We Happy Few

We Happy Few underwent an interesting development. It started off as a survival game, backed on Kickstarter. While the general setting has remained unchanged, the game has evolved significantly over the years. It landed a publishing deal with Gearbox, and in the final stages of development, Compulsion Games got acquired by Microsoft.

The final shipping game certainly does have some of the survival and sandbox modes initially revealed, but the focus has shifted instead to a narrative-driven single-player campaign. Unfortunately, the legacy of this uneven development is felt in the final shipping campaign.

The setting and art direction of We Happy Few is tremendous. In a world where everyone's high and being sobre is illegal is a wicked concept, but where We Happy Few excels is in its wonderful art direction. There's liberal inspiration taken from A Clockwork Orange, though We Happy Few's designers and artists do add their own whimsy and charm. There's some inspiration from games like BioShock too, though overall, It's a striking art style which feels fresh and unique.

The single-player campaign revolves around 3 different playable characters, each protagonist being wildly different, and offering entirely new perspectives to one overarching narrative. Adding to the excellent worldbuilding, We Happy Few's writing is also top notch, with plenty of memorable moments throughout.

Originally imagined as a procedurally generated world - which makes a lot of sense for replayable survival modes - it has carried over to the main campaign. Unfortunately, while some of the key areas are superbly realized, some of the procedurally generated elements of the world are eerily lifeless. It's a distractingly inconsistent experience, especially when so much of the worldbuilding is so immersive.

This carries over to the gameplay too. While the writers have done a great job in building compelling narratives, the gameplay mechanics and quest design often feel shoehorned into a game that wasn't really meant for it. As a result, many of the quests end up being formulaic, and often feel like a way to move the narrative forward than offer meaningful gameplay. The general concepts and ideas behind the various gameplay mechanics are well thought out, but they just couldn't execute and integrate it seamlessly.

We Happy Few has great potential as a franchise. Now with Microsoft's backing, I'm eagerly looking forward the sequel, which might just bring this thoroughly creative vision to life. We Happy Few, though, just did not have the resources to pull off its lofty ambitions. If you like dystopian worlds and compelling narratives, I'd still recommend giving it a try. Just be prepared for not-so-great gameplay and quest design.