History repeats.
Project: Eden's Garden is an upcoming Fan Game Visual Novel inspired by the popular video game series known by all as Danganronpa, and is directed by Tako
and Juvey.
The story takes place in a prestigious American academy called Eden's Garden Academy: a school that scouts teens and young adults with remarkable talents and knowledge. But one day, a student by the name of Damon Maitsu, the Ultimate Debater, awakens within the school alongside 15 of his newest classmates. And to make matters worse, they discover that they are forced to partake in a killing game which will be documented for the world to see. Now Damon and his classmates must work together to survive the killing game and uncover the mystery of Eden's Garden.
You can follow the series either on Twitter at ProjEdensGarden or on Youtube at Project: Eden's Garden. The game is available on itch.io and Game Jolt.
The Prologue chapter, "Vows Woven by Stitches and Needles", was released on December 16th, 2022. Chapter One, "Beneath the Veil of Hypocrisy", is aiming for release towards the end of 2023 or early 2024.
Tropes in Project: Eden's Garden include:
- Animal Motifs: Each character is tied to a specific animal that is featured in their attire.
- Damon: Snake
- Eva: Crow
- Desmond: Shark
- Eloise: Swan
- Wenona: Bear
- Toshiko: Flamingo
- Ulysses: Owl
- Mark: Alligator
- Diana: Chameleon
- Wolfgang: Sheep
- Kai: Butterfly
- Ingrid: Lion
- Jett: Coyote
- Grace: Rabbit
- Jean: Dragon
- Cassidy: Black Widow Spider
- Tozu: Ram
- Mara: Panther
- Big Bad Duumvirate: The current main villains are Tozu and Mara, of whom are both human beings. The former is the ringleader of the killing game, while Mara is his enforcer.
- Breaking Old Trends: The writers have outright said that while they are going for Original Flavour, they will also try to avoid falling into some of the usual Strictly Formula tropes of the Danganronpa series, and it shows.
- The cast and setting:
- The story takes place in America instead of Japan.
- Rather than having a fully teenage cast, the age range is between 14 (Toshiko) to 22 (Wolfgang).
- There is no "Ultimate ???". Instead, one of the characters has completely unknown information about them (Eva).
- None of the cast have a Non-Standard Character Design. The closest person to this is Jett and that's only because he wears a helmet covering his face compared to everyone's faces being seen. Chances are he looks completely normal under there.
- The protagonist isn't relentlessly good-natured and trying to encourage everyone to work together, instead they're kind of a Jerkass who rather than placing blind trust in his classmates points out early on it's inevitable they'll all turn on each other sooner or later.
- The overseer(s) of the Killing Game are two humans instead of a plush mascot, though they still carry an animal motif (a goat and a panther).
- The prologue. Right after the cast is completely introduced, a dead body is found (or rather, a doll that strongly resembles a real corpse) and the overseer of the game (then unknown to the audience) orders a full Investigation and Class Trial before any of the cast dies.
- Even the nature of the trial is different. Instead of discerning who the blackened is, a random blackened is assigned and the cast must investigate how the murder is carried out. This marks the first time the entire cast participates in a single class trial, all still alive.
- During the Closing Argument section, several of the students take part in explaining how the murder was carried out instead of relying on just the protagonist.
- The cast and setting:
- Call-Back: This being a fangame of Danganronpa, references to the original franchise can be found every now and then.
- The announcement trailer features a cameo of the Grey Guy from the Closing Arguments.
- Eden's Garden takes cues from the Ultimate Academy of Gifted Juveniles by having a giant holographic dome that imprisons everyone and the buildings.
- In the prologue's pretend trial, the victim was revealed to have been armed with her own weapon with the implication of killing someone. Much like Sayaka Maizono from the first game.
- Just like Junko in Chapter 6, Tozu reveals himself in the trial room via cloud of smoke.
- The Killing Game will continue until two students remain, just like in V3.
- An aggressive student tries to attack the killing game organizer and is almost killed for their actions. Due to the fact that the organizer is a human, it's presented as a full-on No-Holds-Barred Beatdown rather than trying to destroy the mascot through any other means.
- Darker and Edgier: The grim atmosphere and orchestra rendition of the DR theme song from the announcement trailer gives the impression that this fangame will be more serious compared to the games they're inspired by.
- Deconstruction: The concept of "Ultimates" is receiving this treatment. Damon mentions early on how many schools throughout the world have embraced the Ultimate Talent Plan and have begun to accept students with different talents or skills. However, the ongoing usage of Ultimate titles have lost it's value as anyone can be accepted even though their special skills can hardly be considered revolutionary or beneficiary to the world. (Ex. A lawyer or businesswoman being compared to a pro gamer or drag racer). There's also criticism of how many of those Ultimates don't even have noble motivations and are only out to become famous.
- Garden of Eden: The titular school is named after the sinless paradise of Christianity.
- Hated by All: To Damon's dismay, the prologue ends with everyone disliking him after he points out how there's no chance that they'll live up to their promises of not killing each other and how it's only a matter of time before they turn on each other.
- Instant Sedation: In the prologue, the Ultimates boarding the train to Eden's Garden are knocked out after a mysterious bag releases a noxious gas.
- Mass "Oh, Crap!": All of the students react this way once they discover Cara’s dead body.
- Original Flavor: In regards to gameplay and graphics, the developers are attempt to fully emulate the style of the Danganronpa series.
- Recurring Element: There are a couple of students who fit familiar DR character archetypes.
- Wenona serves as the brown skinned girl of the cast.
- Toshiko is the Token Mini-Moe.
- There are two Big Hearted Muscle characters in the forms of Ingrid and Jean.
- Grace is the athletic girl of the group.
- Mark is the musically-inclined student of the group.
- Shock Collar: To keep the students in line, each one is forced to wear a digital watch that zaps them when they do something that Tozu wouldn't approve of.
- Shout-Out
- Upon their first meeting, Grace openly asks "is that a fucking gremlin" after seeing Toshiko.
- The fact they have shock braces on their arms as restraints during a death game harkens back to one of the genre's progenitors.
- One of Kai's panicked quotes is "Game over man! Game over!"
- Cassidy is full of them. When meeting Eva, her first thought is to mention how it's just like "the spy!"
- Also, true to her gamer background, quotes "Objection" during the prologue trial, and earlier tries to deliberately start an argument about ladders vs stepladders.
- Before starting the trial, she says that "religious symbolism is tight!"
- The first "victim" is said to be killed after being stabbed 28 times, something the cast highlights throughout the first trial.
- When discussing how bleach got in the "victim"'s eyes, Cassidy suggests a water gun and Jett responds with "The ink vanishes when the battle's over!"
- When Mara first appears, Cassidy says "This is getting out of hand, now there are two of them!"
- Spooky Painting: Every painting featured in the academy has sophisticated artworks with the subject wearing a disturbing animal mask. Just like Tozu or Mara.
- Wham Shot: The sight of a dead body (or rather a very convincing dummy, as the students quickly discover) in the prologue chapter, something that does not happen in Danganronpa.
