We happy few game review how to#
We happy few game review series#

Like the main missions, these also take the form of fetch quests or collecting items, but without the buildings that make most of the main missions unique, these can become repetitive. These issues might make players want to rush through each area quickly, but to do so would mean players avoid the numerous side missions the game offers, as well as many opportunities to scavenge for supplies, and it's up to the player to find these opportunities as they explore the world. Fast travelling still doesn't mean players avoid some of the game's technical issues, though, as area status effects such as toxic clouds can continue to affect players even when they've left the area. Then there are the not-too-uncommon mid-area loading screens, the most annoying being the ones that cut the characters off in mid-sentence. As you walk through the streets (running is forbidden), the frame rate can drop to the point of stuttering and this happens more often in areas with a larger amount of background activity. Some textures fail to load in completely. As well as acting as a safe house once activated, players can fast travel between them, removing the need for backtracking across areas between missions and avoiding most of the technical issues, such as frequent pop up, especially with buildings although also with some of the street furniture such as waste bins and trees. Some of the few distinct buildings are the shelters. After a while, you can't shake the feeling that you've seen everything already. All of the Garden District areas are very similar in appearance, as are the suburbs, with only a handful of distinct buildings to tell each area apart. On the contrary, those off their Joy are confined to the largely abandoned and derelict Garden District areas where the residents live in squalor, vegetation is taking over, and colour was seemingly prevented from entering the area. Psychedelic colours abound in the 60s-themed suburbs where there are some empty buildings, but most are occupied by those still on their Joy. This is more than can be said for the rest of the play area, which is procedurally generated with each playthrough and, bizarrely, with each separate character, meaning that players have to learn the lay of the land three times in each playthrough.ДЄside from the old London-esque administrative Park District, each of the sizeable Holm areas has one of two themes. While there's not much variation in the end goal, each takes place in a uniquely designed building that presents its own challenges and stops these missions from overstaying their welcome.

We happy few game review series#

Each character's journey takes them through a series of missions that often means trying to locate an object of interest or find someone to help you leave the area. As the game often asks, 'wouldn't it be easier to just take your joy and forget everything?'ДЇor some people, that might be a tempting offer because the rest of the game doesn't quite work so well. Either way, if you're off your Joy or it isn't having the desired effect, all of those who are still taking Joy will happily resort to murder if it means they can stop you from taking away their false idyll.

We happy few game review how to#

Drugs affect people differently too - some become immune to its effects, some descend into madness, and others forget how to function properly none of the effects are positive. Despite your best efforts, the immediate symptoms of withdrawal are noticeable to everyone around you.

Joy may well provide a temporary feeling of happiness where everything takes on a multicoloured hue, you see clouds of butterflies, and you forget how miserable life can be, but the immediate come down makes you feel rotten. One of the things the game does well is to create a damning depiction of the perils of taking hallucinogenic drugs. They're three very different characters, each of whom have stopped taking their Joy for different personal reasons, but this makes them outcasts in a society whose attitude towards them can change in a second. His story is followed by those of Sally and Ollie. We begin the story with Arthur, who's leaving the area in search of his autistic brother Percy, one of those taken away.

It's 1964 and the city is still struggling to recover, its residents choosing to blank out all memories of the past and escape from the shame of their actions by taking a drug called Joy. To protect themselves from further repercussions, the city isolated itself from the rest of the country. When the Germans won the war, they requested all children under the age of 13 be removed from the area, and the villagers complied. Wellington Wells is a city with a shady past.