Disgaea, electronic game released by the Japanese video-game company Nippon Ichi Software for the Sony Corporation’s PlayStation 2 console in 2003 under the title Netherworld Battle Chronicle: Disgaea. The game was released in the United States the same year under the title Disgaea: The Hour of Darkness. The award-winning game prompted multiple spin-offs and sequels.

Disgaea, electronic game released by the Japanese video-game company Nippon Ichi Software for the Sony Corporation’s PlayStation 2 console in 2003 under the title Netherworld Battle Chronicle: Disgaea. The game was released in the United States the same year under the title Disgaea: The Hour of Darkness. The award-winning game prompted multiple spin-offs and sequels.

The plot centres on Prince Laharl, a demon who resides in Netherworld, a kingdom once ruled by his father. When Laharl wakes up from a two-year nap to discover his father is dead, he sets out to claim Netherworld as his own. Along the way, Laharl joins a sprawling cast of unique and colourful characters, whose humorous interactions are one of the game’s true strengths. In a departure from typical role-playing games (RPGs), Disgaea’s primary mode is a sequence of set battles that take place on grid-based maps with various features in each square of the grid. Game play is similar to that of genre definers Final Fantasy Tactics and Ogre Battle. Players develop and fine-tune a small party of warriors who face off against a similar party of enemies. Victory is obtained when one side wipes out the other. A vast number of weapons, techniques, and advances are available in the game—the pursuit of which can, for some players, overshadow or even replace the main quest.

Later releases in the series include Disgaea 2: Cursed Memories (2006) for the PlayStation 2 and Disgaea 3: Absence of Justice (2008) for the PlayStation 3, as well as a number of spin-offs. New downloadable characters for use in Disgaea 3 have been made available over Sony’s PlayStation Network (PSN). Disgaea’s board-game style also made it a good fit for portable gaming devices, such as the Sony PSP and the Nintendo DS, for which versions of the series have been produced.

The first two Disgaea installments were released for the PlayStation 2. The series debuted in Japan with Disgaea: Hour of Darkness in 2003 on the PlayStation 2 and has since been re-released on the PlayStation Portable as Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness, Nintendo DS as Disgaea DS and the PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch as Disgaea 1 complete with new content. It was known for many uncommon elements previously unseen in the strategy RPG genre, such as complex gameplay, extremely high maximum stats and a maximum level of 9999, and humorous dialogue. Disgaea 2: Cursed Memories, released for the PlayStation 2 in 2006 in Japan, has been re-released on the PlayStation Portable under the title Disgaea 2: Dark Hero Days with new content.

Both of these games were later ported to the PC as Disgaea PC in 2016, and Disgaea 2 PC in 2017 respectively. Both are based on the PlayStation Portable versions, with additional content and redone graphics. The series then moved on to the PlayStation 3 for Disgaea 3: Absence of Justice, released in Japan in 2008, and was re-released on the PlayStation Vita as Disgaea 3: Absence of Detention in 2012. Disgaea 4: A Promise Unforgotten was released in Japan in 2011 and re-released on the PlayStation Vita as Disgaea 4: A Promise Revisited in 2014. A direct sequel to the first game, Disgaea D2: A Brighter Darkness was released for the PlayStation 3 in 2013. Disgaea 5: Alliance of Vengeance was released in 2015, moving the series to the PlayStation 4, and was ported to the Nintendo Switch as Disgaea 5 Complete in 2017.

The next game, Disgaea 6: Defiance of Destiny, was announced on September 17, 2020 and is coming to both the PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch and most notably, 3D models are now used for the characters, which is a first in the series and the standard maximum level of 9999 increased to 99,999,999. Disgaea 6 Complete was released for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and PC through Steam in June 2022. Disgaea 7 was announced in August 2022, and is set to be released in Japan on January 26, 2023 for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and Nintendo Switch.

Re-released Disgaea titles have the tradition of featuring an alternate story-line to freshen up gameplay. In the first two re-releases, Etna Mode in Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness and Axel Mode in Disgaea 2: Dark Hero Days, feature alternate story-lines with new main characters.