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
The demo starts up similar to the first game, with Kaede Akamatsu waking up saying that she fell into a deep sleep on her way to school one day, only to wake up in a weird classroom.

She meets a boy named Makoto Naegi, the previous protagonist featured in Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc. Makoto introduces himself as a student at the school and tells Kaede that she’s a new student here. He knows her name and talent from looking at the new student roster. He tells Kaede to check out the desk she woke up on. Both introduce themselves to everyone. Later outside the gym, Makoto says he’s gotta part ways with Kaede, but whatever she meets in there, he wants her to hang onto hope. Kaede later enters the gym and meets a robotic black and white bear named Monokuma. Kaede seemed surprised meeting Monokuma. Monokuma tells her that they are trapped in this school because they are about to start a killing game and explains the game rules to her.

He tells Kaede to go back to her room. When she gets there, she sees that in addition to her nameplate, there's also one for Makoto and Hajime Hinata, the protagonist featured in Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair. Monokuma shows up to say that it’s the "Protagonist Room". Since it’s going to be tight quarters, they better get along. Kaede objects, citing that she’s a girl. Later after Kaede arrives at her room, she finds a lot of struggle on the walls and scratched in the bed. After investigating her room more, she finds a mysterious bloodstain in the shower and discovers one of her classmates' corpse, Yasuhiro Hagakure. Monokuma makes the body announcement and tells everyone that a Class Trial will begin after some time.Later after the investigation, everyone heads to the courtroom and begin the Class Trial. The demo ends in the middle of the Class Trial.

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.