We start as Arthur*, an editor of a newspaper, whose daily work includes censoring information so that readers do not see anything that could spoil their mood. In a land where everyone is smiling from ear to ear, that would be unacceptable. But Arthur has moved on and instead of taking another pill, he decides to rebel. Deprived of the drug, he discovers what the world really looks like. Not only does everything that is wonderful turn out to be an illusion. Also people who see someone who hasn't taken their pills for a long time don't react very favourably. We start our adventure with We Happy Few by running away.
Arthur's goal is not only to escape, but also to find his brother. It soon turns out that the world of We Happy Few is an alternative version of reality. It's the 1960s and England was conquered by Germany during World War II. Thus, certain elements of reality mix with fantasy, creating a rather deep and interesting world. It is also interesting how the division of society is shown. After all, not everyone takes pills and is happy. Some people live on the sidelines, in a ruthless, brutal and unhappy world, hidden in their holes without any prospects for something at least a little bit better. Those who take the pills, on the other hand, are also happy only seemingly. This part of the world, We Happy Few, also has its dark sides, scrupulously hidden behind a colorful shell that is only an illusion caused by pills.
Discovering the world is interesting thanks to the fact that for a long time We Happy Few is like a classic story driven. In some places we find ourselves in a small, open space, where we can perform a few additional tasks. For the first few hours the creators lead us by the hand. If you remember last year's E3 game show, you probably heard the opinions of people who played preview version before. They claimed that this climatic, scripted beginning is only a little representative part of the game, which is something completely different. In the end it turns out that the Compulsion Games team significantly modified the original idea, thanks to which We Happy Few went more towards linear production than sandbox or survival. It turned out to be definitely for good.
After a few hours, however, the image changes slightly. After visiting some of the locations, they turn into a real open world, where we can freely travel and perform additional tasks. There are even classic sandbox hiding places that we can unlock. It is connected with the purification of a given place, always in a different way. These locations also allow you to enjoy a fast journey, which after a while turns out to be very helpful. The world of We Happy Few is very interesting, but unfortunately it does not concern the construction of a map. There are many empty spaces in it, where there is not much to do, and the city full of people taking pills is quite monotonous and lacks variety.
Moving around the city has one more disadvantage. Everyone is happy there and that's what they expect from the main character. So it is necessary to take care of the appropriate level of "happiness", which we supplement by taking pills. Then the world becomes more colorful, which visually shows the change of reality in a brilliant way. Unfortunately, a single pill lasts for a very short time, and other residents are allergic to "atypical" behavior. Such is jumping and running, for example. It is also easy to upset other people, for example by entering their homes. For lucky people, they don't need much to move towards another person with the urge to murder. Then it is necessary to escape, at the sight of which suddenly the whole city wants to catch the main character. There is no such thing as a warning or an apology attempt. The slightest misdemeanour is punished in the most severe way. For this reason, moving around the city is too slow and often tiring.
Once a confrontation has taken place and escape is not possible, you can always start using forceful arguments. However, the combat system is not particularly developed. We can use block, strong and weak blow and push. There are few options, so skirmishes are not particularly exciting. However, this is not a big problem. We Happy Few is more about sneaking around and quietly eliminating opponents. To be honest, I've often preferred this way of defeating enemies rather than entering an open conflict. Even finding better and better weapons didn't make stealing less satisfying.
I mentioned the possibility of finding new weapons. Let's stop here, because it's quite an important part of the game. Moving around in different locations, we come across various items that we can take with us. Hamster fans will be delighted. Of course, until the load limit is exceeded. The items found are used for many different purposes. Sometimes it's a weapon, sometimes it's food or medicine. However, most of the space is devoted to items used for crafting. This one is quite extensive and allows us to create many useful items. It may not be a weapon-making system like Dead Island or Dying Light, but it's still a lot of fun to use.
Speaking of crafting, it's worth mentioning that We Happy Few doesn't fully break with the initial idea that the game was supposed to be a survival. We still have to sleep, eat or drink in it. We are unlikely to die of hunger, but the unsatisfied basic needs will negatively affect the capabilities of our hero. Fortunately, the requirements are not too high, so taking care of the sleep or full stomach is not the main activity performed in the game. That would be annoying, especially considering how We Happy Few interweaves sandbox fragments with more linear, scripted missions.
Perhaps the biggest problem with We Happy Few is this mix of many different elements. The initial idea for the world turned out to be so brilliant that the project quickly gained a lot of fans. However, the hype that was being built did not go hand in hand with what the game was actually supposed to be. However, since Compultion Games had the appropriate capabilities, it gradually modified the project. However, there was not enough budget, experience and a larger team. Happy Few should be refined in one more year. In this project there is a potential for the AAA title, which is the beginning of a new, big brand. Unfortunately, although the creators had a lot of brilliant ideas for mechanics, the world or history, there was a lack of adequate resources to achieve the goal. However, I hope that Microsoft, after taking over Compulsion Games studio, will significantly recapitalise it and make We Happy Few one of its flagship IPs. The potential is huge.
Lack of time, resources and excessive ambition can be seen not only in the excess of mechanic, in which some can get lost (especially people with big problems with English). The game unfortunately fails from a technical point of view. The world looks great, but only in terms of design. The quality of textures is definitely disappointing. Investment in a 4K TV and Xbox One X did not bring me any benefits in the case of this production. The game also lacks liquidity. The view of the readable textures also does not improve the opinion about the technical side. Unfortunately, We Happy Few also has problems with errors, which can be noticed far too often. I hope that many of them will be fixed with patches.
Happy Few has its own problems, because of which many reviewers have lowered their ratings. However, I can see a lot of advantages. The creators created a brilliant world and tell an interesting story about it. There is also no shortage of stronger, scripted moments. You can see that a lot of creative ideas were put into the project to create something unconventional. Mechanics, on the other hand, may be overdeveloped, but for me it wasn't a big problem. I had a great time, especially since I haven't had such a game in my hands for a long time. It reminded me of the old days, when there were many more productions on the market allowing to plunge into a world full of various possibilities and mechanic. Of course, there is a little too much of this, so some options (e.g. fighting) are not properly worked out. Nevertheless, it works well as a whole.
The release date of We Happy Few took place at a slightly unfortunate time for me. Because of the trips I didn't have much time, so when I was at home I had to do longer, several-hour sessions with the game to properly test it. Although I am not a fan of such solutions, I did not suffer much in front of the console. On the contrary, I had a great time and after turning off the game I was still thinking about coming back and doing the last quests. In my opinion, this is the best recommendation. Certainly, however, many people were discouraged by We Happy Few by other reviews. Even if I don't manage to convince anyone, I recommend not to forget about the title. At the moment it is very popular, so the creators will not abandon it soon. With the next updates, many problems must be solved. So We Happy Few should be an almost obligatory title in a while.