When you tell me that the team behind the Danganronpa games are coming out with a new game that isn’t Danganronpa, I become interested and a bit disappointed. Mainly disappointing because we’re not getting another Danganronpa game, but also interested to see what kind of game that team could come up with that’s out of the usual. So when I first heard and seen Zanki Zero: Last Beginning, I was intrigued by the story and the gameplay. Certainly has similarities to a Danganronpa game in it’s tone of story and mysteries, but goes for a more active gameplay style this time around compared to the adventure-type games the team was known for. It’s different that’s for sure, but it’s also something that I surprisingly enjoyed more than I thought I would have.
Zanki Zero: Last Beginning is a dungeon-crawler adventure game. It’s a first-person view with the square to square movement games in this genre are known for. However, this game does a lot to stand out from the ordinary. First off, the battle system is all in real-time. You have a party of up to four do battle with enemies on the field that are all moving at their own pace. Then there’s the survival aspects of the game that are put on top of that. Characters will not only have health, but a stamina meter too. Along with stress and bladder meters. Various materials can be gathered from the environment and from enemies that will aid you in maintaining all these things.
THE GOOD: It sounds like a complicated game, and it certainly could be. I was able to pick it up quite quickly though. It’s not too complex, but there could be elements that may confuse you early on. Fortunately, the game does a good job in introducing each of its mechanics to you as they come into play. Also to help out further, you can adjust the game’s difficulty whenever you please from your Home Base. Ranging from Difficulty I to V. So if an obstacle feels overwhelming to you, you can adjust the game accordingly and not be at a stand still. With Difficulty I making things so easy that the enemies and survival aspects become a non-factor and you can focus more on the story and the puzzles.
I would actually recommend to stay away from the easier difficulty since the survival part is what makes this game unique. You need to survive, but you will have characters die. It’s kind of inevitable. That’s because the characters in your group have a lifespan of 13 days. Starting out as a child, then an adult, to middle aged, and finally a senior. Then they’ll eventually die, be it from aging or an enemy. That isn’t the end though. That’s when the unique EXTEND mechanic of the game kicks in.
When a character dies, you have the ability to revive them to the start of their life cycle, which is a child. They will be reborn and actually benefit from what killed them. So for example, if they died from a specific enemy, they’ll gain a better defense against that certain enemy. Other things are taken into account too, like if they were carrying lots of items when they died or were at a specific age. Basically, whatever kills you, will make you stronger in the next life.
It’s a unique setup and the story surrounding it further elevates the craziness of it all. There’s a reason why your group of characters are capable of this and a reason why they are even in this situation. The story brings about that same tone you expect from a Danganronpa game, but I would even say Zanki Zero goes a bit further in certain aspects. Not as much betrayal as a Dangarnonpa game, but there are plenty of mysteries and twists to encounter and dark stories to uncover. Lots of interesting personalities here too with each character having their own unique story to tell. I was pretty hooked in early on and kept looking forward to what events were gonna happen next.
Presentation of the game is well done too. The game is dual audio, so you’ll have access to the original Japanese dub and the English dub. Even more neat is character voices will be altered to match the age of the character. Environments are varied with each area being different from the last. In-game scenes play out with the 3D character models, while certain story events will feature 2D art. It feels like a step-up from what future Danganronpa games could possibly look like if the DR Team were to make one that ditched the 2D sprites or even another Ultra Despair Girls. Speaking of which, there are multiple Danganronpa Easter eggs in this game, with a special one being found if you have a save file from a Danganronpa game.
THE BAD: For as much as I loved the gameplay and story, it’s not entirely free from issues. Most of which is due to the game’s difficulty. There is the ability to adjust it from Difficulty I to V, but this game will still provide a challenge no matter what. I think the reason for that is because the difficulty you set the game to has its benefits and disadvantages. Where playing with an easier difficulty will give you easier enemies, but less resources to gain from it. With the highest difficulty giving you the hardest enemies, with greater rewards.
It kind of sounds balanced, but after playing a lot of the game and constantly adjusting as I play, I still feel it misses the mark in easing the challenge. Difficulty I just completely changes the game since everything just becomes a non-issue, so you’re not playing a survival game anymore. When you get to Difficulty II, it is the easiest one while still providing enemies to fight. However, even on this difficulty I was dying quite a bit. I think the reason for that is because you become limited in your resources, so you’re not progressing the strength of your characters as fast. So you move further into the game at a quicker rate because enemies are easier, but due to the slower progress, you will eventually reach a point in the late game where enemies can actually end up killing characters in one or two hits. It becomes a struggle to get stronger because you’re limited in your experience, and it’s harder to acquire better weapons and armor because your resources are limited as well. I normally equate an easier difficulty to making you feel stronger, while making the enemies feel weaker. I just didn’t get that feeling with the easier difficulty in this game, so I feel that may turn off people because it will still feel more challenging than they’d like. Granted though, this mainly occurred in the very late stages of the game.
To go further on the limited resources thing. Difficulty III is the game’s recommended setting. Even when playing on that setting, there were items I was struggling to obtain. I’m not entirely sure if it’s needed, but there were items I wasn’t able to get enemies to drop until I raised the difficulty to IV or V. So maybe it’s very rare or even unobtainable on lower difficulties. Although, Difficulty V is quite insane. It slows the game a lot since enemies take lots of hits to kill and everything will most likely one shot the group. So I find it hard to say for sure if sticking to one difficulty is good or not because of how much each setting can potentially change the game. Difficulty I no longer making it the same type of game, while Difficulty V will make you struggle hard to even play it. I feel constantly adjusting the difficulty at various points of the game is probably the way to go. That’s how I personally played it at least. Went on harder difficulties when I was looking for specific materials and grinding, while switching to easier ones when I’m backtracking to older areas for anything missed, other older materials, and side-story events. So it’s nice that the difficulty setting is there for specific needs, but it’s a bit unfortunate that those wishing for a lesser challenge will miss out on certain things.
OVERALL THOUGHTS: When I saw what Zanki Zero was, I became interested in how unique the EXTEND concept was and the different form of gameplay from Danganronpa. The thing that surprised me were the directions the story went and how challenging the game was. The story will certainly lure you in and motivate you to keep going. Even if the game can feel quite difficult and unfair at times, death isn’t always a bad thing. You benefit from your deaths and come back stronger. As long as you keep in mind that death is actually a welcomed occurrence and put in effort to properly equip and manage your group, you should be fine. Story is what drew me in, but the gameplay is certainly fun as well once you get into it. Never expected to enjoy the game as much as I did. So I’m certainly looking forward to seeing what other unique experiences this studio can come up with, whether it be another Zanki Zero or Danganronpa, or even something entirely new.
*Reviewer’s note: Version of the game played is the PS4 Asia version which includes English audio and text.
