We Happy Few

We Happy Few has an interesting narrative and also likable Characters. But that's it with the positive aspects, everything else is just miserable in this Game. The Biggest Red Flag for Me personally has to be the Random Generated World, which has not to be a bad thing necessarily, but a lot of objectives demand you to walk from A to B. But because the World is very big you find yourself most of the time roaming a lifeless, randomly generated World in which nothing really stands out, except the Main Characters. So at some point you start to rely on the Fast Travel Points, which are, offcourse, set randomly in this Random World, which makes them hard to discover. Apart from the Main Characters, nothing Breathes Life in this Game. One of the worst Things that stands heavily in the way of immersion, is that you are Playing 3 Acts: First as Arthur, Second Sally and Last Ollie. I have to say that the Acts differ in quality, for me Ollie was way more Fun than the other two, but that's not my Problem. My Problem is, again, the randomly generated World. For some reason it generates the world randomly AGAIN between the Acts, although the Stories are tangled together. That does not make any sense and it also means that you have to "discover" this Life- and "Joyless" World All over again, in which the map also feels just a little too stretched out, especially the Garden District. So most of the Time this Game boils down to Walking, because apart from some Sidequest, there is nothing for you to discover. Except offcourse parts for Crafting, Food and Weapons. The Survival aspects are a topic on their own, but for me the size of the Map and the Fact that it's randomly generated, stands out as the biggest Flaw of this game.

I played the original demo when the crew were looking for funding and was very impressed. It has a bioshock type feel to the storyline which leaves you with that somethings not quite right feeling. The characters are not really realistic and neither are the areas but it kinda adds to its charm. A bit like the fable games in terms of graphics. I've thoroughly enjoyed playing this game as it's something different to the other things out there at the moment. I believe theres some kind of multiplayer mode also like bioshock as well but I have tried that yet.

The concept, writing, and story are all solid, interesting, and compelling, but We Happy Few fails to check the most important boxes for a video game - playability. From clunky stealth mechanics that barely function, to enemies teleporting around, and overall buggy and shallow gameplay, this game really falls down mechanically. It seems to emphasize stealth a lot, but the stealth system is so poorly implemented that it makes that approach essentially untenable. However, there is little need for it, as the enemy AI is so feeble that most enemies you can basically just walk by and they won't notice you. And even if they do, escaping them is pitifully easy.

A game ought to be fun to play above all else, but We Happy Few simply isn't very.

There really isnt anything like this game so its hard to draw a comparison to anything else. Its set in an alternate Britain where Britain lost the second world war so people blank everything out with a drug called Joy and the game is about finding out what happened. Interesting but it does require giving it some time, you will be glad you did.

We Happy Few was a much anticipated game that was able to get to market through crowd funding and several changes along the way. What catches your attention first about the game is the setting and atmosphere. If I could some it up in a few choice words, bizarre, psychedelic and groovy come to mind. Depending on where you are on the map, you get some bright and eye-catching colours that make you feel like you took one of those pills your character "chooses" to take. But the surrounding area outside the towns are is appropriately bleak and helps sell the hopelessness of this time. Parts of this game play like a fever dream and even when its at its most vibrant, there's a sinister undertone that is ever present. For example, the white masks that the characters wear have a distinct look but when they turn on you, they have a creepy quality that's hard to shake.The character design (mostly npc types) is a little repetitive but the overall look of the world and how it brings you in deserves credit and gets the job done.

We Happy Few takes place in an alternate timeline where the Axis powers won WW2 and made the people of Wellington Welles surrender their children as a peace offering. This is treated with the appropriate gravity with most to all of the characters being unable to process their grief or accept how events unfolded and how they chose to handle the fallout. The citizens are required to take JOY, a pill that puts you in euphoric state and makes you hallucinate that the surrounding world is this colourful paradise. The world continues to fall apart around them but they can't tell the difference. If there's an aspect of this game that is exemplary, its the story and how it unfolds for our 3 protagonists. What the people are dealing with in this universe is beyond horrifying when you step back and consider if this were what actually happened. Its a dystopian tale that has some familiar undertones depending on how you read the unfolding story. But while We Happy Few can be uneven, with every scene we get with our characters, the depth of the depravity the Wellies have sunken into gets deeper and deeper. It amplifies how grave circumstances can be when people choose to wilfully ignore the truth and just frame what's going on so they can be among those happy few.

If you're playing a game that's driven through its narrative, character development is key. I've already talked about the environment that Arthur, Sally and Ollie are thrown into but how they are shaped by it and where it leads them to is captivating. I preferred playing as each one of them for different reasons but they all had moments where my jaw dropped and I couldn't help but think if I would have acted in a similar fashion (ranging from heroism to despicable cowardice). All 3 characters have their respective talents and weaknesses but their problems are very difficult and even haunting. Even despite this taking place in an alternate reality, their individual journeys felt real and all too possible. I think they also do a good job incorporating the moral ambiguity of the situation into how the characters behave. They all have skeletons in their closets and carry shame for their actions. This helped ground them and make them more human. When each of their arcs wrapped up, I had vocal reactions in both a positive and negative manner and to elicit those feelings is a sign the game accomplished its goal.

I could just keep showering We Happy Few with my adoration but you have to take the good with the bad. The gameplay is lacklustre compared to the story and development. We Happy Few has more than its share of bugs even this long after its been released. The campaign will freeze more than a few times and graphical glitches are common. The npc characters are rabid to get after the main characters and once you tip them off, it becomes almost impossible to get away (let alone most missions will drop you close to the start so if you die unexpectedly, there's a lot of backtracking). Their dialogue is super repetitive as well. The combat is the bare bones of what it should be and feels thrown together instead of being developed properly. They set the bar high with the other aspects and the gameplay can't live up to that kind of promise between the bugs and the dissatisfying systems.

This game is particularly hard to review. There is so much about it that's not only good but genuinely inspired. The story, the character development, the atmosphere and style are FANTASTIC. It got to me emotionally at points on both sides of the spectrum and its rare to have something through this medium do that. But unless you're a diehard fan, the buggy gameplay, the wonky combat, long load times and frustrating npcs are a little much to take and pretty frustrating. Its a flawed product but its the rare one that I'll revisit because of what it gets right. I might be going out on a limb but with all the crappy videogame-film adaptations we have gotten, I think a movie based in this universe would be really intriguing (it felt very cinematic). So it comes in more at a 7.5/10, the positives help it shine anyway and its a "joyful" experience to play We Happy Few. I'd recommend picking it up on sale instead of full price and trying to be patient, there's an involving cautionary tale here.