I recommend this game and this game is above average.

    6/10    … Expand
  4. VidyaBum
    Apr 10, 2016
    5
    Half DanganRonpa is a linear-progressing murder mystery. Since it's linear, you know you're not going to make a mistake and die, you just go along with the story. And since its a murder mystery and everyone around you dies one after the other, you don't really want to get attached to any of them because you know they're all gonna be offed at some point. Good writing could counter theHalf DanganRonpa is a linear-progressing murder mystery. Since it's linear, you know you're not going to make a mistake and die, you just go along with the story. And since its a murder mystery and everyone around you dies one after the other, you don't really want to get attached to any of them because you know they're all gonna be offed at some point. Good writing could counter the massacre principle and get you attached even if you don't want to, but all the characters are hyperbole parodies of typical anime character tropes, the fat geek, the punk, the teen idol, etc. The personalities are ok enough but none come off as really memorable, except maybe Kirigiri.

    DR didn't really make me want to like its characters, except Kirigiri and Asahina. I barely ever felt anything for any of them.

    The gameplay is both better than Ace attorney and a lot worse. Every day you have to do a ton of walking around an empty school, which sucks. But the real difference is with the class trials. For some unfathomable reason you don't argue with others, you shoot down their statements once you found a contradiction. And by shoot I mean shoot, you have a cursor and you shoot it down like an FPS. It's...stupid. And not very pleasant to play. Other things include veeeery simple letter association and more shooting, and then a big, annoying rhythm minigame. It's a whole lot of useless fluff for something that essentially should just be about a bunch of people talking, but it is original at the very least, and the shooting down is ok once you get the bonus from Togami which makes the cursor less floaty.

    But the worst isn't there...

    The ultimate theme of Danganronpa is hope and despair, and honestly, I think it's a VERY poorly treated subject. Despair especially is a rather complex issue which is kind of hammered in throughout the whole game. It's pretty much "DESPAIR, BECAUSE I KEEP RAINING ON YOUR PARADE!" and instead of intricate psychological attacks on the player, it's more "well here's your daily dose of senseless murder and more wierd ****

    If the game had made the smart decision of putting the player in the position of a "willing pervert" who doesn't want to die in game but enjoys the game, enjoys the killing, enjoys the violence, then it might have been a really good theme. You'd want to keep playing and yet you'd question whether you aren't the sick **** for enjoying all the violence and death. But they kept on going with the whole, very poorly understood, hope VS despair theme.

    And at the final showdown I ended up skipping angrily through the text because the "I will not yield to Despair!" stuff had just grown extremely old extremely fast and sounded as corny as it sounded false.

    So yeah, it's definitely worth trying and it has an intricate plot with some very good twists, but the general themes, a lot of gameplay and characters are badly designed and it sort of fell flat too many times for me to be positive about Danganronpa.    … Expand
  5. Jrson
    May 12, 2020
    7
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. The class trials are the best part about the game. The investigations felt more like a chore though.… Expand
  6. Patanu
    Feb 25, 2022
    6
    Its got a lot of style and well written arcs in the story. But yet while the characters and plot can be entertaining, there is very little depth to to justify the amount of time you have to put into the game. All dependent on your own personal investment that may or may not feel worth it in the end. But you'll enjoy just wish it go a bit faster.
  7. Pimplup
    Jun 1, 2021
    6
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. The plot & gameplay are great overall, but I found the ending kinda disappointing.

    The entire game I was asking myself, "why are these kids being put through this seemingly pointless misery?"
    I had a few theories: maybe they each represented some type of tribe or nation, and this was the civilizations' way of duking it out. Maybe it was some sort of Hunger Games/Maze Runner-esque setup.

    Well, the big reveal was that the reason they were enduring pointless misery is because there was a character who wanted to inflict pointless misery. That's it.
    It was kind of a letdown for me, but I'm sure other people don't mind.

    And for what it's worth, the sequel games build on the first one in interesting ways, so it might be worth getting for that reason alone.    … Expand
  8. Cat_Anarchist
    Apr 6, 2020
    7
    Seems as if game not was published in North America, game don`t exist in this site, because there don`t exist first Danganronpa for PSP. I walkthrough game first on PSP and only then on PC.

    Story have some problems with detective part, trial part, but for first walkthrough it is not noticeable. Music very good. But this new School mode which firstly appeared on PS Vita and then on PC -    Seems as if game not was published in North America, game don`t exist in this site, because there don`t exist first Danganronpa for PSP. I walkthrough game first on PSP and only then on PC.

    Story have some problems with detective part, trial part, but for first walkthrough it is not noticeable. Music very good. But this new School mode which firstly appeared on PS Vita and then on PC - most boring thing that I do.    … Expand
  9. teratoma666
    Dec 23, 2021
    7
    A fun ride that has many writing hiccups. The characters are the most tropey and predictable compared to the rest of the series and the trial minigames are also the most frustrating.

    The only part that stands out compared to the rest of the series is the more oppressive and tense atmosphere, but it mostly stem from not knowing what to expect from a new series in a more claustrophobic    A fun ride that has many writing hiccups. The characters are the most tropey and predictable compared to the rest of the series and the trial minigames are also the most frustrating.

    The only part that stands out compared to the rest of the series is the more oppressive and tense atmosphere, but it mostly stem from not knowing what to expect from a new series in a more claustrophobic setting.

    Overall a game worth playing for any murder mystery fan and especially to experience the superior sequels.    … Expand
  10. Antohadance
    Jun 22, 2022
    7
    Детективная новелла в детективное жанре, сюжет мне в целом понравился, но лор какой то слишком трешовый
  11. Shamrock97
    Apr 30, 2023
    6
    When I had first heard about this game I got really excited because it sounded like a lot of fun, but in all honesty it got really boring for me very fast. I don't know if I just lack the patience to finish this game or what, but having to look for clues for the murderer during the whole body discovery thing was so tedious and long, I just wanted to get on with it already. I also felt likeWhen I had first heard about this game I got really excited because it sounded like a lot of fun, but in all honesty it got really boring for me very fast. I don't know if I just lack the patience to finish this game or what, but having to look for clues for the murderer during the whole body discovery thing was so tedious and long, I just wanted to get on with it already. I also felt like I started to lose motivation to continue playing the game after my favourite characters died. I was also disappointed because I thought the whole free time events thing was its own separate mode and that you had an unlimited amount of time to interact with the characters but no, you pretty much only have around few times to be able to interact with some of the characters who die earlier in the game before they're dead which is a bummer. Anyways, it's an alright game but it can feel like a chore to play it at times if you don't have the patience for it like me lmao, but the soundtrack has absolutely no reason to be so FIRE LIKE WE'RE KILLING CHILDREN IN THIS GAME AND THE BACKGROUND MUSIC IS SUCH A BOP LIKE FOR REEAAALLL… Expand

Awards & Rankings

51
#51 Best PC Game of 2016
55
#55 Most Discussed PC Game of 2016

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
82

Generally favorable reviews - based on 10 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 9 out of 10
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 10
  3. Negative: 0 out of 10
  1. Adventure Gamers
    Jul 10, 2017
    70
    Danganronpa may not score highly with its excessive menagerie of gameplay mechanics, but if you’re morbidly curious and want to indulge your darker side, this unique visual novel adventure gets a solid passing grade.
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  2. CD-Action
    May 30, 2016
    90
    Trigger Happy Havoc is an unsettling journey, an absorbing moral dilemma and a brilliant, tangled criminal story. [05/2016, p.60]
  3. Games.cz
    Mar 29, 2016
    80
    Successful detective novel has finally found its way to PC from the handheld zone and any enthusiasts of well-narrated stories shouldn´t definitely miss it.
    Read full review
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