It's the first day of Golden Week in Japan, and while that may not mean much to those in English-speaking territories, it's one of the nation's biggest holidays. As Valve never miss an excuse for a sale, that means that there's some great deals on games from Japanese developers and publishers. If visual novels, fighting games or JRPGs are your thing, there's some good stuff at slashed prices today. Here's the official sale highlights page, you can see all the current week-long deals here, and a handful of personal picks below.
]]>We asked a handful of our contributors to put together a list of their three favourite games from 2017. Their picks are running across the week while the rest of RPS slumbers.
2017 has been a stunning year. Partially in the ears-ringing, shellshocked way, partly in the ‘Wow, I’m making a living writing about games’ style, and consistently in the ‘Nobody has time for even half these amazing games’ sense. Of the scant handful of games I did manage to see through to the end, here are my picks from 2017, although if I had time and column inches to spare, I could sing the praises of another dozen more.
]]>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 clichéd 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.
]]>Some have doubted the power of the Steam Charts to change people's lives. Those people are dead now. Belief in Steam Charts, RPS's greatest, longest-running, and most industry-revered column, is literally the only thing keeping you alive right now. Don't be a dead one. Love us. LOVE US.
]]>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.
]]>Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony [official site] has a free demo ahead of its full launch on September 26, and it's about as weird as you'd expect. You're trapped inside a school with an evil robotic bear called Monokuma, and the only way to escape is to murder a fellow student and get away with it by not getting found out during the ensuing trial.
It's half-visual novel, half-adventure game in which you have to complete "high-speed, logic-action" mini games to find flaws in various arguments presented in the trials and find out the culprit. You can lie to confuse your fellow classmates as well. I didn't get as far as a trial in the demo (you can skip straight to one if you want) but I have walked the schools' corridors and spoken to its characters. I'm suitably impressed with the stylish presentation, although I had a few technical issues.
]]>That rapscallion robot bear Monokuma is at it again, imprisoning more schoolchildren in a school and forcing them to play a life-and-death game of murder and mystery-solving in Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony [official site]. Developers Spike Chunsoft have now confirmed that yup, the next in their adventure-o-visual novel will indeed be coming to PC too. While past Danganronpa PC versions have followed a while after their western console releases, this one will arrive on the very same day: September 26th. Peep this trailer:
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