The review by Say No! Blackberries it required a good dose of “open-mindedness”, because it is easy to fall victim to prejudices by limiting yourself to a superficial glance only from the outside and concentrating on the graphic style used. It is an indie title for PC, Nintendo Switch and iOS created by Studio Fizbin and produced by Thunderful Games. The game is in full indie style, with a distinctive low-poly graphics, such as Morbius, the best known Astroneer or the sweet Grow Up. Ironically, the developers themselves defined it as the first NPG in history, that is (and here we quote the manufacturer's official website) as a NO! Playing Game whose main purpose of the whole experience is to learn to trim some decided "No!" as answer. The only actions that will be granted to you? Store as much energy as possible and respond in kind to anyone who comes in front of you, or rather, learn all the nuances necessary to rebel in the face of any ambiguous situation and prevent any abuse in the workplace.
Madness isn't it? We thought just that when we saw the wonderful trailer for this title for the first time. Immediately after, however, we were so intrigued that we could not help but experience firsthand the hilarious videogame experience that Say No! More offers to gamers. Through the very simple use of darts, numbers and the space bar, you will have the chance to enjoy hours full of stylized graphics, mean bosses ready to make you falter, and a mentor of the "No!" who with his own lessons will be able to open your mind to a new perspective: refusing is permissible.
Why say yes if you can say "nah"? The world of Say No! Blackberries
The basic idea of Say No! More really deserves more than you would expect, because if on the one hand everything appears surreal and deliberately exaggerated, on the other there is a great desire to represent a reality that many know: the strong exploit the weak. In this title it happens in a workplace, the office par excellence, the one that oppresses its employees to the point of driving them to madness. In the game world there is no possibility to respond negatively to any request e our character is the first to dare and to break a system of pre-established and rigid rules. In a work structure made up of obedient colleagues and profiteering bosses, our job therefore becomes to bring chaos.
The story of an intern
Say No! More begins in a simple way by allowing everyone to create their own avatar, grotesque in clothes and even in features. Regardless of the physical appearance, the protagonist is a shy and insecure person, just accepted as an intern in a large studio. Entering the huge building the atmosphere is revealed in a few seconds: orders after orders, the "big ones" control from above and the supervisor immediately makes fun of us. Trying to press the space bar (ie the main command) we will not be able to emit any decisive sound but only slurred noises of those who do not know how to oppose those who demand a "Yes!" in exchange for a pat on the back, or maybe not even that.
Experiencing the first injustice in the workplace we find ourselves bewildered and furious in the face of the most total helplessness that the game gives us. Right at that moment the imprinting arrives, the moment that distorts the narrative and introduces us to the gameplay dynamics that characterize this title. A cassette and an old player fall onto the filthy desk they assigned to our character. The little avatar puts on the headphones and discovers the mentor he always wanted to need: to the beat of 80s-90s music the instructor of the "No!" It shows up in all its magnificence and its wonderful sporty outfit, and explains how to bring out the strength to refuse to listen to others or to do what colleagues or superiors ask of us.
I "No!" they are divided into different categories, cold, intense, listless and so on. The beauty lies in discovering different types of answers, which make everyone uncomfortable and really knock out everyone in front of us. The only factor that has not particularly convinced us is that choosing different types of denial does not change practically anything in terms of gameplay and unfortunately this does not play in the title's favor. A similar choice would certainly have been much more interesting and we would have particularly appreciated it to create greater curiosity and attention in the player. As for the message and game dialogue we were very impressed and, we say it genuinely, we had a lot of laughs and pulled some bitter memories out of our secret drawer.
Returning to the gameplay, the keys to play with are simple and within everyone's reach, the controls are fun but, despite the attempt to wander, the dynamics are a bit too repetitive especially considering the duration of about four hours / five hours of this title. As we have already said, the various types of negation do not have a different impact, they are equipped with nice animations and really nice energy recharging methods, but in practice it changes very little. A shame certainly, because a similar foresight would have allowed you to enjoy more of the videogame experience offered by Say No! More, avoiding making everything too static. The real negative point of the video game created by Studio Fizbin lies precisely in this, in the short duration and in its being rather monotonous in the long run. Despite everything, we really enjoyed what the product made available to us, also calculating the budget price at which it is proposed.
