We Happy Few Reviews
If the pop, British and psychedelic universe, inspired by Brazil, Nineteen Eighty-Four and Brave New World, proposed by Compulsion Games is surprising and offers a very immersive story, the mechanics of survival game and crafting ruin the plot of the game, giving an unpleasant feeling of a mutant game, too dispersed for his own sake and suffering from many technical problems.
Review in French | Read full review
We Happy Few isn't bad per se, but it's a very near miss, as the game comes right up to the brink of collapsing in upon itself from its many missteps. The game offers such an intriguing backdrop for its world, and really grand art, that whenever it's more focused and non-procedural, it's a grand old time. These spikes of enjoyment are however far too infrequent given the scale and running time of the title, often times leaving you floundering amid strong art direction and music without a real desire to actually play what's on offer.
Although We Happy Few makes a strong first impression, it's hampered by half-baked gameplay systems and a lack of crucial quality-of-life features.
Perhaps given another few months, We Happy Few could have been great, but as it is it's simply a missed opportunity.
We Happy Few is unique. It features gorgeous environments, great music, twisted humor, and a magnetic story. It deserves praise for those aesthetics. But the game is what matters, and it is sadly lackluster in that regard, with bad combat, mundane stealth, and endless, frivolous mechanics. By choosing the fastidious "micro-management" path, We Happy Few distracts far too much from its true potential as a dystopian gaming classic. And that's the biggest downer of all.
There's a lot to like about We Happy Few, with its unique psychedelic dystopian setting and well-developed story, but it's the moment-to-moment action that crashes down on you like a bad dose of Joy. So-so survival elements, the lack of mission variety, frame rate issues, prolific bugs, and tedious stealth and combat will make you want to cook up some Joy for yourself, so that maybe you too can forget the bad stuff and remember only the bright side of things.
We Happy Few is a brilliant concept in a world I’m dying to explore. However, the game’s mechanics and performance problems work against that which Compulsion Games have spent so much time crafting. The run-of-the-mill survival mechanics bog down the flow of the campaign and make uncovering the narrative’s answers feel like a chore. Still, underneath it all, it is hard not to find something lovable. Given time, tweaks, and patches, We Happy Few could rise above and become the game it was always meant to be, one that would not require a Joy pill to cover its blemishes.
I genuinely appreciated what We Happy Few was trying to accomplish. Its unique perspective to storytelling and compelling setting kept frustrations at bay for far longer than they had any right to. I even think that the game has the potential to course-correct though their future DLC. However, this doesn't change the fact that the game has serious issues that make this full retail release feel more like a second round of Early Access. I cannot in good conscience encourage anyone to purchase the game in its current state. It would be best to revisit the game in a few months to see if things have improved. Now if you will excuse me, I have to pop a pill and pray to God that my entire memory of this game will just go away.
We Happy Few is an ambitious title with an interesting premise but it fails to deliver on the things that make a video game fun to play.
We Happy Few contains moments of enjoyment and artistic brilliance, but they are short lived, and - like a Joy withdrawal - the eventual comedown of the clunky, burdensome reality of the gameplay seeps in. A classic case of style over substance.
Compulsion Games has been a victim of its own ambition. Behind a look capable of conquering the most painted, there are problems that are difficult to solve. Developments that change course often fail to come to fruition, and We Happy Few fails to convey to us what it intends to be. Poorly executed identity and mechanical problems, hidden by a disturbing smile. Sometimes, the good things are not always inside and, as it can happen with some people, the most satisfactory thing we have found does not lie beyond a beautiful wrapping.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
As the hours wore on, my love affair with We Happy Few began to chip away as more and more bugs and gameplay shortcomings popped up. The real saving graces for the game lie in its concept, story, and setting.
With some re-arranging of the locations we visit and the characters we encounter, the mechanics of play, and the level design, this game could have fantastic atmosphere and would have compelled me to take a deep nosedive into the ripe thematic core it presents. So my message to you is this: if the idea of ‘We Happy Few’ interested you, I’d recommend you give it a try. It’s not perfect, by any length, but it’s something I think we should all at least look at, as there are many design lessons to be learned. A great concept does not make a great game, but if you’re willing to put up with some slightly annoying level design and play with mechanics you’ve seen before, that price of entry may well be worth it if you’re wanting to experience the story it has to tell.
We Happy Few hides nuggets of narrative gold at the end of tiring sequences of gameplay.
We Happy Few tries to combine a dystopian story with a survival gameplay, but these aspects don't quite work together and sometimes even step on each other's toes. Also the execution of the game as a whole, leaves a lot to be desired.
Review in Persian | Read full review
We Happy Few is a warning to any developer about the vision and ambition of a game overtaking the ability of the team to deliver all aspects of it.
Despite carrying an interesting premise, especially for its story, We Happy Few falters due to the lack of overall polish. It suffers from terrible performance and clunky combat controls while the focus on putting as many survival mechanics in a single-player story ends up making it look like a product that lost its identity.
If you can see past the casually designed mechanics and truly immerse yourself in the environment and narrative aspects of We Happy Few, there's plenty to see here. Unfortunately for those probing a more wholesome experience, We Happy Few falls short.
If you're prepared to stomach the game's less appetising sections, you'll still get a little Joy out of We Happy Few.
We Happy Few features one of this year's most interesting settings but fails to fill it with quality gameplay most of the time.