Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair

This is a bizarre game, but in a good way (mostly).

It's a weird mixture of a murder mystery game and a dating sim game, though it certainly specialises in the former. The game consists of a linear story consisting of you and 15 other high-school students who periodically get murdered, one by one, and you have to determine who the killer is. The murders get progressively more creatively insane as time goes by, and most of the reason to even play the game is to see how stupid things get. There's an overarching mysterious narrative that guides the overall state of the story, to a stupid but awesome conclusion.

The gameplay consists of point-and-click, talking to people, and then a series of minigames in trials where you shoot bullets and swing swords at students' claims and hypothesises about the murders to prove or disprove them. It's not very difficult; even on the hardest difficulty, I never found myself in serious danger of losing a trial, unlike in the previous game.

I think this game is an excellent sequel, and everything makes a great deal more sense if you played the first game, but it isn't required or anything. However, I can't deny that the graphical, stylistic, and gameplay differences between Danganronpa 1 and 2 are fairly minimal, despite having pretty different locales and characters. I wouldn't be surprised if they were made in the exact same engine.

The dating sim elements are kinda.. strange. You can build relationships by talking to other characters in Free Time, which are optional blocks during the story. To be honest, I never really felt like I was building towards any kind of romantic relationship with any character; it's all more friendship-building.

The game gives you "fanservice" moments with the female characters in bikinis or lewd positions, but these are very infrequent and never involve nudity or even approaching it (even panties are censored), and the game is genre-aware, with characters making fun of these fan-service moments. The "naughty" humor is more to be found in the dialogue. I thought it was generally pretty funny: infrequent enough to not be grating, but still often enough to feel like it really was high schoolers having these conversations - because real ones DO often make those sorts of jokes, of course.

The game finds a strange thematic middle-ground between the horror of the situation and the comedy of the characters interacting. It does occasionally feel callous, but it weirdly works most of the time. You have characters going on pessimistic monologues, and then five minutes later, a dude is loudly proclaiming that he needs to badly take a shit. You develop a resistance to the tonal whiplash pretty quickly and go along for the ride.

Overall, it's pretty excellent and a great time, even if it looks a little dated. Would recommend even to people who aren't usually interested in visual novel-esque games.

I love the story of this game like the first one. The only thing I don't like is that you have to watch the anime to understand the ending and the lore behind this game. Still, Goodbye Despair has the best set of characters in all of danganronpa games, I can't say I disliked a single one, even the fat cook that dies in the beginning. 9/10

This one in the series absolutely KING OF UNPREDICTABILITY with its plot twists being the crown jewel of the experience. It’s a series that will keep you on the edge of your seat, asking yourself WHICH ONE THE TRUTH?!

If you love mysteries, psychological thrillers, or just a good old-fashioned "WWWTTFFF" moment, DANGANRONPA IS FOR YOU!!!!!!!!!!!! Just be prepared, once you start you won’t be able to stop!!

BEST VN GAME I EVER PLAYED!!!!!! PUPUPU

I'd liked this sequel to Danganronpa because, I liked the characters in this game (in my opinion) better than the first game. Plus I liked the game mechanics more than the first game, along with the story. Lastly even though it's a mystery game it also is adventuring. P.S. My favorite character in this game is Chiaki Nanami.

Very fun murder mystery game, definitely recommended if you are into detective style games. Don't get it if you don't like visual novels or you're too bothered by fanservice though.

This was my first entry into the Danganronpa series, and I had an absolute blast. The premise is super interesting and while I do wish the characters had a bit more thought put into their writing, the cast is a very interesting group that you can easily get attached to, especially as you fill out their support chains. I had a great time guessing who would be the next to die, who would be the killer, and who would make it till the end! The trials themselves are actually really fun, and if you're observant of all the clues during the investigation you may be able to predict the killer before the trial! There are some extra modes that are okay like Monomi mode and Island mode which are neat little additions. Regardless, I loved this game, and I'm super looking forward to playing the other games!

