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The Danganronpa series has undoubtedly been Spike Chunsoft’s most prominent in recent years. With three games, two anime series, and a number of light novels to its name, this vibrant take on murder mysteries has gained immense popularity since its initial reveal as Distrust on the PlayStation Portable. Now, the third main installment of the series, Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony, is set to bring despair to all on PS4, Vita, and Steam this September. And if you know me even a little, you’d likely have guessed that I’m incredibly excited.

A demo of the game was recently released on all three platforms. Since it’s non-canon and doesn’t spoil anything in the main game, I decided to take a look at it along with our own Mike Sounders. He hasn’t tried much from the franchise except for two episodes of the anime. This way, you can obtain a balanced perspective from both the average person and the odd one out.

He’s the odd one out, I swear.

Bass: So, Mike, if you could summarize your experience with the demo in one word, what would it be?

Mike: It was… interesting, to say the least.

Bass: That’s more than one word.

Mike: Rude.

Bass: [Laughs] So, do you mean it was too quirky for your taste? The character designs in this series are truly unconventional!

Mike: The designs themselves weren’t overly quirky, so to speak, and many of the personalities, or at least what I gathered, weren’t too uncommon either. However, one of them had to be one of the most vulgar characters I’ve ever encountered in a video game, and that really caught me off guard.

Bass: The inventor, right? Miu Iruma. I truly enjoy what we’ve seen of her so far. The contrast between her overconfidence and insecurities holds a lot of potential if handled well. I’d say she, the main character, and the dictator were my three favorites from what we’ve witnessed in the demo.

Mike: Yeah, the main character and the dictator were cool, but I wish a couple of other characters had a bit more time to shine. Robot man and the bug guy seemed to have relatively less screen time compared to most of the cast.

Bass: I understand what you mean. In these games, some characters tend to receive more spotlight time simply because they manage to survive longer… But I don’t think this necessarily implies that these two won’t get their fair share of attention in the main game. K1-B0 seems like one that could go far, but his mysterious robot origins might have been too much for a demo. Another character that wasn’t explored much was Maki, the caregiver. I’m certain that since the protagonists from the other games won’t be featured in the final game, these new ones will receive more focus. It’s difficult to determine how much of what we’ve seen in their introductions will actually appear in the actual game to begin with.

Mike: Wait, the other protagonists aren’t in the base game? I have mixed feelings now!

Bass: Nope! They both have a conclusion set after their respective games, which, in a controversial move, ended up as an anime series instead of a game. In this case, both the old protagonists and the “victim” aren’t from this particular game, which, in my opinion, is a good way to ensure that returning players aren’t spoiled. Do you think this might confuse new players?

Mike: It might. Otherwise, I guess it does a reasonably good job of representing what the actual game is like? The art style is appealing, the characters are diverse and interesting, and the investigation is similar to a more open Ace Attorney. Although the trial at the end had some problems.

Bass: Oooh, we’re delving into the details now. I guess we’ll start with the issues you had with the trial then.

Mike: So for those who haven’t played it yet, at the end of the demo, you’re thrown into a class trial where five different mechanics are employed. The first one is basically like Ace Attorney with a twist. You’re listening to a single continuous conversation and need to point out the contradiction. The twist, however, is that you’re in a shooter with a time limit and need to shoot the contradiction. Hitting the incorrect statement, using the wrong evidence, or hitting obstacles will reduce the time you have left. Which is fun enough, I assume it’s in every previous entry, right?

Bass: Right, although this time they added a few twists to the formula. The basic concept of having to shoot your evidence at the statements like in an on-rails shooter is the same. The ability to slow down time to make this easier by simply pressing a button was also present in the first two games. They did introduce a critical hit mechanic and a much more chaotic version where a lot of people are speaking simultaneously. The demo was understandably on the easier side, but I can envision the latter becoming extremely difficult as the amount of evidence increases in the tougher cases of the main game. Is this what you had a problem with?

Mike: Kind of. There were two aspects to it. It was the multiple people one that bothered me the most. Even in a demo with just three testimonies, it felt very chaotic and was easily the hardest part of the trial. While there was a tool to deal with it, the slowdown, it’s still limited. On a smaller screen like the Vita, I’m sure it’s easier to catch everything at once. But for me, using a PC monitor a foot away, it meant actively shifting my attention from one conversation to another. In short, I ended up looking like this for the first three loops.

So yeah, of the five mechanics, it was easily my least favorite in the group as a result.

Bass: [Laughs] Yeah, it was the hardest for me to grasp too. I ended up focusing on each person’s statements, then looping over and concentrating on a different person. That’s not the most efficient method, and people with better multitasking skills would probably fare better, but I felt that was the best way to handle that chaos. I doubt this mechanic will be my favorite part of the game, but I’m completely fine with the new ability to lie by holding the shoot button until the meaning of the evidence is reversed. Now, this has a lot of potential!

Mike: Yeah, lying seemed cool, although I didn’t quite understand how it would work in the main game? Is it its own separate section, different from finding contradictions, or will it be an active mechanic you have to be aware of? If it’s the latter, then as someone who frequently fails in Ace Attorney, may God have mercy on my soul. It was the only other thing I was a little unsure about.

Bass: That’s definitely an active mechanic. At first glance, sure it seems like this doubles the amount of evidence, but I trust the team enough to make the parts where you should lie obvious. I was only genuinely confused once in the first two games. On the meat bone, everyone. That’s still a lot less than how trial-and-error Ace Attorney could feel at its worst. Anyway, how did you feel about the minigames? There were two in the demo, one where you had to dig up the relevant evidence within a limited time, and a driving minigame.

Mike: I really liked both. It was clear with the driving one that it would get harder by making letters easier to miss, adding more obstacles on the road, adding more dangerous drivers, and possibly more fake answers at the end of the road. I’m not too sure how the digging one will progress, although I’m sure it will add more fake pieces of evidence and possibly more colors? Easily the highlights of the trial for me.

Bass: Cool. Yeah, I liked them both as well, though driving has the edge for me. So delightfully retro. Digging can definitely get harder with more colors or a layout with more individual blocks. The layout we had was quite generous with large chunks that you could eliminate at once. I do prefer the regular courtroom gameplay myself, but they’re a nice change of pace that offers variety. Alright, before we conclude this, I want your boldest predictions. Time to predict three people we expect to survive, three people we expect to die, and who we predict will end up being best boy and best girl.

Mike: Woooooow.

Bass: Haha, your survivors are just the characters you said were underutilized… It’s okay Mike, I’ll keep your crushes a secret.

Mike: One last thing. I felt the demo ended too abruptly. The lack of a conclusion to the trial, which we know won’t be in the main game, felt like a letdown since it was doing a great job of building up the tension.

Bass: Yeah, it’s a joke. It’s all a joke. This demo, the struggles of these characters, this article, our existence. I think I need a drink.