Wish Us Luck review - "Lovely art style, but with a playtime that sometimes overstays its welcome"

Do you believe that you make your own luck or do you prefer leaving your fate up to the RNG gods? Wish Us Luck takes that question a step further by letting you play through the lives of three seemingly unrelated individuals through the course of a single event-filled day, but will this "Choose Your Own Adventure"-esque narrative game help you appreciate your own circumstances, or will it simply be a tedious romp through the misfortunes of real life?

Table of contents:

• Wish Us Luck visuals
• Wish Us Luck gameplay
• Wish Us Luck verdict

WISH US LUCK VISUALS

This interactive fiction feels almost like a graphic novel you can play through given how gorgeous the art style is. The distinct character designs complement the vibrant backdrops nicely, and each new location is as fresh as the characters themselves. Essentially, you'll step into the shoes of the three main protagonists - Samuel, Alice, and Andy - as you navigate the tricky terrain of a "day in the life" scenario for each of them. And while there are no voiced scenes or fancy animations here, each chapter comes alive thanks to the beautifully illustrated visuals.

• How We Know We're Alive review - "Light on the gameplay, big on the story"

As expected from its genre, the game is incredibly well-written, with a punchy narrative voice and colourful dialogue that's as colourful as the NPCs themselves. The choices you'll need to make are also pretty sound, so much so that it's really hard to tell which options are the so-called "correct" ones. There are no right answers in real life, I'm afraid, and the game emphasises that cold, harsh truth at every narrative turn.

THE GAMEPLAY OF WISH US LUCK

The game is basically a hodgepodge of choices that almost feel too frequent - there's something to decide on at every corner, and each decision can affect how the world around you responds. The game also prompts you that a choice will have lasting consequences further down the line, and at the end of each chapter, you can compare your decisions with other players across the globe to see which side of the percentages you fall into.

You'll alternate between the three protagonists in every chapter, and each almost always ends in a cliffhanger. Eventually, you'll come across a new twist where the lives of the three will intersect, and when Lady Luck favours one, there'll be dire consequences for another. This really raises the stakes for each choice you make, as it's easy to feel attached to the likeable characters to the point that you'll want to root for them and hope they can catch a break.

WHAT'S THE APPEAL?

Here's where my major gripe with the game comes in. While I do understand the three of them are important to how the story unfolds, I felt like the game's pacing was particularly slow, especially since their tales unravelled at a snail's pace. While the novelty of the decision-making was intriguing at first, I felt the excitement wore off too early in the game, and eventually, being smacked with choices left and right began to feel tedious.

• Lost in Play review - "Nothing beats the power of childlike imagination"

The characters are so well-written I genuinely wanted to know what happened next, but it was such a slog to trudge through just to see how events played out. Also, while the game is designed with replayability in mind, each playthrough is so long I didn't feel the need to restart from the very beginning just to see how things might end up differently if I made an alternate choice.

Still, it's a good title to pick up in short bursts, as it's nothing too hardcore. You'll simply have to tap and hold to pick a choice, then read through the story in convenient portrait mode, making it ideal for gamers on the go. I can't say the story resonated with me deeply enough, but it's a unique experience that will make you rethink how you see luck in all its messy glory.