If you happen to have a PSP handy and are fluent in Japanese, or like me, always brave enough to clumsily trip through foreign languages, you should definitely check out the demo for Spike’s Dangan-Ronpa, which you can grab right here.
The investigation game revolves around an high school ruled over by a psychotic bear, where it seems that everyone is killing one another in order to graduate/escape.
I spent some time touring the halls of the school last night, and it didn’t take long to find a body with a blade sticking out of it, at which point there were clues to be gathered and characters to talk with. I’m led to believe time will be split between class and investigation. The delicious insanity of the plot and the designs of the students makes this a pretty easy title to latch on to even with the language barrier.
The game’s aesthetic slaps me upside the head much like Persona does with a sharp color palette, which then grabs at a variety of styles to create a visual carnival of psychological deviancy, a procession march led by the menacing Mono Bear, who delights in a hearty sinister laugh and opens the demo with a bit of video that on its own justifies checking this out.
Once again, you can check out the oddity for yourself right here.
