I didn’t know what to expect from Psycho-Pass: Mandatory Happiness. Not only had I never played through a visual novel game before(unless you want to count a couple of Telltale’s games, I really don’t though since you control way more than you do here) but I haven’t watched the anime either. This lack on my part in no way made the game harder to get into, if anything I now want to get into the anime!
For those who aren’t aware, Psycho-Pass is an anime first aired in 2012. Set in the near future, the Sibyl System actively scans the well-being of the population, this assessment is makes up your Psycho-Pass. Develop too high of a Crime Coefficient and you will either be apprehended as a latent criminal(you haven’t commited a crime yet and are sent for ‘rehabilitation’) or you are executed on the spot. There are two types of authority figures that enforce the laws, Inspectors and Enforcers. Enforcers are latent criminals tasked with assisting Inspectors in tracking down active criminals, Inspectors manage the Enforcers.
Mandatory Happiness takes place during the same time period as the first six episodes of the anime and introduces three new characters, Nadeshiko Kugatchi, Takuma Tsurugi, and Alpha. After a brief opening scene you are offered a choice of two characters to go through the story with, emotionless Inspector Kugatchi(she is often referred to as Ms. Droid) who has lost her memory or Enforcer Takuma Tsurugi who is seeking a missing friend/lover. For my playthrough I chose Kugatchi, the Public Service Bureau’s newest Inspector. On her very first day she and the others in her division are tasked with finding a high school boy who has suddenly developed a high Crime Coefficient. It is during this first case that events are set up for the rest of the story and Alpha is introduced as the main villain. All he wants is for everyone to be happy, how wrong can that be? I don’t want to give too much away as I found that there were some genuinely shocking moments over the course of my playthrough. These moments made me walk away from the game for a little bit so while it took me only about 10 hours total to get through my first playthrough, it was over the course of a week.
In the end the game is not really game but a story. Beyond a handful of choices that you are offered most of the game involves pressing one button to advance. This isn’t to say that is a bad thing, but if you are looking for something a little more involved you will be disappointed. Your choices however do matter. Decide not to go investigate one thing in favor of another? You may get to a crime scene too late or you may even die. Visually Mandatory Happiness is fairly sparse as well with static backgrounds that have one or two characters slightly animated characters at a time but again, this isn’t a true game and is more of an animated novel. Think of the old Choose-Your-Own-Adventure books(does anyone but me remember those? I loved those books). I did really enjoy the music and found the driving electronic beat that came up during intense moments to be perfect.
My only real complaint, besides the fact that I got a bad ending(gotta try for a good one!), is that Mandatory Happiness assumes you are familiar with the world already created in Psycho-Pass. Characters drop terms such as ‘latent criminal’, ‘Hue’(the color of your Psycho-Pass at any given moment), and ‘Sibyl System’ without any real explanation. The game tries to make up for this with a Tips menu that, while useful, can be a little frustrating as you navigate back and forth for meanings. There is also no English dub so you will be hearing Japanese as you are reading everything on the screen. Not the end of the world, but as awesome as the voice acting was, I would have loved to hear it in English. If you are looking to make the text progress at a faster rate you will be disappointed as well, the game doesn’t tell you how. It took me most of the story to even figure out that you could make it auto progress and that was only because one of my cats knocked the PS4 controller out of my lap, I think it was the R2 shoulder button.
All in all I would recommend at least one playthrough whether or not you are a fan of the anime. I’m really glad to have given opportunity to review the game as it might not have been one I would have picked up on my own. It is filled many thought-provoking themes and moments and I cannot wait to dive back in! I don’t think Inspector Kugatchi is happy with the ending I got for her, and Enforcer Tsurgui is still waiting for his turn to shine!
Psycho-Pass: Mandatory Happiness is available digitally on the Playstation Store for PS4 and Vita and is coming to Steam in 2017. You can also check out the trailer.
