We Happy Few

We Happy Few
We Happy Few is an action-adventure, survival horror video game developed by Compulsion Games, and published by Gearbox Publishing. In 2016, an early access version was released for Microsoft Windows, with the full game seeing wide release on PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One in August 2018.

Played from a first-person perspective, the game combines role-playing, survival, and light roguelike elements. Taking place within the mid-1960s, following an alternative version of World War II, players take control over one of three characters, each of whom seek to complete a personal task while escaping the fictional city of Wellington Wells – a crumbling dystopia on the verge of societal collapse, due to the overuse of a hallucinogenic drug that keeps its inhabitants blissfully unaware about the truth of their world, while leaving them easily manipulated and lacking morals.

The developers focused on creating a story with strong narratives, while underlining gameplay with a sense of paranoia, and designing in-game decisions that are of moral gray areas and weight, which influence and affect later parts of the game. Design of the game's setting was based on various elements of 1960s British culture, with the devloper, Compulsion Games, seeking inspiration on dystopian societies from various influences in the media, such as Brazil, Nineteen Eighty-Four, Animal Farm, Fahrenheit 451, Brave New World, and heavily on the trilogy MaddAddam. Work on the game began with a Kickstarter funding campaign in 2015, before the developers were acquired by Microsoft Studios in 2018, supporting the developers to work on a version for the Xbox One.

It received mixed reception upon release, with praise mostly focusing on its themes, story and characters, while being criticized for its gameplay mechanics, perceived repetitiveness, and various technical issues.

Story
The game features three different playable characters, each with their own story arcs that intersect throughout the game:

Arthur's Story: Arthur Hastings works as a censor approving or redacting old news articles from Wellington Wells' Department of Archives, Printing, and Recycling. While working, he comes across a news clipping of him and his older brother Percy after World War II. At this point Arthur can either take his Joy (which ends the game) or refuse it, wanting to remember Percy. If the latter choice is taken, Arthur is called out as a "Downer" by his boss, Victoria Byng, and he is chased out of his office by his coworkers. After running from the police for an undefined period of time he ends up in the Garden District, now populated by "Wastrels", resolving to escape Wellington Wells and find Percy. With the assistance of various characters, including Sally and Ollie, Arthur works his way through the districts uncovering certain truths along the way. It is eventually revealed that the "Very Bad Thing" was when the population of Wellington Wells turned over all children under the age of 13 years to the Germans in exchange for their freedom. Arthur discovers that the German tanks used to threaten the town into compliance were made of papier-mâché and that while the populace could have resisted, they didn't out of fear. He also learns that Wellington Wells is slowly falling apart; the city's infrastructure is failing, an unspecified outbreak has occurred, and Joy is becoming less effective, with scientist Anton Verloc researching a new version of Joy to permanently lobotomize the populace and keep them in a never-ending state of euphoria. Eventually, Arthur reaches a railway bridge leading out of Wellington Wells and finally recalls that he swapped his identity card (which stated his age as 12) with Percy's (who had just turned 13) before the children of Wellington Wells boarded the fateful train to Germany, effectively sacrificing his brother to save himself.

In the epilogue, after Sally and Ollie's chapters have been completed, the player can choose one of two endings: either Arthur departs Wellington Wells for the mainland and continues his search for Percy, or takes his Joy and rejoin the populace in their ignorance.

Sally's Story: The creator of a new brand of Joy, Sally Boyle works as an experimental chemist in her own laboratory after being kicked out of Haworth Labs by its director, Anton Verloc. Sally is threatened by the police into supplying them with her Joy and is forced to scrounge the city for new ingredients to create a fresh batch. She is secretly also a mother to the first baby ever born in Wellington Wells in fifteen years: Gwen, who was fathered by Verloc. When Gwen becomes sick with measles, Sally asks Arthur—the protagonist of the first act and her childhood friend—to find a bottle of cod liver oil. Arthur (not knowing it is for Gwen) agrees in return for a Letter of Transit from General Robert Byng, Sally's biggest patron and on-and-off lover. Sally eventually remembers how her mother poisoned her family when she and her siblings were to be taken to Germany, leaving Sally as the sole survivor. Arthur delivers the oil and considers having Sally join his escape, but when she tells him about Gwen, he changes his mind and leaves. Determined to flee Wellington Wells with Gwen, Sally plans to steal General Byng's personal motor boat hidden near his military base. She convinces Dr. Faraday to create a new engine for the boat but fails to steal the key, getting knocked out by a sleeping dart trap. She awakens to find herself with General Byng in his safehouse; Byng intends to keep Sally imprisoned there until the problems in Wellington Wells are resolved while sending Gwen away to the mainland. Sally refuses, fights Byng, takes the key to the boat, and locks him inside the safehouse. At night, Sally sneaks Gwen to the boat and rides it out of Wellington Wells.

Ollie's Story: Ollie Starkey is a former soldier from the British Army, who lives as a recluse at his fortified hideout in the Garden District. His only company is a talking hallucination of his daughter, Margaret, who was killed years ago during the "Very Bad Thing". After helping Arthur along with his journey and having his hideout destroyed by Wastrels, he finds his former commander, General Byng, and informs him of the papier-mâché tanks Arthur had discovered. Byng reveals that he knew about the tanks all along, but remained quiet to avoid a rebellion, which he doubts would have been successful. He also reveals that Ollie knew about the tanks as well, having served as Byng's orderly at the time. Unable to remember, Ollie leaves to confront Byng's daughter, Victoria. Ollie captures her and withholds her Joy, forcing her to remember that she had helped the Germans during the "Very Bad Thing". Both aware of the city's true history, Ollie also informs her that the city's food has run out, and implores her to help him reveal these truths to save the people. Victoria agrees, but when Ollie releases her, she attacks him and escapes. Ollie finally decides to confront Uncle Jack, Wellington Wells' friendly and celebrated propagandist; he infiltrates his broadcasting studio above City Hall but finds Jack missing. He plays a tape of his final but unreleased broadcast, which shows him going insane as he realizes the city's dire situation and remembers his daughter, Margaret. Ollie finally realizes that his Margaret was actually Jack's daughter; Jack had tried to hide her from the Germans, but Ollie (who was their neighbor, and hated Jack for being a collaborator) informed on them and she was shot trying to flee. Overwhelmed with guilt, he eventually had Sally Boyle make him a potion a year ago to scramble his memories. Ollie broadcasts the unreleased tape to the city, awakening the population. He then bids farewell to Margaret, and builds a hot air balloon that he rides out of Wellington Wells.