Villain monologues: forever a trope to make the eyes roll. I tend to skip through them as quickly as I can, waiting my inevitable escape. I don t enjoy self-aware villain monologues either; they re even worse because the villains know that they re clich d yet they do it anyway. I’d prefer it if they just immediately murdered me instead.

Danganronpa, a visual novel/detective adventure in which a sadistic cyber-bear drives teenagers to murder each other, takes this trope and spins it on its head. Ursine villain Monokuma s monologue doesn t occur during the climactic scene of the game; instead, it occurs throughout, in segments known as Monokuma Theater . Ever wanted to know what chatting with a psychopath over drinks would be like? Monokuma Theater is for you. (more…)

Bear with me if you’ve heard this one before: Danganronpa [official site] is a game about teenagers locked in a high school, driven to murder one another by a robotic bear. A tale as old as time. The eye-catching premise partly explains how the series has captured the attention of even those who would shy away from the majority of visual novels.

The third game comes to Steam today, having a simultaneous console and PC release for the first time, and its predecessors are rated ‘overwhelmingly positive’ by PC players. But what is the secret to the success of these bizarre hybrids of social sim and murder investigation? Class is in session and today’s lesson is Danganronpa 101.

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Both of Spike Chunsoft Danganronpa wacky horror visual novels arrived on PC earlier this year, escaping through the portal from Consoleland, and now their spin-off is following too. Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls [official site] is quite different to those other two, mind. While they were murder mysteries with trapped students investigating killings incited by a robobear, Ultra Despair Girls is more of a third-person shooter. It may be even weirder? If you consider a city overtaken by an army of murderous robobears so children can live without adults weird. … [visit site to read more]