Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony (Demo Version)

The Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony Demo Version is a demo chapter for Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony. It was first released for PlayStation Vita and PlayStation 4 consoles in Japan on December 20th, 2016, and will be released worldwide with English localization in August 2017.

About
The demo is approximately between 1hr30-2hrs long, and allows players to play as Kaede Akamatsu for the first time, briefly meet the new cast of characters, experiment with the new gameplay mechanics (such as being able to "smack around" objects while investigating), explore a small section of the school, and try out the new Class Trial minigames. Because the story is unique to the demo, it does not spoil any of the plot of the main story, instead heavily referencing the previous, Japan-exclusive demo of Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc, known as Dangan Ronpa: Kibō no Gakuen to Zetsubō no Kōkōsei (Trial Version), and featuring the murder case of Yasuhiro Hagakure who does not appear in the storyline of the full game.

Completing the demo, and transfering the save data to the full game, will reward the player with 333 Monocoins, the Class Trial skill "Point-Blank Fire" and the demo-exclusive present "Nail Brush", which unlocks an cutscene during Chapter 1 of the full game

Release
The demo - known in Japan as New Danganronpa V3 Trial Version - was first announced on Spike Chunsoft's New Danganronpa V3 development blog on December 1st, 2016. The demo is only the 2nd demo ever released for the Danganronpa franchise, since the release of the Japan-exclusive demo Dangan Ronpa: Kibō no Gakuen to Zetsubō no Kōkōsei (Trial Version) 6 years prior. The demo was promoted in the December 15, 2016 issue of magazine, where it was revealed that the demo would feature an original story exclusive to the demo, and that Makoto Naegi, Hajime Hinata, and Yasuhiro Hagakure would appear as guest characters. New Danganronpa V3 Trial Version was released on the Japanese PlayStation store on December 20th, 2016 for PlayStation Vita and PlayStation 4.

After the release of the demo, there were a number of consumer complaints about the audio quality on the Vita release of the demo, voicing concern about the audio quality that would be present in the full game, due for release on January 12, 2017. The concerns were addressed by Danganronpa V3 associate producer Yuichiro Saito on the New Danganronpa V3 development blog, explaining that the poor audio quality was due to "capacity limitation" on the PS Vita, and assured players that after the release of the full game they will be able to download a DLC patch which improves the audio quality. The patch for the full game was released on January 18th, 2017, 6 days after the game's release. .

Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony Demo Version is the first Danganronpa demo to be released outside of Japan. It was initially made playable at from June 13th to June 15th, 2017, with both English and Japanese voice tracks available to attendees. During the event, a 16 minute commentated preview of the demo was streamed by PlayStation Underground as part of their E3 coverage. The demo was then available to play for attendees of from July 1st to July 4th, 2017, and later at a press event hosted by NIS America and Kazutaka Kodaka held in London on July 10th, 2017. 30 minutes of gameplay footage from this event was shared by on Jul 13th, 2017, followed by an exclusive video preview of the full demo by  on July 31st, 2017. It was confirmed by Chris White of Godisageek.com who attended the London press event that the demo is due to be released in August 2017.

Plot
Reminiscent of the prologue of Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc, Kaede Akamatsu woke up on her desk, unable to recognize her surroundings and not knowing how she got there. Makoto Naegi, seeing she had woken up, introduced himself as Kaede's upperclassmen, and Ultimate Lucky Student. Makoto already knew Kaede was the Ultimate Pianist, because, as in the Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc, he had researched the students' talents before coming to the school. Makoto encouraged Kaede to read the note sitting on her desk. It read:

"If you want to progress the story... come to the gym. But please be careful. There are other people wandering around. If you talk to them, you'll end up having to listen to their introductions. Deja vu! I've just been in this place before! Er, sorry, there's no time for that right now... Anyway, come to the gym. Seriously, please."

Kaede then left the classroom with Makoto, introduced herself to each of the students, including previous protagonist Hajime Hinata, who introduced himself as also being her upperclassmen. She then headed for the gym. Once there, Makoto told Kaede that he could not go with her beyond that point, because she's protagonist now, and that they will meet up later. Before leaving, he told her that although she might feel despair, he didn't her to throw away hope, and that even if there is despair on the horizon, he and Hajime are there to help.

Kaede entered the gym, and met Monokuma for the first time. He introduced himself as the academy's headmaster, and explained to her that she and the rest of the students are going to spend the rest of their lives within the walls of the school unless they kill one another, and briefly explained the rules of the killing game to her. He told her that he has prepared a dormitory for each of the students, and that she should go there next.

Kaede learned that she would be sharing the room with the other "protagonists", Makoto and Hajime. After entering the room, however, she found it trashed, with upturned furniture, knife slashes on the walls and bed, and smashed glass on the floor. She entered the bathroom, and there she found Yasuhiro Hagakure's body, with a knife in his abdomen. Monokuma appeared and explained it was now her and her classmates' job to investigate the crime scene and find evidence for the upcoming Class Trial.

After investigating and collecting evidence, and meeting the Monokubs, Kaede headed to the courtoom, and K1-B0 and Rantaro Amami agreed to not participate in the Class Trial due to there not being enough podiums, on the condition that they would still be allowed to vote on who they believed the blackened was. Monokuma agreed to his terms, because "Even with these speedbumps in the road, the destination won't change. The outcome of this trial... is absolute."

The Class Trial began, and all evidence appeared to point to Makoto, however, Monokuma interrupted the trial, saying: "That's it! I won't let you go any further! Cuz this is just the demo version!".

Just as it seems the Demo is over, however, more text boxes appear over the black screen, with Makoto and Hajime asking Monokuma how their acting was. Makoto, Hajime and Monokuma all say goodbye, but not before Yasuhiro shouts "Heeey! Wait for meee!", implying he never really died, and that the whole case was just for show.

Trivia

 * As in the Japan exclusive trial version of Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc, instead of meeting all the students at once, the protagonist meets the other students in different parts of the school and talking to them is optional. The note on Kaede's desk also references this, saying: "If you want to progress the story... come to the gym. But please be careful. There are other people wandering around. If you talk to them, you'll end up having to listen to their introductions. Deja vu! I've just been in this place before! Er, sorry, there's no time for that right now..."
 * Danganronpa_V3_Demo_Ouma_Spelling.png the E3 2017 premiere of the Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony Demo Version, the English translated opening intro included Kokichi Oma's name spelled as "Kokichi Ouma", which goes against typical NIS America localization spelling. NIS America confirmed this was an error that would be rectified by the release of the public demo, and it was later corrected in the full game footage released by IGN on July 31st, 2017.