Story: ★★★★★
Music: ★★★★★
Gameplay: ★★★★☆
Overall: ★★★★★
Only got better than the first

I don't know how but they've made one of the most intriguing stories I've seen in a game along with cases that will make you scratch your head throughout the majority of the investigation and the trial, but with characters that are so damn weird it'll probably make you drop it all, it seems like whoever's born as an ultimate has a 95% chance of being on the spectrum

Amaizing game. Love it. 10/10. Cases good. Plot good. Evrything good. Reccomend

This game has probably the best or second best character and murder mistery in the whole series. However the game is terrible.

Danganronpa 2 plays more or less the same as its predecessor, but with some frustrating changes. You now have 3 different ways of traversing the world. You have a glorified "area selection screen" where you move your character like a side scroller, then you have the normal first person view and the usual static investigation screen. You are incentivized to walk instead of fast traveling with a mostly useless pet raising minigame.

The misteries have become more complex, however, with this added complexity, the devs had a hard time keeping track of every piece on the board, so to speak. In some mysteries you have to overlook some obvious problems with the setup and play along with the theatre the developers intended. Despite its many issues, the last mystery of this game is, in my opinion, the best mystery of this entire series.

I felt that the debates were more nonsensical this time around. Multiple times I found myself lost trying to figure out what piece of proof the developers wanted me to match with which statement. The "Improved hangman's gambit" is ironically not an improvement at all, and a new stupid pointless subway surfer type minigame was added to debates that just doesn't fit with the courtroom feel at all.

The characters are good but this time around they fit their anime stereotype more and they have less "human" characteristics. That said, there are some characters that I believe are great and one that is masterfully written.

Such an amazing story, start to finish. One of the few games where I got some things spoiled ahead of time and was still surprised and fascinated when it finally came time in the story.

Fun sequel game to DR1 and an interesting and unique story about this "killing school field trip"

I really enjoyed this game! It was almost if not better than the first one and it was a fun game to complete! The cases and class trials were as good as ever and the story had me hooked! If you're into visual novels and detective-type games, I'd consider giving the Danganronpa series a try!

this game was one of my favourite games i bought. Great story and Great characters, would recommend

In my opinion the best Danganronpa game of all time, the characters all feel like real people with motivations and their own goals, unlike a certain next installment in this franchise (V3), especially fuyuhiko who goes through a massive development arc after the 3rd chapter, and the class trial parts are actually engaging and have a decently challenging difficulty, which is a massive improvement over the first installment, where the class trials were relatively easy, not to mention the ending which is a really satisfying conclusion as well as hits really hard, emotionally. Not to mention the fact that the characters are so well written and every single one feels unique.

At first, like my firs hours playing the game, I didn't tought that DG2 could actualy beat DG1 and I also tought that the game was a lil boring, there wasn't much new stuff and it was like DG2 wasn't following the DG1 Ending, Why monokuma is still here if junko is dead in DG1 and all that stuff. BUT, after playing the game a bit more, I found out that DG2 is an amazing game and the 2 last trials even surpass DG1 and overall the ending of DG2 is incredible and the charcaters developement was very good as well. SO DG2 surpased DG1 and the game is just amazing. TOTALY worth playing 10/10.
(the game is also harder than DG1)

Overall a great game. The story is awesome and the gameplay is quite fun. It is nice to see the backstories of all the characters and there is a lot of variety within the game. There are two sections which is the story/visual novel aspect, and the detective/class trail aspect. The only part I say could be better are the game instructions in the class trial. Without knowledge, it can be quite confusing to understand at first.

I recommend this 100%.

Definitely some interesting characters and plot. I haven't got far into the game yet, but still holds my interest.

Absolutely fire. The executions and the settings are so nice to look at. Personally i prefer the first games atmosphere but the variety of locations in this one leads to infinite possibilities for murder cases.

