[b]TL;DR:[/b] Came for a basic battle royale, stayed for an addictive, twisted murder mystery. The characters are wild, the trials are crazy fun, and even though it feels a bit dated, the plot twists are great.
Man, I am a sucker for a good whodunnit. I totally misjudged this game at first—I expected a basic Squid Game-like... [i]game[/i] where characters just move through floors and get murdered in brutal ways. Instead, I got hit with a wild mystery visual novel. You've got these elite students trapped in a school, and everyone is the 'Ultimate' something, like the Ultimate Pop Prodigy or the Ultimate Martial Artist. The only way to escape is to kill a classmate and beat everyone else in a trial. If you pull it off, you escape and everyone else dies. If you get caught, Monokuma executes you. They could technically just chill there forever, but obviously, that’s not how these games work, lmfao.
I got completely sucked into the plot and the characters super fast. I was stressed out hoping my favorites wouldn't get killed next. Some of them are just so unique and awesome—I loved Kyoko, Celeste, Byakuya, Toko (but not [i]that[/i] Toko), and Sakura the fokin GOAT. But man, there were others I absolutely couldn't stand, like Toko (but yeah, [i]that[/i] Toko).
The gameplay loop actually caught me off guard. You explore the school, talk to people, and then jump into Class Trials full of minigames. The pacing was honestly way too slow at the start, but it really picked up later. You get into a rhythm: Monokuma drops a motive, you hang out, someone gets wrecked, you search for clues, and you fight it out in court. It might sound a bit tedious, but once you get the hang of it, you know exactly what to look for. Sometimes the cases are so obvious that you already have it 50% solved, and you're just sitting there waiting for the characters to stop their endless talking and catch up to you. But even then, the game still managed to drop some crazy plot twists that kept me on the edge of my seat. Sure, it looks and feels a bit old-school now, but the story and the cast completely make up for it.
I love when a game completely blows away your low expectations. I bought the sequels, so I hope they’re just as good! Still, I am not 100%'ing this game or touching the School Mode. I'm definitely not down for that kind of grind and endless talking, lol.
