This post will contain full spoilers for Episode 1 of Kumitantei - Old School Slaughter.
I will inform everyone here involved, for context, that I have an indirect connection to this game. A friend of mine, who goes by the online handle of lukiauriga, worked on this game as a playtester, an experience he has been quite positive on during our conversations. I'd like to believe myself someone who wouldn't let their heart be swayed by the method in which I became aware of the work which I engage with (after all, there is nothing more insulting to the artist than to be told that people only appreciate their art because of their presence as a person, rather than for the merits of the work itself), but I nevertheless felt the need to clarify my connection as to have full transparency between myself (as an artist, as a critic) and my audience. As well as reminding them of something that should be obvious:
Every work of art you engage with has had one, or more commonly, hundreds of hands that have all touched on it and cared enough to have their name listed in its credits. If you were not present in the same conversations and meetings that the development team was present in, its not likely that you can ever imagine the dedication that the artists involved had in creating something that can be completed in a day's time. Those months of hard work by dozens of people are something which I can only speculate on, a concept in my mind which I can only assess secondhand, like a detective attempting to piece together the steps of the killer's plan. Do not take me as someone who knows more about this game than the people involved in this game do. During this review, I will attempt to only make one claim about my personal knowledge: That I have a reasonable argument as to why a Danganronpa game is designed the way it is, something which I will attempt to prove based on the finished product of your average Danganronpa game. And in turn, I will apply that same knowledge in comparison to Kumitantei, a game that is made to stand in its own merits, despite its status as a love letter to the no-longer-dormant Danganronpa series.
If you are one of the people who worked on the game, stand proud, you have created something that is worth the price of admission. Keep chasing the high you crave, regardless of what anyone may say about your work.
With the introduction out of the way, lets talk about Episode 1 - Apathy Within and Below.