Danganronpa 2 Goodbye Despair, Was a really good game in my opinion. The characters were really good. The story was really good. Everything about it, I really liked. Including the 2 best girls in the game Ibuki Mioda and Chiaki Nanami. Those 2 characters I'll hold dear to my heart they were the best in the game. I will forever hold this game dear to my heart. I hope other people can experience the joy. I'm feeling, Thank you Spike Chunsoft Co., Ltd for making this game. 9.5/10

Best game in the series. Ending is amazing and has the some of the best characters. Most of the mingames are fun and the story is interesting. Better than the first and something Every fan of the first game should play. A solid 8.5/10

This game is the best game I've played in my life. I've been in the Danganronpa fandom for years, and finally decided to play the game for myself. It was so extremely immersive and the writing was exquisite. It tied in nicely with the first game, and this game actually had a very well written ending (unlike most games in my opinion). I felt mostly satisfied. So yes please play if you don't mind some sexual jokes and morbid stuff.

In almost every aspect the second game is inferior compared to the original. The story is overextended, plot twists are either banal or simply nonsensical, characters are forgettable, music is the same as before. The first game feels like a roller coaster ride, the second one is like stumbling knee deep in the mud.

From the technical point of view, you're dealing with a zero effort port from PS Vita: blurry sprites, poorly scaled text, wrong characters shown in button hints and the control layout invented by Monokuma itself. The game doesn't bother with explaining its own controls and new mechanics properly, be ready to lookup guides even for that.

I've spent 42 hours hoping to find Hope at the end, but got a pile of Despair instead.

Had an absolute blast with this game. The game lasts about 33 hours in length according to a lot of sources, and 60 hours to 100% complete. I personally won't find myself going back to 100% complete this game, though.
However, not once ever did I feel bored during that entire 33 hours. It truthfully felt like it was much shorter. Class trials usually last around 2-3 hours long, but usually when I got out of one it felt like I had only spent 45 minutes. Time really flew by!
This game was really fun to play, and I found myself liking a lot of the characters. Chiaki was personally my favorite character, and is one of my favorite game characters of all time. The beauty of this game is that there are so many likable characters, but along with that there is inevitably a lot of not so likable ones too. I personally liked the characters more than I disliked them, however.

Dislikes + MAJOR ENDING SPOILERS; I really didn't understand the ending all that much, as it was made completely unclear HOW Makoto, Kyoko, and Byakuya even made it into the neo world program in the first place, why Junko didn't just immediately eliminate them as they are NOT considered students, and why they were even able to shutdown the simulation considering the fact that they are again... NOT students. It's explicitly stated that a majority of the students have to vote to end the game. This is just not covered, and left me somewhat confused in the end. The ending was mostly satisfying, and the unexplained bits were pretty much the only cons of this game for me

Overall, this game is great and I'd recommend buying 👍

It's good but HOLY FUCKING SHIT did they ruin the class trials. Ruined previous mini-games, added shitty
mini-games, and now you need to think like a fucking mastermind to actually being able to progress. The characters are probably the only improvement from the first game. Overall downgrade but still a good game. 7/10.

Pretty much everything I like about the first game but better.

The Mysteries:
The murder cases in this game were much more interesting and harder to figure out than in the first one. Even when I did know who did it, I didn't know how they did it and figuring that out was great. It also has arguably the best individual chapter in the series (if you know you know).

The Story:
I absolutely loved the story in this one and how it all comes together in one big question at the end. Without going too deep into spoilers, it's a nature versus nurture situation.

The Bad:
The setting is arguably the worst in the series. There are very few first-person exploration sections in the game. Instead, this group of students is on a series of large islands with like 3-4 locations on each. Though they all feel very disconnected from each other and all but one murder case involves using more that one location to commit the crime.

There is a tamagotchi system in the game. Cool I guess. Also some side modes that aren't that funny to play through.

Conclusion:
This one has my favorite story.

