[note: I originally wrote this up for today’s daily news but it seemed big enough to warrant its own post]

I’ve been seeing some coverage on a couple of Japanese sites about studio Too Kyo Games’ new FMV title Death Come True, coming out this Thursday. This one’s been on my radar for awhile – here’s what we know right now:

Why is Death Come True important?

This is the first game developed by Too Kyo Games, a studio founded by former Spike Chunsoft employees Kazutaka Kodaka, Rui Komatsuzaki and Masafumi Takada. Kodaka is most famous for creating the Danganronpa franchise, while Komatsuzaki did character design and Takada produced the music. Kodaka’s also responsible for recruiting Kotaro Uchikoshi, famed director and writer on the Zero Escape trilogy. (Note that Uchikoshi is NOT working on Death Come True – he’s working on another title, Death March Club.)

Death Come True is an interesting litmus test that might provide an answer to the burning question: can Kodaka and co. succeed outside of Spike Chunsoft?

So what’s this game about?

It’s a full-motion video (FMV) choose-your-own-whatever game about a guy who wakes up in a hotel with no memories. Also, there’s a body in the bathtub. Also, he’s wanted by the police and might be a serial killer. Also, the dude from Saw decided to take a vacation at the same hotel at the same time.

From the teaser videos, I got the impression it was similar to 428: Shibuya Scramble (Spike Chunsoft), except that game used a mixture of short video clips and still images. In 428, you would have to play and re-play scenarios, making different choices each time to determine the best way to progress through a section. I suppose it’s also similar to how you would approach 999 or Virtue’s Last Reward, just in video form.

Here’s the description from the publisher:

What platforms is it releasing on? And how much?

Death Come True is coming out for PS4, Switch, PC, and Android/iOS. Pricing is listed at 1960 yen, which generally means $19.99 for US game stores. However, the iOS version is currently priced at $15.99. No word on how it’s being distributed on PC or even whether the PC release will be at the same time as the others.

What’s my take?

Danganronpa has always been one of my favorite game series mostly due to Kodaka’s collection of oddball characters and fresh stories. I’ll admit that the series as a whole is a bit polarizing – it’s one that is simultaneously grounded in reality and completely over-the-top, and the characters tend to be these hilarious caricatures of people. But the stories are always entertaining as hell, even when you play through an entire game and get the whole “it was all just a dream” package. If you haven’t gotten the impression yet, you should 100% go out and play Danganronpa 1, 2 and 3.

For me, I’m at the point where anything Kodaka releases = buy buy buy. But I’ve been a fan of all the Danganronpa games as well as 428: Shibuya Scramble (I don’t believe Kodaka was involved in this game at Spike Chunsoft but there are too many similarities between it and Death Come True).

Anything else?

Sure, have a quote courtesy of Miu Iruma in Danganronpa v3:

---