Quick Review: Say No! More

Always agreeing to everything? Tired of being a doormat? Buy this new program, which will teach you to say “No!” more!

I make a penny, you make a dime. How about
you go buy yourself a lunch, you stingy crap?

A game developed by Studio Fizbin, published by Thunderful Publishing and released on April 9th, 2021, Say No! More is the story of an unnamed, gender-neutral character you play as, who starts as an intern in a brand new company that encourages saying Yes to everything. Your character, whose appearance is 100% customizable, settles at their desk, when their supervisor, who says they forgot their lunchbox at home, steals the player character’s. Hey! Our best friend packed that lunch for us! He’s an idiot who won’t get a job and keeps asking us to cover the full rent, but he’s a great cook! Resigned, the player character slams the desk with their head, causing a cassette player and headphones to fall from the vents. The cassette contains a program teaching how to say No! in many different ways. The hunt for the lunchbox is on! Will we let the Supervisor keep it? Aw, NO!

Ah, I felt that. Feels good to say no when it's warranted.

What good times? Oh, this guy is getting a cold
NO and a one-way trip into the water below.

This No simulator offers a nice option; much like the character’s appearance, the No is customizable, into 17 different languages (and the voice, feminine or masculine, therefore making it the only way to assign your character some hint of gender). Other than that, gameplay is very simple: Hit the Spacebar to yell out No (aside from instances where your character, for plot-related reasons, will be unable to say anything). The cassette later teaches you to charge up your No, by holding the Spacebar down. This mechanic is funny, but it’s rarely necessary in-story. You also learn various ways to say No: The first is the Heated No, but Cold, Lazy and Wacky Nos are added to your arsenal, and you switch between them with the keys 1 to 4. You’re also taught non-No responses, using the arrow keys, which can embarrass someone and make the upcoming No hurt worse: You can laugh at someone, sarcastically clap, nod to pretend you’re interested, or cross your arms to think of more important things.

Well, sometimes you just have to stand for yourself.
We can't just accept anything, and I will not accept that
a boss has stolen my bleeping lunch box!

Oh, this one is getting the 130 decibel version
of an angry No.

Notice how nowhere I mentioned buttons to move? Well, this game is more like an interactive movie. You don’t choose where to go, the game takes you there, and you can go No at everyone – or even choose to not go No at anyone. (This can actually lead to secret scenes!) There aren’t penalties for failing, the game just keeps going. So, it’s not so much that there’s a challenge here, really; just some funny stuff to look for, and whether or not that involves actually interacting.

It’s a WEIRD in-depth satire of the cult of toxic positivity in our late-stage capitalism workplaces. It’s a pretty forward lesson in how saying No is okay, especially to requests that are unreasonable or go against your values. When I say it gets WEIRD, I swear I'm not joking. But will I spoil more for you? No!

I call this the failed Phoenix Wright cosplay look.

Sorry, this attempt at corporate brainwashing is
so damn silly, I (on the left) just have to laugh.

The low-poly CGI style gives it a silly feel, the voice-acting helps making it feel so funny, and the music’s pretty good. The tone is comedic bordering on completely crazy throughout. Its biggest flaws are that it’s actually very short (you’re likely to beat it in about two hours), only a few of the “choices” you make can lead to significant differences, and since the game favors its experience and its storytelling over gameplay, it’s not a title that offers any sort of difficulty or gameplay-based challenge, so as I said, expect an interactive movie more than a game here.

Say No! More is available on Steam for 14.99$ USD.