We Happy Few is an interesting game to say the least. Don’t let the trailers fool you though, the game isn’t really an action title. It relies on survival elements to enhance gameplay and collectible documents to piece together the story for the most part. You always start off in the same manner. You’re working at an office which redacts depressing stories from the newspaper. You’re then invited to a party by your coworkers which features a piñata. If you take your medicine—called joy—the world appears in a jovial and altered state. The piñata looks like a piñata instead of what it actually is, a disgusting disease-ridden rat. If you forgo taking the pill you can continue playing the game and venture out into the streets. The real story starts there. Very Matrix-like, no?
You have to monitor elements like thirst, hungry and more. Scavenging the environment and continuing to push forward into new areas are the two main objectives behind the experience. The hardest aspect of the game has to be the need to acquire foodstuff and potable water. The combat can be challenging if you take on harder foes but normal townsfolk are pushovers especially if you have a weapon. Many of them will recognize you as a downer—I imagine it’s because you have a certain expression on your face—and will try to notify others. It’s as much of a stealth game as it is a survival game.
As you continue through the game, you’ll have to craft a lot of different items to progress further in the world. For example, even in the beginning, you’ll be required to find the necessary materials to make lock picks to open certain cabinets. Later on it becomes necessary to make other more complex objects to repair levers and much more. Even though the game is only half-complete at this stage, it’s still quite a vast experience which will keep you occupied for hours. The more you explore, the more rewarding it’ll be.
For an early access title, We Happy Few is surprisingly polished unlike other games which come to mind. For example, Ark: Survival Evolved is a travesty on Xbox One and Subnautica is even worse. I mean, these are the types of games where you want to throw you controller into the screen and rip your hair out. The performance is just terrible and the graphics are even worse. We Happy Few, while it still suffers from long loading times, still manages to run at a smooth sixty for the most part. The game is playable and enjoyable. If you’re a fan of less-intense survival games that are story-driven experiences, give this one a go. It’s definitely worth it even in its current unfinished state.
Asher is a games journalist, former News Writer (Gaming) at Windows Central. They contributed 1110 articles to ICXM between 2015–2017, focused on opinion pieces, game reviews, Windows and PC, and Xbox news: wrote over 1,100 ICXM pieces on Xbox news, hardware reviews, and platform commentary before joining Future plc’s Windows Central in 2017.