Kumitantei: Old-School Slaughter

First of all: I liked this game, or rather, this first chapter, and therefore I recommend it. However, I feel I should give a complete review, covering both the pros and the cons. Let me start with a disclaimer: I bought the game based purely on trust. The only thing I knew beforehand was the card system, and I had assumed it would be a game inspired by Danganronpa but with different mechanics. If that's what you're expecting, that's not what you'll get. The game is heavily inspired by the black and-white bear: the trial minigame Word of War is literally Danganronpa's Non-Stop Debate, with the same mechanics and no differences. Likewise, the final manga-style sequence where you reconstruct the events is almost identical in both art style and gameplay. These are the two strongest examples of the similarities, but even the Free Time sections are essentially the same. At the same time, the game does try to be something different. For example, Danganronpa's Hangman's Gambit appears here in a different form, where you control a spaceship and shoot the correct letters, essentially an arcade shooter. Personally, I don't enjoy this minigame very much, but then again, I never liked Hangman's Gambit either. On the other hand, the final execution sequence distinguishes itself from Danganronpa, and I appreciated it a lot. It also lasts quite a while, I didn't time it, but I'd estimate between two and three minutes. Most importantly, the game's most unique feature is its card-based combat system (the part I already knew about before buying it). It's an addition with a lot of potential, but it still feels somewhat underdeveloped. The pacing of combat doesn't really sync well with the cards available in your deck, and the player is forced either to memorize or constantly look down at the icon indicating each card's weakness before playing a card. I absolutely love the concept, it's genuinely unique, so I hope it gets improved in future episodes. I also hope to see more original minigames, because at the moment I see the game more as a tribute to Danganronpa with a few deviations here and there, rather than something that truly stands apart. Now, let's talk about the voice acting. Every voice fits its character perfectly, and the voice actors did an excellent job. However, I often noticed that the pacing, the speed at which the characters speak, is extremely slow sometimes. At times it feels more like a stage play than a video game. I could give many examples, but the most obvious one to me is Sanada during his internal monologues (the green dialogues), especially before the trial when all the character sprites appear on screen. Kaguya's voice actress was my favorite, and she's probably the only character whose slow pacing feels completely justified. I also really liked Moichi, Hoshisaki, and Kutsuki. But as I said, I enjoyed everyone's performance, great job, everyone! The story is interesting, although I do have some criticisms regarding the trial itself. The culprit's behavior didn't make much sense to me, or rather, it felt unnecessarily risky. [spoiler] Why would Moichi hide in the closet, risking being discovered? It's important to remember that up until that moment, nobody knew there was going to be an announcement, not even Moichi. As a prosecutor, he would have been even more likely to choose a safer hiding place. He certainly wouldn't have hidden just three meters from the corpse, alerting the others to go into the very room where he was hiding. [/spoiler] Furthermore, the final minigame where you reconstruct the events in manga form doesn't make sense in certain parts, because Sanada somehow knows details that are only revealed later after the trial. The trials don't reach the heights of Danganronpa's best cases, but overall I still enjoyed them. What really intrigued me, however, is the "outside" storyline, the one shown when Sanada falls asleep. The ending left me very curious to see where things are headed. Overall, this first chapter was a lot of fun, and I think it has a great deal of potential. Its biggest challenge going forward will be finding a way to distinguish itself more clearly from the work that inspired it.