This game does everything that danganronpa 1 did but better and the only thing about it that i find worse from danganronpa 1 is the setting of the game as trigger happy havoc's setting invoked a feeling of distress and danger, and while this game certainly does that too the more open setting does remove some of the fear and tension caused by the location of the first game. But overall I would say this game is just as good as trigger happy havoc if not better.

first game was better imo but still great story telling and ending
MAKOTO BYAKUYA AND KYOKO ARE MY GOATS

DANGANRONPA GRIND 2/5:

Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair:

Review

Danganronpa 2 is a game that kept me hooked no matter what, the game itself is a lot better than the first game (to some extent).

To make it not seem like a reskin as the first game (the game came out 2 years after the first), it takes place on an island bursting with life! From a fancy hotel to a movie theater to an amusement park and more, the island stays interesting throughout the game and you always wonder where you will go next. I never found myself disliking any of the islands, simply because they are fun to explore and I barely use Q and E to navigate through it. Taking my time walking through this gorgeous island is already enough for me. And while yes, the school makes the most sense to do a killing game with high school students... The island is far more appealing and just more unique.

The characters were a lot more interesting than the first game. Ibuki, Nagito, Mikan, Chiaki, and Fuyuhiko were some of my favorite characters hands down. There were some I didn’t like and some I just absolutely despised, I still like them a lot more than the first game’s cast. The cast from the first game wasn’t awful by any means, far from it. But to me, they felt uninteresting for the most part. Meanwhile, the cast in the second game 100% kept me hooked and all the twists and turns in this game was well done. Hajime took a VERY long time for me to get used to. I wasn’t that big of a fan of him for about 90% of the game, simply because i didn’t really know him or got used to him as quickly as i did with Makoto for example. Without spoiling the game but by the end, he became a really solid and well-written character!

As for my cons? It has to go with the trial games. The games were fine, I liked Logic Dive and the Sword One grew on me throughout my experience. And the stuff they brought back from Trigger Happy was well done and way better but they ruined Hangman’s Gambit. Hangman’s Gambit in the first game was easy but to make it hard, they have letters all over the place and you have to pick them and make sure they don’t collide with each other. If you are trying to get the achievement where you don’t take any damage, this one is the one you need to look out for. It honestly was fucking annoying for me but who knows? Maybe to some people they liked it but I hated it.

But again that was my only issue with the game. Besides that, Danganronpa 2 is a way better game than the first one and improved a lot of the issues I’ve had with it. while i gave Trigger Happy a 9/10, Goodbye Despair is easily:

A 10/10. Highly recommend.

Best part of the series. If you came here after watching the anime or the first part, and you liked it, then this part is ready to give you twice as much and better quality than what you've seen before. It has all the good things that were in the first part here made better, I would definitely like to forget everything and replay it.

Lowkey goated game icl, trial four had me banging my head against the wall for a good half hour

there isn't much i can say about a danganronpa game that hasn't already been said. it's fun, quirky, and keeps the jokes rolling. haven't finished yet, but overall a very enjoyable experience thus far. i do despise the fact that i have a tamagotchi-esque digital pet. i've already killed enough of them to make my own pixel graveyard, and since my foolishness knows no bounds, i'm sure more will be laid to rest by the time i finish the game.

Danganronpa 2. If you've played or heard of the first game you'd know how this game plays, so I won't go into to much detail. But this time we follow Hajime into his new life into the privileged school of hopes peak, stuck on an island... O-kay then. Monokuma got another class of unlucky students trapped them on an Island this time. With the help of his little bunny friend Monomi? Same rules kill and don't get chought and you get your freedom off the island. the story is good and so are the murder cases, just like the first game. overall grate sequel.

I've loved this game ever since I watched youtubers played it and I'll be honest, playing it is 10x better than watching people play it. I highly recommend people buying the entire series !!

