It’s always interesting when a series goes outside its comfort zone, either mechanically or narratively, and tries something new. Before I played Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls I would’ve never imagined that Spike Chunsoft’s incredibly violent visual novels could be used as the basis for a third-person shooter. It’s a prime example of a developer taking risks, and doing something new, even if it may have been better to stick to the established formula.
Despite very much being a side-story in the greater Danganronpa universe (one that’s filled with games, light novels and animated series), Ultra Despair Girls features a lot of characters important to the story. There’s plenty of returning faces from the first two games, and a lot of backstory is explored during the game’s 15-hour runtime. As far as playable characters go, players get to control Makoto Naegi’s sister Komaru and Toko Fukawa, who was one of the stars of Trigger Happy Havoc, as they attempt to escape a city filled with maniacal kids and dangerous Monokuma robots. Defeating these death machines would be near impossible if Komaru wasn’t equipped with a special hacking gun, and this is where the series’ unique spin on third-person shooters comes into play. Throughout the game, players will get a wide array of different bullets they can put into the gun and these will drastically change what it does. From being able to take contro...