Danganronpa, a game series I can never reliably spell, has just passed 10m sales, maker Spike Chunshoft has announced.
Best described by a 2023 Danganronpa Pride Week article as “a Battle-Royale-meets-Ace-Attorney visual novel series that is, quite frankly, insane,” Danganronpa began in 2010 on PlayStation Portable. Since then it’s had three mainline series entries, two spin-offs, and is preparing for a new game, Danganronpa 2×2, next year. This will feature a new scenario and a revamped one from Danganronpa 2.
In the Danganronpa games, you play as high school students who are forced to kill each other by way of a bear plushie that likes to monologue. Gameplay combines debating with sharpshooting. It’s a bizarre mix.
“Entertainment media has us geared to believe that we’re always safe in the company of those we’re familiar with, despite clear evidence of the contrary,” we wrote in a separate article about Danganronpa, which explored the series’ vicious appeal.
“Danganronpa ups the ante by presenting another variable to that thought. What do you do when you can’t trust the people in charge, or those who stand as sterling examples of our community? What then? Where does that leave the middle-classed and the ordinary?
“Building on careful layers of paranoia, Danganronpa is a game about archetypes being stripped down and dissected, a game about the degradation of a supposed utopia, and a game with surprisingly good writing. And a game that’s certainly worth picking up.”
