We Happy Few is a beautiful game filled with personality, risk, reward, curiosity, fear, and strategy. Even all of those words do not do We Happy Few any justice. We Happy Few is a game that everyone must play!
I wasn’t sure what to expect when I sat down to play We Happy Few, but within a few minutes, my entire world was turned upside down. Somehow Compulsion Games has perfectly captured happy, yet brutally sad characters in a procedurally generated world that oozes with color, style, and pure beauty.
Backing up a little bit, We Happy Few is based in Wellington Wells where everyone does exactly what they are meant to do – be happy. How your character interacts with the citizens of Wellington Wells, and behaves within the world, influences how others perceive you. In We Happy Few’s current build, other characters can quickly become uncomfortable with your actions and start to threaten, chase, or attack you. Your character can fight back, run for the hills, or find the nearest phone booth that dispenses Joy.
Joy is a drug that makes your character exponentially happier than they should be, and is the key to We Happy Few. Without Joy everyone in Wellington Wells would be severely depressed. Although with Joy, everyone is insanely happy, but they can turn into manic lunatics if anyone else isn’t as happy as them. In other words, don’t threaten their happiness or you will meet their wrath.
When your character isn’t under attack, We Happy Few allows you to explore Wellington Wells. Exploration can occur by entering homes, finding food or other items, and crafting weapons. Everything accomplished during the exploration phase will severely dictate how successful your character will be as the game progresses.
While Compulsion Games has created a fantastic, really early build of We Happy Few, Compulsion is still very interested in fan feedback. Multiple members from Compulsion Games were on hand at their PAX East booth, including Guillaume (Creative Director), Whitney (Art Director), and Sam (COO). Each were asking players what they liked, didn’t like, and had lists of notes, so all feedback was taken to heart. With We Happy Few’s current solid base, and fan feedback, We Happy Few might easily snag Game Of The Year!
We Happy Few Gameplay – PAX East 2015
We Happy Few (More Media)
