Danganronpa 1-2 Reload

 PlayStation 4
User Score
8.4

Generally favorable reviews- based on 144 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 120 out of 144
  2. Mixed: 6 out of 144
  3. Negative: 18 out of 144
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  1. tomvs123
    Jun 12, 2019
    4
    My numerical rating is for Dangonronpa 1; I couldn't finish the 2nd one.

    Compared to the first two Zero Escape games, Danganronpa isn't nearly as intelligent, mature, or believable. But at least it's not absolute trash (like the 3rd Zero Escape game). The setting is a school where students are trapped and they must kill someone, without getting caught, to escape. You'll spend most of    My numerical rating is for Dangonronpa 1; I couldn't finish the 2nd one.

    Compared to the first two Zero Escape games, Danganronpa isn't nearly as intelligent, mature, or believable. But at least it's not absolute trash (like the 3rd Zero Escape game).

    The setting is a school where students are trapped and they must kill someone, without getting caught, to escape. You'll spend most of your time investigating murder scenes and then determining who the murder is.

    The character interactions, mysteries surrounding the school, and murder investigations kept me interested. The character writing is relatively good when a character isn't doing something that involves the main plot. But when the plot demands it, the characters become uncharacteristic or outright stupid.

    As for the school's mystery, much of it becomes obvious due to various hints given by the antagonist, but the last few bits aren't made clear until the end. The final secrets aren't very profound or thought-provoking, but they were interesting enough.

    Investigating murders is good. Finding a clue and having the other characters have no idea what it meant while I was able to deduce exactly what it meant felt good. It's too bad that investigations are basically on rails: you're not able to proceed until you gather every clue, which made investigations seem fake and manufactured.

    The worst part of the game is the class trials. After all evidence is gathered, you go into a courtroom setting and argue about the evidence in a very tedious and repetitive way until you get to the conclusion. There's many issues with this. There's only one conclusion to reach, so you can't misinterpret the evidence except when built into the plot. Difficulty isn't based around logic, but shooting, rhythm, and spelling minigames. And when you have the option to make a choice, such as bringing forth evidence to disprove an argument, it requires reading comprehension more than reasoning; you must simply remember the details of a piece of evidence that you previously about. I felt like I was in elementary school again.

    Failure isn't possible. If you fail in a shooting minigame or choose the wrong option too much, you're automatically chosen as the culprit, even if most characters suspect someone else, and that section of the trial restarts immediately.

    For the few times I failed at making a choice, it was because I didn't provide the evidence in the right order. Unfortunately, the trials like to beat to death insignificant pieces of evidence before they move on to important evidence, which normally overrides the prior evidence. So even though you know exactly who the murderer is, and know which pieces of evidence proves it, you must first wait until everyone makes incorrect conclusions about each piece of insignificant evidence.

    After the group comes to a conclusion, you must irritatingly do it all over again in storyboard format. You must match up somewhat-vague pictures without descriptions to a storyboard so that the protagonist can restate the events for awesome's sake. Or maybe to remind everyone of what you talked about for the last hour, since the game seems to want people to improve their reading comprehension.

    So it's an okay game, but the main gameplay mechanic, the trial system, isn't interesting to an intelligent adult or anyone else who already has good reading comprehension. It it weren't for the murdering, it would be a great learning tool for elementary or middle schools.

    I then played the post-game mode, which is essentially a mobile game where you collect materials and build robots. You can also go on trips with the characters during your free time, but your relationships with them don't progress beyond becoming friends. There were no rewards that I could see and the gameplay was incredibly monotonous, so I quit after a few hours.

    And then I moved on to Dangonronpa 2. I was expecting improvements in the characters and plot, but I was wrong. Dangonronpa 2 gets even more unrealistic/unbelievable and the characters are dumber. After completing the first trial, which is so long it needs an intermission, I couldn't take it any more and quit. The first murder motive was simply stupid, dumber than any from Danganronpa 1. There was no intelligence behind most people's arguments, and all the characters treated this more like a game than real life (when compared to the first game). Also, the minigame variety and difficulty is ramped up, so if you were annoyed by the first game's mini games, you'll be twice as annoyed by these. All of the clues and choices are also much more vague this time around. So I ended up having to deduce which options the creators expected me to choose rather than the ones that made sense.

    I feel a bit deceived that this was advertised as an intelligent well-told story. It's simply not, unless you're moved by elementary-school writing. Don't waste your time unless you're okay with works aimed at kids.    … Expand
  2. DrFriendless
    Dec 26, 2018
    1
    Why is this a game? If I want a manga I'll read a manga. There's no interactivity in this game. The sounds are horrendously bad - just random squawking. There's nothing to do.
  3. Melopahn
    Jul 18, 2023
    0
    The game is trash as is anyone who thinks it deserves better than 1/10. Anyone who likes this game should come with a warning that they are absolutely not fit for society. People should have something to signal that they are a danganronpa fan so humanity knows to give them a wide berth and avoid any contact with them.

Awards & Rankings

40
#40 Best PS4 Game of 2017

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
83

Generally favorable reviews - based on 29 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 27 out of 29
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 29
  3. Negative: 0 out of 29
  1. GameCritics
    May 3, 2017
    80
    The Danganronpa series is concerned with the ongoing battle between the power of hope and the power of despair, and while these games are overlong and peppered with some less-than-stellar moments, the excellent plots give the player a sense of hope for the future of dynamic narrative in videogames. This is some of the best, most suspenseful, storytelling that I’ve ever seen attempted in the medium. While there’s no new content and the graphics remain unchanged from the Vita versions, 1.2 Reload is a great jumping-on point for fans of visual novels who’ve never experienced the series before.
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  2. DarkStation
    May 1, 2017
    90
    Danganronpa 1-2 Reload takes two fantastic point-and-click visual novels and ties them up in one discounted package. Between both games and some surprisingly fun post-game alternative modes, Reload offers over 60 hours of content. If you’ve already played through these games, the only incentives to double-dipping are if you want both games in the same package and the ability to play it on your PS4. If you haven’t experienced the series, then this game is the best way to get your fix of high school murder mysteries, trigger-happy courtroom action, and psycho bears. Oh my!
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  3. GameGrin
    Apr 24, 2017
    80
    Although the first title grabbed my attention more than the second, Danganronpa 1.2 Reload are a pair of games that engulf you quite effectively into their worlds. These two titles come highly recommended.
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