PSYCHO-PASS: Mandatory Happiness Running Review (Part 1)

Player(s): 1
Platforms: PlayStation 4, PS Vita, PC (via Steam)

Hi. I'm Nikki. I've never played a visual novel.

So why am I reviewing one? I thought it would be nice to show the perspective of someone who's familiar with the setting - I've seen the anime, Psycho Pass, that this game is based on - but has no idea how games like this work. I suspect that because the anime itself is popular, there will be more people like me than usual.

Note: This review is based on the new Steam version of the game.

If you haven't seen the anime, the basic premise is this: in a relatively near future Tokyo, everyone's life is entirely decided by a supercomputer nicknamed Sibyl. Sibyl will figure out what you're good at to steer you to the correct schools, career, even judge your choice of romantic partners. In addition, people have what's called a "Psycho-Pass", an indicator that changes color based on your mental health. If your color gets too dark, or clouded, you're deemed a threat to society and are taken away for treatment. If you've already committed violence, Sibyl considers you no longer useful and the treatment is upgraded to death. The anime follows a particular police squad, Division 1 and their new recruit, Akane Tsunemori.

That's the basics, at least, there are much more in-depth explanations. The anime itself is quite good, and I'd recommend it - especially if you want to try this visual novel. I'll get more into why later.

The game is published by NIS America, who've published amazing games like the Ys series, Danganronpa, and Touhou. They're also anime publishers, with titles like Natsume's Book of Friends, Love Live! School Idol Project, and Umineko WHEN THEY CRY. Some heavy hitters in both areas, so I've got full confidence that this game is going to be a good one.

This review is going to be a little different. I'm going to play through the game over a series of weeks and talk about my experiences with it as we go along. Expect updates to come every Saturday night. So let's get started!

The game opens with a short intro - like an anime - before character selection screen. It's a good hook, where someone (something? I'm suspecting an AI, but who knows) steals a new body, what they call a doll, mentioning that they're going to use their "new toy" to bring happiness to everyone. They also mention their "Mother", with capitalization and everything.

As an aside, the audio is in Japanese and there's no English option. Fine for me, but some people may not love it.

The player can then choose between two characters - Nadeshiko Kugatachi or Takuma Tsurugi. For this playthrough, I'll be going with Nadeshiko. She's got amnesia and is apparently very, very serious all the time.

The controls aren't instinctive for someone who plays PC games regularly - I can only take an action, including entering the menu, when text has finished loading, arrow keys are used instead of our usual w/s/a/d, and backspace is cancel. Thankfully, I can change the configuration. Controller is supported but I wanted to play without so I could see how the controls work for a "typical" PC player. In the main menu you can save, reload your game (or another), look at the tips screen (more on that in a minute), change your audio/display/controls through the config menu, or return to the main menu.

There's also a menu at the bottom of the regular screen. At the time of this writing I've been playing for about 20 minutes and I still have no idea what it's for. Maybe it's not a menu?

Additionally there are eventually prompts meant for a touchscreen, which sounds like it would be fun on the PS4 version. As of this writing, I'm not sure whether it would work on touchscreen computers.

As I mentioned, this game is based on an anime, and assumes you've seen it before playing - terms like Psycho Pass, street scanner, hue, and latent criminal are tossed around willy-nilly. There ARE explanations, located in the tips screen (found via the main menu or directly using the f4 button) but it can be a lot of reading to get through for people new to the Psycho Pass world. Whenever a new term or person is introduced, a popup at the top of the screen notifies you that you can read more about it in the tips screen, which is helpful.

The main characters from the anime are introduced fairly quickly, which is nice for fans. Apparently the other character option is still a major player in the story, which is nice. I feel like I haven't missed out on anything too important. The seiyuu/VA's from the anime are all back again as well, and they do a good job of things considering that there is essentially no movement in the game whatsoever. The new voices are equally talented.

One small drawback is that there's quite a bit of flowery language, which took me out of the game a little bit. That could just be the character I've chosen, though, and is really just personal taste.

The first case is set in Sado Marine City (and, considering the prologue was set there, I feel like the majority of the game will happen here too.) A high school boy has apparently kidnapped his girlfriend from middle school. I won't get into any detail, but I will say that I was hooked fairly quickly and the closing of the case left me satisfied and eager to play more. I will say that you can make choices, and some of the choices are wrong or will effect the story in ways you may not want. It's always a good idea to save often so you can choose again. In my playthrough, however, I won't be doing that. Good or bad, I'm sticking with what I choose!

All in all the game so far has left me excited to see what happens to Nadeshiko and the Division 1 team in Sado Marine City. For people who are unfamiliar with the world of Psycho Pass, I'd highly suggest giving it a pass until you've watched the anime - there are too many new terms and people introduced in a short time to make it an easy go. Fans, however, will love catching up with the characters we love, and watching them solve new cases.

-Nikki

FULL DISCLOSURE: This game was provided to A-to-J Connections free-of-charge by the publisher for the purpose of review