Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls

Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls (絶対絶望少女 ダンガンロンパ Another Episode, Zettai Zetsubō Shōjo: Danganronpa Another Episode) is a horror action adventure video game developed by Spike Chunsoft for PlayStation Vita. The game is a spin-off of the Danganronpa series of visual novel games, taking place between the events of Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc and Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair.^[1] The game was released in Japan on September 25, 2014 and will be released by NIS America in North America and Europe in Fall 2015.^[2] A manga adaptation by Machika Minami began serialization in Kadokawa Shoten's Dengeki Maoh magazine from January 2014.

Gameplay

Unlike the visual novel gameplay of the previous games, Ultra Despair Girls is a third-person adventure game with horror elements, in which players control Komaru Naegi as she tries to survive in a city overrun by Monokuma robots.^[1] In the spirit of the previous games' Truth Bullets, Komaru is equipped with a Hacking Megaphone that can use various types of Truth Bullet, which are unlocked as the game progresses. Using the megaphone, Komaru can perform various actions, such as attacking enemies, taking control of them, activating pieces of equipment, or scanning the environment for clues or hidden items.^[3] During the course of the game, Komaru is also assisted by the first game's Toko Fukawa, who uses a stun gun to switch over to her split personality, the serial killer Genocide Jill. When the stun gun is charged up, players can temporarily take control of Jill, who can attack with razor sharp scissors. Attacking enemies fills up the "Scissor Fever" gauge, allowing Jill to perform special attacks to instantly defeat multiple enemies.^[4] Monocoins earned from defeating enemies can be used to purchase upgrades for both Komaru's Hacking Gun and Jill's scissors, and various skills can be unlocked and equipped, such as extended health. The game features three difficulty settings, with harder difficulties containing less ammunition and fewer opportunities to use Jill's assistance.^[5]

Plot

The game takes place half a year after the events of the first game, prior to the events of the second game. Komaru Naegi, the younger sister of the first game's protagonist, Makoto Naegi, has spent the past year locked inside an apartment complex in Towa City, unaware of the events that have gone on in the outside world. She is suddenly forced to flee when she attacked by deadly Monokuma robots and comes across Future Foundation member Byakuya Togami, who gives Komaru a special Hacking Gun that can fight against the robot and orders her to escape the city. However, Komaru's escape fails and she is captured by a group of elementary-school children known as the Warriors of Hope, who seek to create a utopia for children by murdering all the adults with their robots. They force Komaru to join their "Demon's Hunting" game and drop her into the city, where she meets Toko Fukawa, a survivor of Hope's Peak Academy who now uses a stun-gun to control her murderous split personality, Genocide Jill. Learning that Byakuya may have been kidnapped by the Warriors of Hope, Toko agrees to team up with Komaru to find Byakuya and escape the city. Along the way they encounter a resistance group, run by Haiji Towa, and meet a white bear robot named Shirokuma.

As Komaru and Toko go on their journey, fighting against the Warriors of Hope and encountering much despair along the way, they learn that the Warriors of Hope are in worship of Junko Enoshima, the Ultimate Despair responsible for bringing about the end of the world, and seek to create a successor. Confronting the group's leader, Monaka Towa, and defeating their advisor Kurokuma, Komaru is given the choice of destroying the Monokuma Controller, which would stop all the robots but at the cost of sacrificing all the children wearing Monokuma Kid masks. Monaka then reveals that her goal was to turn Komaru into the next Junko Enoshima, trying to coerce her into destroying the controller by allegedly revealing her parents were killed. However, Toko, having learned a great deal from travelling with Komaru, slaps some sense into her and together they overcome despair in order to defeat an out-of-control mech. As Monaka is inevitably rescued by her servant, who encourages her to become the next Junko herself, it is revealed that both Shirokuma and Kurokuma were controlled by the real Junko's AI, who has a certain someone carry out the next part of her plan. Meanwhile, after rescuing Byakuya, Komaru and Toko decide to stay behind in Towa City to help out those who need it.^[1][6]

Development

The game was first announced at a Sony Computer Entertainment press conference on September 9, 2013, where the first teaser trailer was shown. The trailer also teased a possible third entry in the visual novel series.^[7] The game was produced by Yoshinori Terasawa, with the script written by Kazutaka Kodaka and direction by Shun Sasaki. The associate producer is Yuuichiro Saito.^[2] The game was released on September 25, 2014 in Japan, with a Monokuma phone stand available as a pre-order bonus.^[8] The game features anime cutscenes directed by Seiji Kishi at Lerche, who previously produced the anime television series, Danganronpa: The Animation.^[9] Characters from the game also appear in Sega's Chain Chronicle games.^[10]

On February 19, 2015, NIS America announced that they would localize the game into English, and release it in America and Europe in Q3/Q4 2015.^[11] Like with their localizations of the previous games in the series, it will include English text and both English and Japanese audio.^[12]

Other media

A spin-off manga series illustrated by Machika Minami, titled Zettai Zetsubō Shōjo: Danganronpa Another Episode - Genocider Mode, began serialization in Kadokawa Shoten's Dengeki Maoh magazine from January 27, 2015.^[13] A direct adaptation, illustrated by Hajime Tōya, began publication on Famitsu Comic Clear from February 20, 2015.^[14]

Reception

Famitsu gave the game a score of 35/40.^[15] The game sold 70,596 physical retail copies within its debut release week in Japan, taking third place for that week's software sales.^[16]

References

External links

• Official websites for North America, Japan