This review contains spoilers, click expand to view.
This game is pretty much a 40 hours long version of case 2-3 (Turnabout Big Top) from the Ace Attorney series but with a terrible tryhard meta ending. Sharing the same problems as the infamous case: the lack of a coherent story, and characters that feel bland and stupid amidst mistimed nonsense comic relief. Let's break it down.
A futuristic setting with a fresh theme of Lies vs. Truth. With all the hype built through the years that preceded the release, the expectations were high for this game. After two incredible main games, with interesting twists and (some) memorable characters, the start of a new saga unrelated to the Hope's Peak Arc fills everybody with hope and despair.
Firstly, the new mechanics. The new minigames are not an improvement, they still feel somewhat the same from the previous games, not appealing but kinda nice to break the monotony of a tiring class trial. Perjury is an interesting concept, but it was poorly worked: the back routes could be interesting but are way too short to the point of feeling more like an easter egg than a feature; I also don't like the fact it isn't optional at some points. Debate Scrums are stupid, require no thinking and the fact you're always on the correct side is annoying. Panic Debates despite being more realistic are just chaotic in this game, most of the characters are just spouting gibberish while you're the one panicking trying to end it asap.
Secondly, the common points. Some cases are fantastic, V3 has some of the best murders mysteries of the series; on the other hand, some are pretty streched, forced, and/or predictable (i.e. cases 2 and 3). Executions are decent, the usual weirdness is there. Monokuma feels off without the Despair vs. Hope fight being the focus. "Junko" is bad. Side character (Maki) is pretty good despite being somewhat generic and lackluster after Kirigiri and Chiaki. Rival (Kokichi) is way duller than appears, with a conflicting character development that results in him being outshined by Komaeda and even Togami.
The game starts pretty strong, with a solid and surprising first case (if you finished the game you know that this case loses all its shine due to the deus ex machina randomly thrown in it). It's still early in the game, and it introduces new potentially interesting characters. The twist is exciting and shocking. The new theme is introduced coherently and somewhat well developed. Monokubs are downright annoying and unnecessary.
On the Chapter 2 it starts to feel uneasy. At this point it's made clear that Gonta, Himiko, Kaito, Miu and Tenko are irrelevant, instead they'll be repetitive comic relief characters with annoying catchphrases and/or lack of real personality for the rest of the game. The "How" is predictable, and the case is able to ruin and kill the characters with the most potential.
Chapter 3 is about an incestuous creepy crazy serial killer with dissociative identity disorder murdering two people outta nowhere for his dead sister that is actually himself. Sounds ludicrous, right? Yeah. "How" and "Who" are obvious. Case is annoying, tries to have this mythical and eerie vibe. Just ends up being stupid.
Chapter 4 is pretty good. The "How" is somewhat predictable, but the way the case progresses is really interesting. Here we get to see some real antagonism by Kokichi, which is way better than him just lying to stall the trial "for fun".
Chapter 5 has an awesome trial, to me one of the best from all 3 main games. it has twists enough to make the player question their own sanity. "Who", "How" and "Why" are completely unpredictable and masterfully done. Kokichi's character development from the previous chapters is thrown outta the window. Here we see the effort that should've been put into the whole game.
Chapter 6 is what we all know. In a rushed attempt to tie all the loose ends it ruins the first case, sh*ts over the already bad story to replace it with a bad 4th wall breaking ""plot"" twist. No decent internal conflict, terrible mastermind, discards all development the game had built, etc.
The "story" progression has no effort, it's just about collecting the vague Flashback Lights and comical events; the characters are just apathetic after the trials; the comic relief ends up being vulgar and mechanical. In the end, it does deliver what it intends: a bunch of uninteresting characters without any real talent, a washed-up charmless shallow reality show, a Bollywoodesque absurd story that gets a little too self-conscious, and Monokuma(s).
Intentionally or not, this game is clearly an unpleasant satire of the own Danganronpa franchise. The fact people just seem to ignore this and love it blindly to feel better about wasting their money is one of the most uncomfortable aspects of this game to me. It mocks every player and every meta game, pointing out how oblivious this fanbase has grown.
I'd say this game deserves a 53/100 to match its title, but that would be a lie… Expand
Danganronpa V3: Killing HarmonyYour Score0 out of 10User Score