I really enjoy the story telling in these games! This entry has been super fun so far! <3

really cool game and improvement from the first game. Characters are better and monokuma getting much, much more time (also it's funny to watch monokuma absolutely destroy monomi at every minor inconvenience.)I highly recommend it

not as good as the first but good enough

Calling this game a disappointment is a understatement. The game is slowly being dented through group sessions denting it as I can't stand playing it along without complaining.
Ignoring the terror of the "improved" hangmen's gambit causing a not all frustrating forced damage, The story is a scrambled mess. It, rather nonsensically tries to link itself to the first game whilst also having important information only in supplementary material.
While characters all have 5 interaction points, the majority of them are very one note and lack depth. Unlike the first game, you can't really use the information given to deduce possible victims or killer.

Personally, having played the 1st Danganronpa this one feels some sort of repetitive (especially the murderer patterns),but yes you got the new casts, the structure is the same, it is no longer gives you the fresh, shocking, unpredictable feel. If the 1st game is a shocking mystery then the 2nd one is only a complex puzzle (the gameplay mechanics are increased in difficulties during class trial with more unnecessary minigame, instead of focusing on the plot-> time consuming + diluted the story plot) Also for those who already played trigger havoc then in danganronpa 2 during the class trial it forces players who already know how to play most of the minigame the tutorial that can't be skipped is somewhat annoying, plus the instructions are unclear so what is the point in adding. Plus, the map and exploration are kinda off, uneasy to navigate, moving with the 2D side-scrolling island map is frustrating. Tho, there are still many improvements in characters development and more diverse setting.
Overall
-Smooth well placed experience-> NO
-Great story telling-> Yes but less appealing than the 1st one
-Good to be played for the lore and plot->YES
-For people enjoy finishing the game, accumulating achievements-> YES
-Better graphics than the 1st one-> YES
=> Personally, I do not recommend playing for the motive of understanding the lore and plot, walkthrough is a better choice( less time consuming). Especially after playing the 1st game this one just feels less appealing ('^')

The logic of this game is as ridiculous as V1.
After playing this game, I am the ultimate despair.
Chiaki is dead for no reason.

Sure. Let's play the EXACT SAME GAME AS LAST TIME, but with WORSE characters.

nagito danganronpa the 2nd stole all the furniture in my home except my pc and chair. he forces me to play this game for weeks on end with no other game allowed on my pc. 10/10

This game is dreadful, even if you get it on deep discount. I really cannot recommend anyone wasting their time on this. Just go and play Danganronpa 1. If you've already played it, then this is exactly the same only worse in every single regard.

First some positives: the soundtrack is good, some decent tunes in there. Many of the character illustrations are very enjoyable and well done and some of their personalities and antics did make me chuckle. Plus, overall, I really appreciate that this series as a whole is trying to do something new. Its style and character are truly unique and creative. I do like bold artistic choices, and there are plenty of them here to enjoy.

However there are so many issues that I had to tap out after Chapter 4 as I just couldn't stand it anymore. First, the dialogue is so padded out and repetitive. There are some good bits and pieces in there, it just needs to be heavily edited down. As it stands, you are going to spend literal hours wading through page after page of inane guff that does nothing to develop the characters nor the story.

Second, the controls are clunky and frustrating. There are so many minigames and other gimmicks, but almost all of the minigames are horrible to play because the overall quality of implementation is poor and they control so badly. It feels like the devs would have better spent their time refining a smaller set of mechanics to the point where they are more enjoyable to play with. There are other quality issues too, such as mistakes in the text, translation issues and text descriptions not matching the objects correctly. I can see that this game probably didn't have the biggest budget, but even by 2012 standards it's really not good enough.

Finally, and worst of all, the plot degenerates into utter nonsense about halfway through the game. I appreciate that the game is obviously supposed to be very wacky and far fetched, but for me it crossed a line and became so ludicrous that I found it impossible to care about any of it. Sadly this even extends to the puzzle design of the whodunnits - they start off fairly coherent and satisfying enough to solve, but by chapter 4 I was struggling to find anything to enjoy. It all just seemed like a load of nonsense to me.

Anyway, steer clear of this one. Unfortunately I also have Danganronpa 3 waiting for me in my library... wish me luck, I guess!

