| Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Spike Chunsoft |
| Publisher(s) | Spike Chunsoft, NIS America |
| Year released | 2017 |
| System(s) | PlayStation Vita, PlayStation 4, Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android |
| Preceded by | Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair |
| Series | Danganronpa |
| Genre(s) | Visual novel |
|---|---|
| Modes | Single player |
| Rating(s) |     |
Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony (ニューダンガンロンパV3 みんなのコロシアイ新学期 New Danganronpa V3: Minna no Koroshiai Shingakki?, lit. New Danganronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Mutual Killing) is a visual novel adventure game developed by Spike Chunsoft. It is the third main game in the Danganronpa franchise, following 2010's Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc and 2012's Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair. It was first released in Japan for the PlayStation Vita and PlayStation 4 on January 12, 2017. A worldwide release by NIS America followed on September 26 in North America and September 29 in Europe. A port for Windows, Mac OS, and Linux was also released worldwide via Steam on the same day as the North American release. A bundle containing all three main games would later be released in North America and Europe as Danganronpa Trilogy.
Danganronpa V3 was produced by Yoshinori Terasawa, and planned and written by Kazutaka Kodaka, while the character design is done by Rui Komatsuzaki. The game was developed at the same time as the production of the anime series Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School, which Terasawa and Kodaka described as being difficult; they still tried to develop both projects without making any compromises, as such an opportunity does not arise often. The "V3" in the game's title was chosen to differentiate it from the anime; the "V" is short for "Victory." Terasawa and Kodaka described the game's production level as being much higher than that of previous games in the series.
There was division among the staff in the development team regarding whether the game should be a sequel or something new; because of this, it was decided to make something that was both a sequel and new. The game's theme is described as "psycho-cool." As with previous games in the series, the game's original score was composed and produced by Masafumi Takada. The famous piece Clair de lune from Suite bergamasque was arranged for the game.
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Japanese box art for the Limited Edition
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Reversible box art as voted on by fans before the game's release
Story[edit | edit source]
High school student Kaede Akamatsu is kidnapped and awakens trapped in the Ultimate Academy for Gifted Juveniles (才囚学園 Sai-shū Gakuen?), where she meets 15 fellow students including Shuichi Saihara. The group is abruptly accosted by a series of bear robots, known as Monokubs, who expose them to a "Flashback Light," a flashlight similar to a neuralyzer from Men in Black. When Kaede next awakens, the students remember having ultimate talents; for example, Kaede is the "Ultimate Pianist" and Shuichi is the "Ultimate Detective." Monokuma, a robotic bear, arrives and informs the students that the only way to escape the academy is to successfully murder another student and not be voted as the culprit at the resulting trial.
Gameplay[edit | edit source]
Danganronpa V3 follows a structure similar to its predecessors: the player takes the role of a high school student thrust into a deadly situation. The student can interact with their peers, investigate murders, and subsequently use the evidence collected in the investigation to determine the culprit in a class trial. Investigation follows a point-and-click format in which objects and people relating to the crime must be examined, while class trials are made up of multiple choice questions and fast-paced mini-games that aid in the deduction process. The murders and executions are juxtaposed by the "School Life" segments of the game, in which the student can bond with their peers by giving them certain presents and answering questions correctly. In typical visual novel fashion, the correct actions here will boost that student's affection for the player character, and may even give them access to special abilities for use in trials.
Table of Contents
