Psycho-Pass: Mandatory Happiness

A worthy companion to the original series and one of the better Visual Novels available on consoles. It doesn’t quite have the narrative force that can hook people in like Steins;Gate or Danganronpa, but it is definitely the best possible medium for adapting the cyberpunk setting of the original series while letting fans spend more time with Akane and her team.

Psycho-Pass: Mandatory Happiness is a stylish and well written visual novel which uses the interesting concept of the anime well. Little variety in the artwork, no animation at all and the two characters' stories being a little too similar stop it from attracting non-genre fans however.

An enjoyable cyberpunk adventure with an excellent setting and cast of characters that are worth caring about. It doesn’t quite stretch its storytelling muscles as far as it could, confined by the traditional visual novel formula in ways that feel detrimental to the overall narrative. Despite this, the world is compelling, original and thought-provoking at times. If you're a fan of Danganronpa or Persona, Psycho-Pass: Mandatory Happiness could be next on your wishlist.

Psycho-Pass: Mandatory Happiness somehow manages to be an easy and hard recommendation at the same time. The story, characters and theme that worked so well in the first season of the anime return and are in top form. The antagonist might very well be the best in the entire franchise. Any fan of the series will find a lot to love here. Unfortunately, as a video game, or as a visual novel, it fails to really impress. If you’re unfamiliar with the anime, I doubt there’s much here worth investing in.

Even if you haven't seen the Psycho-Pass television series before, Mandatory Happiness does a good enough job of making it clear what's going on to be enjoyable. It tells an engaging and thought-provoking story that deals with some heavyweight and uncomfortable subjects, and one that poses plenty of ethical dilemmas along the way. If you can get past the borderline non-existent gameplay then the narrative will probably keep you entertained for a dozen hours or so, although it may leave you wondering if this story would have been better told over a few episodes of the anime instead.

Psycho-Pass: Mandatory Happiness won't win a GOTY prize. It's entertaining and that's all. Even though we have reviewed the game in its PS4 version, it's the perfect product for PS Vita, specially manga fans, obviously. It's hard to talk about it as a game when it's not, but it's an interesting product for Psycho-Pass fans.

Visual novel that preserves the essence of the series but in playable level could have given more of itself. Only for fans.

Mandatory Happiness offers a great story with great moments and many endings, but the amount of text and its old-fashioned system can be a problem for many users.

It provides an enjoyable enough experience, but for those looking for a video game adaptation of the show, this simply isn’t it. This is more like the show repurposed and told through static screenshots and a lot of pressing X.