We Happy Few is the tale of a plucky bunch of moderately terrible people trying to escape from a lifetime of cheerful denial. Set in a drug-fuelled, retrofuturistic city in an alternative 1960s England, you’ll have to blend in with its other inhabitants, who have their own set of not-so-normal rules.
While far from perfect, the package delivered is one you’ll love opening and exploring. You can play for hours on end and still have an addiction to open every drawer or checking every waste basket for precious supplies. While there are design choices that don’t make much sense, you can look past them and enjoy it for what it is: a playground for madness. We Happy Few will be a joy to most who decide to take the pill. Anyone who doesn’t like it is a real downer. Lovely day for it!
I enjoyed my time with We Happy Few mainly because it both respected my time as a gamer, and also immersed me in an fascinating world that was driven by an equally fascinating backstory. The game’s potential may get a little tripped up on the technical front, but if you can look past the occasional unloaded texture or random loading screen, you’ll find that Compulsion Games’ latest was well worth the three-year wait.
We Happy Few is one of those types of games that are rarely seen in a generation. A title that presents a really interesting and creative proposal, full of symbolism and reflection. But further on, we see how its long development and its difficult period of early access may have conditioned a playable section with attractive ideas of survival that are lost in a non-motivating approach.
Ambitious action-adventure with a strong story and a beautiful visual direction. The superficial mechanics are average at best, though.
If We Happy Few had all of these problems while in Xbox Game Preview and a pre-release state, you'd be more likely to excuse it, but it's rare to encounter so many issues in a full game release. While none were game breaking, they spoil what can be a decent game, with a unique world, interesting characters, and a convincingly damning depiction of the perils of taking hallucinogenic drugs. It's a world to which you want to return, but it's also a world that throws up a new problem with every visit. With several patches, this game could be a fun experience, but right now it can often be an exercise in frustration.
There's a general technical ropiness. [Nov 2018, p.80]
A joyless and confused mix of BioShock, Fallout, and Rust that wastes its intriguing setting on repetitive action and tedious survival mechanics.
January 17, 2019
Xbox Game Pass: We Happy Few, Shadow of Mordor, Saints Row: The Third and The Lego Movie Videogame will be added to the catalogue this month. Read more
