We Happy Few may have fallen off your radar through no fault of your own. Compulsion Games announced We Happy Few way back in 2015 with some bombastic trailers that gave a glimpse into a horrific and psychedelic alternate Britain. Then, a year later, we actually got to check out We Happy Few when it released in Early Access on Steam. Spoiler alert: it wasn’t great.
The game’s finally ready for a full release this year, and after having had over an hour of hands on time with the game I can already tell it’s in a much better place. First of all, the narrative’s finally in place. To cope with crumbling infrastructure and poverty, the population has begun to consume Joy, a drug simulating happiness by disguising a bleak reality as a joyful one. Since its release in Early Access We Happy Few has only had loose story connections and a largely procedurally-generated world. The full game is shaping up to look much more like its cinematic reveals, and has streamlined many of the more complex and hardcore systems to match this more narrative focused approach.
My demo began in the tunnels beneath Britain directly after our protagonist, Arthur, has escaped his Joy-ridden Newspaper job in a town called Parade. To escape I had to utilize the new and simplified inventory and crafting systems to make a lock pick and pick a few locks. I was then assaulted by a man, which proved to actually be a challenge with the new melee system. Players can use melee weapons like their fists, branches or shovels. Blocking prevents or lessens damage taken depending on the weapon equipped. Pushing enemies can break their block and stagger them, allowing for some much needed moments to just lay into a guy. Nearly any action reduces stamina, making combat a juggling game of blocking, pushing, attacking and retreating. Stamina isn’t the only thing you’ve got to be worried about either. Arthur’s sleep, hunger, thirst and Joy can all come into play during combat as well as other key moments. Healing your wounds with a dirty rag may help in the moment, but the infection that results will cause problems down the line. Combat is especially difficult when facing more than one enemy, heavily encouraging, but not requiring, the use of stealth.
Stealth is a major part of We Happy Few if you want it to be. The developers over at Compulsion Games made sure to make it clear that there is no one way to play. You absolutely don’t have to fight every enemy, nor do you have to sneak at all. I found it easiest to employ a combination of both strategies, especially seeing as most enemies aren’t holding on to enough to make looting everybody worth it. While sneaking you can see the last few footprints of enemies around you, revealing their path and the direction their heading. On top of this, players can hide in barrels or in tall patches of vegetation to escape from combat or sneak up and knock out foes. Players can further optimize the play styles they choose by customizing Arthur’s skill tree, unlocking different types and levels of skills. The combination of systems and the harsh enemies and survival elements make every encounter adrenaline-inducing, requiring ample planning and skilled execution.
Aside from having a narrative direction to follow, We Happy Few’s biggest improvements come from its environmental storytelling. There’s a certain feeling to being immersed in a world that you want to be immersed in. From my hour of gameplay, through both direct and indirect means, I learned a lot of the basic history of We Happy Few’s dystopian British world. Its clear that when the German’s won WWII they left Britain in tatters. There are remnants of German planes and machinery around. Downers, people who became burnt out on Joy and were cast out from an upper-class, drugged-up society, roam the streets. Thugs run rampant, holding underground gauntlets and stealing food.
We Happy Few‘s improved world and systems are finally in a place that seem to match the vision set in the eye-catching trailers. Despite a few minor bugs I encountered during my demo, I’m genuinely excited to play the game through the joyful world of We Happy Few. We Happy Few is currently in Early Access, and fully releases on Xbox One (with HDR and 4K support via Xbox One X), PS4 (with HDR and 4K support on PS4 Pro) and Steam for $60 on August 10th this year.
