It has been 15 years since the initial release of Danganronpa, the small little weird killing game that would eventually become a cult classic. While it is still not perhaps on everyone’s radar, certain characters have grown beyond the game. Some of these are recognizable at conventions and in other media through collaborations. Junko Enoshima has somehow become familiar to even those who don’t play visual novels. The fabulous murder bear Monokuma has made the rounds even if you don’t understand the history. Perhaps you recognize the name of the series. Either way, the killing game has seen a rise in popularity and now we get something new next year. Even as someone who has only gotten into the series within the last five years, when Danganronpa 2×2 was announced at the Nintendo Direct, I jumped for joy.
Knowing that the anniversary was coming up also meant hoping for some new information on the upcoming 2×2 release. Fans are speculating that the 2×2 name may be misleading and perhaps this is truly Danganronpa 4. Some are alleging that this game will be just a retelling with small changes. It’s worth noting that while Danganronpa 2×2 is being overseen by series creator Kazutaka Kodaka, he is not writing this new scenario. Writing this new scenario is Yoichiro Koizumi who is no stranger to the Danganronpa universe. In fact, he’s already written scenarios for other spin off material such as Danganronpa S: Ultimate Summer Camp and is the author of novella Ultra Despair Hagakure. Which actually makes the scenario displayed at the fan event in Tokyo that much more entertaining.
Fans of the series will recognize Hagakure from Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc, the first in the series. So to see him appear dead in the footage revealed at the fan event feels like quite the twist. For fans of the series, its a bit of a running joke. Hagakure always seems to be the character killed in every demo. He might be safe in upcoming 2×2. That is of course assuming all we’ve heard is true. It’s also a nice nod to the first Danganronpa with the writing in blood behind him. Again, fans of the series will recognize this as something from the trial that started it all.
What Remains the Same? What’s New?
Danganronpa 2×2 will have a new scenario to follow. Hajime still appears to be the character that we play as and somehow we still have Nagito waking us up by looking over us. Monokuma and Monomi are still both on this island and seem to be leading the way. At the time of this article, the fan event is only available in Japanese so while we can’t fully decipher the words being spoken, the visuals are quite recognizable.
We know that the visuals have seen some improvements since the initial relase. This much is very noticeable through screenshots and the footage from the live stream. What we may see are new victims, new killers, and new executions. Seems Monokuma still has some tricks up their non-existent sleeves. Will Monomi still be a beacon of hope? We won’t go too much into what happens in Danganronpa 2 as those who have not yet played should be ready to do so with the release of Danganronpa 2×2.
Fan Event in Japan Live Stream
If you speak Japanese, or fully trust the AI translations on YouTube, you can check out the Danganronpa fan event at the YouTube link below. Starting at 36 minutes of the broadcast you can see the footage revealed at the event. Again, its worth noting that this is demo footage. What we see is the most popular characters of Danganronpa 2 and the Ultimate Demo Victim. We see the revamp of class trials, although many features resemble what we’ve seen in previous Danganronpa games just with prettier visuals. Fans of the series will have much to look forward to based on the live stream below.
So are you cautiously optimistic about this new entry into the series? Did the Danganronpa 2×2 gameplay sway you at all? Will you purchasing upon release or will you wait to see our inevitable review? If you haven’t played the previous entries, now is a great time to get into the series to get ready for Danganronpa 2×2. Let us know down below if this game is one of your most anticipated for 2026. Be sure to join the Gamer Social Club Discord for ongoing coverage and chatter of games like this and more.
