Psycho-Pass: Mandatory Happiness spins off onto PC
Anime oh my
Psycho-Pass: Mandatory Happiness [official site], a visual novel spin-off from the dystopian anime Psycho-Pass, is now out on PC. Psycho-Pass, I'll briefly explain, is set in a near-future Japan watched over by a surveillance system constantly assessing everyone's likelihood they'll commit crimes. On the rare occasion someone gets all crime-y, in come special futurecops -- some of whom are themselves judged dangerous by the system -- armed with futureguns whose use is also ruled by the system. And this is a visual novel telling a new story in that world.
Rather than retell the anime, Mandatory Happiness has its own stories including some new characters of its own. I prefer my adaptations that way, as retellings often unravel between the different strengths of different mediums and come off bland or daft. A bit like Westwood's ace Blade Runner game, this is set in background of the anime, in the same world but free to do its own thing.
Here, check out these fast pictures and loud noises:
Psycho-Pass was one of the more pleasant surprises as I poked through Netflix's anime section. As sci-fi often will, it has fun establishing a society shaped by a philosophy and technology then picking at all the consequences and flaws of that. It's pretty fun? Pretty pretty too.
Psycho-Pass: Mandatory Happiness is out for £22.99/$29.99 on Steam. It's made by 5pb with Mages and published by NIS America. Its initial release was on console in Japan in 2015, followed by a western release in September 2016. Now it's on Windows.