Joy Malignant

Short, indie as heck but a fun romp through an interesting world. Wildly short, just be advised so you know what you're getting into! Felt like the game ended at the most "hype" moment, but just leaves more for the player to think about, right? Played and finished in one setting, just under two hours, on day of its release. Not nearly as emotional as it's contemporaries, Citizen Sleeper/Disco/Ebb but certainly not without some moral ambiguity and choices matter moments. Big political and religious vibes, fun NPCs and side characters, though maybe too few. Be aware I did skip a few questlines/events because I was morally opposed lol Would recommend but advise getting it on early discount, or picking up on seasonal sale. Dug my avatar after first playthrough! I give it 6.5/10

The game mechanics are lifted directly from Citizen Sleeper, but this implementation is good and nicely balanced. While everyone is probably initially attracted to the weird art style, there is actually a game here. The writing is good, as are the various characters. There is something about the people's forms being mosaics that represent their history that appeals to me. It's a really cool idea, and I enjoyed seeing it explored in this game. It took me about 2.5 hours to complete my first playthrough, and I found this to be totally worth what I paid.

Really enjoyable and strange game with interesting world building. If you enjoyed Disco Elysium you will enjoy this one. It’s pretty short and there is probably not a huge amount of replay (though I have only played once so far) though I expect you could probably do a couple of distinct runs with the choices available. I played it on a Lenovo legion running steam OS using the touch screen alone and it worked fine. I will be keeping an eye out for future projects from this team, I hope they consider revisiting this setting in future!

A charmed short game about a person trapped in purgatory. The gameplay and story are fairly basic, but competently done and have a nice indie charm. It's not Citizen Sleeper and it's not going to change your life, but it's a fun game you can play through in an afternoon and has some fun moments and characters.

A well written and compact RPG, with lots of interesting dialogue and dice roll "gameplay" similar to Citizen Sleeper. Very short and rather easy, but I found the story and characters compelling enough to recommend.

oomg the game is so cool! aaaaaaaaaaaa. I really like the mouse and learning about the world!

Well-written. Deeply thought. Engaging. Worth the money.

Joy Malignant wears its two primary influences (Disco Elysium and Citizen Sleeper) on its sleeve, and it does justice to those influences while going beyond merely replicating their themes and features. If you are looking for a relatively short CRPG with much to say about identity and the self, guilt and penance, and how we make our way in the world, I think you should give this game a try.