We Happy Few preview – Happiness is a choice!

We Happy Few has the potential to keep me enthralled for far longer than I feel comfortable admitting. I’ve already found myself lost in this bleak, Orwellian setting for hours at a time. It’s the newest game from Compulsion Games (the makers of Contrast) which features the creepiest cast of happy-looking characters that I’ve ever seen. It’s an amazing merging of open-world RPG, survival, and stealth mechanics that has its hooks in me and is refusing to let go. Even in its current, unfinished alpha state I find myself wanting to spend more time exploring its procedurally generated world. It’s questing, scavenging, crafting, and resource management all while trying to blend in with the locals to avoid being pummeled into submission. Could it get any better than that?

Welcome to Wellington Wells.

In an alternate history, Germany successfully occupies England during World War II. People were forced to do some rather unpleasant things that they’d much rather never think about again during that occupation. So, like all rational people, they turn to drugs to make themselves feel better. Fast forward to a retrofuturistic 1960s England where all of proper society is downing a constant stream of a drug called Joy to keep themselves blissful and forgetful. You, however, play an improper sort that has decided to stop taking their Joy in order to remember. You’re a downer. The citizens of Wellington Wells don’t take kindly to downers. You’ll need to escape before you’re turned into a bloody pulp by smiling people with big sticks.

Sleep is the poor man’s dinner.

We Happy Few is first and foremost about survival. I’d picked up on the whole stealth aspect of trying to avoid drawing suspicion from watching the trailers for it. However, I didn’t realize before I started playing that scavenging for food and water was going to be quite so important. Health, hunger, thirst, and weariness are all things that need to be monitored and cared for while exploring the game. It’s not an overly intrusive mechanic, but it’s always there to nag at me if I start spending too much time simply wandering. While thirst is easy enough to remedy early on in the game thanks to water pumps being spread around the map, hunger is a little trickier. Since our hero has been exiled to a place full of other downers, there’s not a lot in the way of fresh food to choose from. Rotten food is plentiful, but will do exactly the sorts of things one might expect. And then there’s the whole issue of sleep since people get a tad miffed if they find you sleeping in a bed they consider to be theirs.

This might be useful later.

Crafting is an integral part of We Happy Few. I make weapons, healing items, tools, and outfits regularly as I try to survive and complete quests. Recipes can either be found laying around or discovered as the proper ingredients are acquired. Arthur is quite the clever chap it would seem. For example, if I pick up a branch, I can club people if they get disagreeable. If I’m carrying that same branch and pick up a rock, I can use those item to craft a pointy stick. Now I can poke people in the eye and dissuade them far more effectively. There are, of course, many more recipes to be discovered and part of the fun is finding new ways to combine mundane items and using them to screw with the Joy-addled masses.

The only downside to all of this crafting is that it triggers my hoarding response. (I’m sure I’ll need that rotten apple later!) Unfortunately, We Happy Few has limited inventory space to work with. My latest play through has been a little stingy with the inventory expanding items. There’s precious little space for carrying items and the safe shared between hideouts cannot be expanded at all. If you’ve got a better memory than I do, you could always stash items in other containers around the map. I tried that, but I kept forgetting which house my loot was stashed in. The other problem being that I actually need to be holding all ingredients to discover new recipes. On top of that, some recipes MUST be acquired from quests or finding them.

Playing your role.

We Happy Few is a role playing game in ways other than the normal sense of xp and levels. Wellington Wells is broken down into a number of islands that each host their own district and people. After the prologue, the game begins in earnest in The Garden District where players start off dressed in a torn suit that is appropriate for this area reserved for exiled downers. There is a recipe to make a proper suit, but wearing that in the opening area will arouse suspicion and even provoke violence from your fellow downers. However, it is vitally important to have the proper suit to walk around unnoticed in St. Georges Holm where people roam the streets high on Joy. In addition, not greeting people with a jaunty “lovely day for it” will start to draw attention. Be friendly or you might find yourself being killed by some very happy looking people. Also, avoid things like running around after curfew or walking through areas with joy detectors while not properly happy. Remember to dress for success and then choke the smug bastards into unconsciousness when their backs are turned.

If you’re the sort that’s unafraid to play We Happy Few as it was intended, you may find yourself being snuffed out a few times and having to start over. I know that it happened to me a few (dozen) times. The world is procedurally generated and nothing carries over from one game to the next. Every time I met with the blunt end of a bobby’s baton, it was time for a whole new world. There are only a few quests that will happen in every play through as most will exist depending entirely on the roll of the dice. Even the topography is generated for each game, so houses, items, and street layout will vary from game to game. Doubtlessly, this will excite hardcore players that thirst for that ultimate challenge. I’ll watch the streams, but I’m keeping permadeath turned off for now. At least until I actually finish a single play through.

I’m afraid we’ve come to the end of our time.

To wrap up, We Happy Few in its current state is lacking the story that will eventually drive the game forward. What it does have is a set of compelling mechanics that drive home the core of what the gameplay will be all about. As it weaves survival, crafting, stealth, and exploration, I find myself being more and more excited for the promise of what’s to come. What are the horrible things that were done 20 years ago that nobody wants to remember? Why are there no children? Who the blazes is this Uncle Jack that’s constantly on the telly? I’m excited to find out more from time to time when the new patches roll out.

We Happy Few is currently available on Steam Early Access, Xbox One Game Preview, and GOG’s Games in Development program.

Preview based on Steam Early Access Gameplay Alpha v29020.