I consider Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair my favorite entry in the series. It hits that sweet spot of improving on the first game with a better cast and some cool new gameplay features without going TOO gimmicky, like pretty much every Danganronpa entry that came afterward.

The island setting is a huge upgrade. Instead of being trapped in a five-story high school, you explore multiple islands with distinct locations, which adds a lot of variety. The unpredictability of moving between islands makes the murder mysteries just the right amount of complicated—though I’ll admit that one or two cases may have been too complex at times.

The main reason this game stands out as my favorite is the cast. They strike the perfect balance between being gimmicky and down to earth likable. They’re more entertaining than Danganronpa 1's simpler characters but don’t go as overboard as Danganronpa V3’s cast sometimes does. Honestly, this game probably has my favorite group of survivors at the end, but I won’t spoil who makes it.

I also prefer the plot twists in this game over the original and V3. Danganronpa 1 laid a solid foundation for twists but kept things relatively simple. Danganronpa 2 builds on that, and the setting plays a huge role in the twists and consequences—not just for this game but also for the sequel (Danganronpa 3 anime) and the interquel (Ultra Despair Girls). Without getting into spoilers, the story feels more impactful overall.

The cases are generally well done, with solid mysteries and satisfying plot progression. Case 1 is far less predictable than the first case in Danganronpa 1, which basically handed you the answer as soon as you found the body. The only case I had issues with was Case 5, mostly because the way the killer got framed felt a bit dumb.

The gameplay mechanics—like walking around, the pseudo-dating sim elements, talking to characters, and the nonstop debates—are as fun as ever. Some people have complaints about specific minigames, but I’ve never had an issue with any of them. My only nitpick is with the final manga-style minigame at the end of each case. In Danganronpa 1, piecing everything together felt a bit more challenging, but in Danganronpa 2, it’s a little too forgiving. Still, it’s fun to complete.

Overall, I don’t have much to complain about. Danganronpa 2 is an amazing experience, whether you stop here or continue with Ultra Despair Girls or the anime. It works great as both a standalone entry and as part of the trilogy (excluding V3).

PS My favorite girl was Chiaki Nanami

It's not my cup of tea.
Bear in mind that this game was developed a decade ago. By today's standards, I don't think it still deserves the acclaim it received.
Moreover, it isn't a detective game in a strict sense. Instead, it's more like a blend of visual novel, tempo master, Fruit Ninja, and love-sim.
sign, the class trial was a complete mess. One moment I was playing something like Fruit Ninja for the rebuttal, and the next, I was playing Hangman/ matching game to spell out the evidence. And then there was something like Tempo Master to break the panic shield? I don't know why they threw so many mini games all at once in the class trial. Personally it ruined the fun for me and waste my precious free time.

Closing argument:(wink wink) This game is guilty of murdering my time~ I might as well watch others play it and skip it to the murder part. Fire your truth Bullets and truth blades at me to counter my claim. After that, I'll step up for a rebuttal! If you've got the rhythm right, come and shatter my Panic Shield!!!!

that one dudes pet hamsters are actually the evil masterminds

Downloaded it to see why it's so highly rated. It turns out that the game is just overrated.

The animation showing the main character run in a straight line from left to right, looks like a flipbook stick man.

Low pixel control menu and map, exhilarated yet childish conversations. This is just not a fun game, at all.

This game was so much fun! I highly recommend it. The characters were all entertaining and unique in their own way. Not that I had too many complaints about the first game, but this installment in the Danganronpa series made some improvements and fine-tuned many of the mechanics. I loved the Free Time Events and getting to know the characters in general. The trials were fun and the mini-games were challenging as well. Island Mode was a fun bonus mode after completing the main storyline, and it allowed me to see the characters in a new light. I also really liked the Magical Miracle Girl Monomi bonus mode, that was really fun. I have no major complaints and I really enjoyed it!

Story is a wild ride. The class trial mini games can be frustrating, but just set them to easy and then you're set.

Would highly recommend!

so fun and full of passion and style!! SLAY