Completed 12/19/24

Genre: Visual Novel, Adventure, Mystery, Puzzle

Played on: PlayStation 5
Hours to Complete: 57 hours
Completed main story, side quests and substories. Did not do any clean up after the playthrough. 79% PS5 Trophy Completion

Sherlock Holmes on drugs? Give me a hell yeah!

Full disclosure, I am a huge fan of the Danganronpa series. I have even played the lesser-known spin off game, UItra Despair Girls. Given that this is an entirely separate series, I had no idea what to expect in this game other than wacky characters, weird story and huge leaps in logic. I was not disappointed. If there are other Danganronpa fans reading this, it will feel similar, but they definitely went in a different direction overall. I will say they did take some elements of the past games and brought them here. The one that stands out is the Deduction Denouement, which reminds me of a part of Danganronpa 2 where you fill the gaps of a comic book in to complete the timeline of events.

The premise of the story revolves around the main character, Yuma who wakes up just before his train is set to leave for the Kanai Ward. The problem? You lost all your memories! The only thing you have to start is a ghostlike creature who demeans you from the start. She later reveals that she is the God of Death and that you made a pact with her to solve the Kanai Ward's Greatest Secret. All you know is that you are Yuma, and you are a detective trainee heading to one of the greatest mysteries in the world today. What Yuma immediately realizes is that unlike the other detectives who have "superpower" abilities known as fortes, he doesn't seem to have one, well at least he does not remember what it was. None of the reports from the other detectives seem to list a forte either so most of the times, everyone is questioning how he even got into this position (immediately thinking about how will help you understand where the story is going). Once you arrive to the Kanai Ward, you are given the details of the assignment also with the information that all the detectives you work with are also from outside of the Kanai Ward and a member of the World Detective Organization, the premier organization that solves the most difficult of mysteries.

Let's talk a little bit about the Mystery Labyrinths. These are where Yuma and Shinigami (the ghost from the start) really solve the mystery. It might be a little tough to explain but the basic premise is Yuma does investigations in the real world and obtains solution keys. These keys are stored for when he asks Shinigami, who controls access, that he wants to go into the labyrinth. Here is where the puzzle, mystery and battle systems take place. I will add that they try their best to change things up but there are sometimes where you walk through a bland corridor as the characters talk to each other. When it comes to battles, I guess the best way I can describe battles that take place here are Ace Attorney style. Your opponent will fire off statements and you are to either repel or provide a rebuttal. What is different from the Ace Attorney series is these plays out similar to a JPRG battle where you have to dodge the incorrect statements and then strike the right statement down with a sword. As a side note, this game is worth buying alone to see how Shinigami provides Yuma the sword. When I first saw it, I had to pause and reflect on what I just saw.

This game is broken up into six chapters and a prologue (first chapter is labeled as "chapter 0" and the prologue is just an introduction to your detective team) and for most of the chapters, you are paired with a partner of the World Detective Agency which relies on their forte to progress through the chapter.

That is the one thing I will say about this game as you play, constantly think of "what ifs" and potential answers to the questions the game digs up. I was able to figure out part of the story by around chapter 4 but the game still threw major twist in that I am not sure anybody would have expected.

Final Verdict: