The Danganronpa series has first and foremost been a series of eccentric murder-mystery visual novels which combined style with some genuinely interesting, almost surreal cases. But developer Spike Chunsof broadened its scope a little bit, including multiple anime adaptations, a third-person action-shooter, a short VR experience and, relevant to this review, a digital board game. Introduced with the third game in the series, Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony, this was a simple board game side-mode uniting characters from all three games into one crossover experience. It was a relatively forgettable mode, something you might play once or twice before shifting your attention to other games. But when Spike Chunsoft released a Nintendo Switch collection of the completed series (DanganronpaDecadence) to mark its 10th Anniversary, they opted to bundle it together with Danganronpa S: Ultimate Summer Camp. Initially Switch exclusive, it has since been made available on the PlayStation 4, Windows PC, iOS and Android as a standalone release. But, does the expansion of the original mode justify a separate purchase? Read on to find out in this review!
While some have compared this to being Danganronpa’s take on Mario Party, I would compare it more to Sting’s 2007 PlayStation 2 RPG Dokapon Kingdom, albeit without the sadistic difficulty levels. Starting off with the protagonists of each game with others unlocked through a gacha ‘MonoMono Machine’ system (in-game currency or microtransaction), you have 50 turns or “days” to travel across a board representing Jabberwock Island from Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair. Each space you navigate represents one of several options – from cross-character events to RPG battles to skill training sessions. As you travel across each island, you are tasked with taking down a dungeon boss for a boost to take down the Monobeast that guards each island… and repeat. Your goal is to make it as far as possible – with each island providing greater boosts – gaining better stats and having the most powerful Ultimate Student as possible once Day 50 hits.
To its credit, Danganronpa S: Ultimate Summer Camp offers solid user progression as the players make their way through multiple playthroughs, giving additional boons and having a good amount of events for each character to discover. With each character having four tiers of character cards (including a swimsuit costume variant) which receives a boost in stats with an increase in rarity, events and unlockables every 10 ‘Hope Fragments’ collected / playthroughs completed, and the randomness of each playthrough, means you are unlikely to experience the same run twice. Once you have levelled up enough characters, you can test your desired party of four in the Tower of Despair, a set of 200-battles of increasing difficulty but increased rewards. I would argue the experience is a lot more substantial than the original board game mode, and it is clear that the development team have put a lot more effort into making this a worthy standalone experience in the series in terms of both design and gameplay. However, unless you really enjoy board game video games or want to 100% each game in the Danganronpa series… it may not keep your attention for more than an evening or two.
In a true crossover style, Danganronpa S: Ultimate Summer Camp offers all characters from Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc, Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair and Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony, in addition to multiple Monokuma variants from across the titles. Exclusive to this game however is the inclusion of Komaru Naegi, Shirokuma, Kurokuma, Hiroko Hagakure and the five Lil’ Ultimates from Danganronpa Another Episode – which were welcome additions. Each character has their character portraits brought across, in addition to each character receiving a swimsuit character portrait as part of their SR Card. English and Japanese voice acting is also available for players to choose from, but consists of primarily recycled audio lines from what I could tell.
Is Danganronpa S: Ultimate Summer Camp a good game? I think so. For its price point, this is an adequately enjoyable experience with longevity that would depend on how much you enjoy the gameplay loop (with each session coming in at 20-30 minutes). I would argue that Nintendo Switch gamers who purchased it as part of the Danganronpa Decadence collection got a better deal, but if you like the Danganronpa series and want to see the characters together in an arguably more peaceful setting, there is a lot to enjoy should you have the patience.
