Once a set amount of time has passed (you have found all of the clues) the trial begins, and everyone tries to figure out “whodunit.” Your role is to question the logic of statements and to propose your own ideas in order to find the killer. When a murder happens, there is time to gather evidence before the class trial.

The majority of the game is spent living life in the school, waiting for the next murder to occur while a plotline progresses. So what’s the gameplay? You are the main character, Makoto Naegi, and the game world is viewed through your eyes. If they choose correctly, then the person who committed murder dies while life goes on as normal for the rest, and if they choose incorrectly, then everyone dies except for the murderer, who goes free. The caveat here is that after each murder (or murders) there is a class trial in which the class must designate someone as guilty. At the head of this scheme is a robotic teddy bear named Monokuma who informs the students that in order for one to escape, they must kill another member of the class. Skipping all of the introductions and background information, you and the 14 other students find yourselves trapped inside the school with no escape. You, however, simply got into the school because you won a lottery, making you the Ultimate Lucky Student. For example, some of the students in this game are the Ultimate Pop Sensation, the Ultimate Affluent Progeny, and the Ultimate Programmer. Essentially, 15 students are chosen to enroll in an incredibly prestigious school, so prestigious that only students who are the best in their field go there (we call these students “Ultimates”).

The plot is relatively simple, but can seem outlandish at first (probably because it is). While this is not a game that is truly part of the eSports culture, I want to digress from that topic a bit today in order to talk about a game that I truly think is well designed and enjoyable. The full name of the first game in this series of three, the only one that I have played through myself, is Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc. As the title states, Danganronpa literally is a mix of two words that mean “bullet” and “confutation,” describing the game incredibly well (as you will see in a bit). Yes, the name is incredibly confusing if you try to make sense of it in English - it’s Japanese.

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