Psycho-Pass: Mandatory Happiness releases on PlayStation 4 and Vita on September 13, 2016. But what is this game about?
Psycho-Pass started as an anime in 2014, and as it grew in popularity, it was thought that this dystopian sci-fi universe would be a perfect fit for a video game. In Psycho-Pass, the year is 2113 and the government has developed a method to quantify and profile the mental state and disposition of each individual. Those who have the intent of behaving like criminals could be arrested or killed. Being profiled with such intent is called a “psycho-pass.” Think of a more twisted version of Minority Report.
In Mandatory Happiness, a hacker only known by the name Alpha wants to find a way to make everyone happy. However, he doesn’t understand that by making one person happy, it could be at the detriment of someone else.
The player can choose to be either Inspector Nadeshiko Kugatachi or Enforcer Takuma Tsurugi of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID). It’s the player’s job to work through cases and try to stop Alpha before he really does harm, even though he strongly believes that he is their savior.
The player’s first interaction with Alpha is with the first case of the game.
The boy and girl used to be close friends before their relationship got hijacked by the girl’s mom, who pretended to be the girl and sent the boy a heart-breaking message via text. Confused and distraught, the boy’s emotions begin to spin out of control. Soon after, Alpha contacts the boy and offers to help him find the girl and achieve his happiness.
Thanks to Alpha’s genius hacking abilities, the boy successfully finds the girl, but blackmails her into staying with him for a night. She hesitates, but agrees. Ultimately, the girl’s mom calls the police and reports her daughter missing after she doesn’t come home that night.
Soon after, Division 1 receives information on the whereabouts of the boy and girl, and the chase begins. It is from this point, as either Kugatachi or Tsurugi, that you are entrusted to make important choices to find the suspect. It is from this point that the decisions you make could eventually lead to saving somebody’s life or pulling the trigger to end it.
The choices you make as the detective will have a lasting impact upon the game. It seems to be delightfully twisted, and definitely not a typical game from NIS America.
[Source: PlayStation Blog]
