We Happy Few

 Xbox One
User Score
5.8

Mixed or average reviews- based on 108 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 45 out of 108
  2. Mixed: 28 out of 108
  3. Negative: 35 out of 108
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  1. Xbox_Alive
    Aug 19, 2018
    6
    I absolutely loved the presentation side of the game because both the visuals and sound design have a lot of charm and in some ways a bit of uniqueness as well. Each individual character story has been done to perfection and reaching the conclusion of each story was a very interesting and satisfying experience The combat doesn’t have a huge amount of depth to it what’s here is actuallyI absolutely loved the presentation side of the game because both the visuals and sound design have a lot of charm and in some ways a bit of uniqueness as well. Each individual character story has been done to perfection and reaching the conclusion of each story was a very interesting and satisfying experience The combat doesn’t have a huge amount of depth to it what’s here is actually pretty good and being in combat can definitely be fun at times. Unfortunately the game suffers with an array of technichal issues and these issues do harm the enjoyment levels quite considerably.
    Whilst there is quite a lot you can craft none of the items you craft actually feel important.
    Some of the mechanics that are in the game feel out of place and ultimately they don’t combine together very well. The quests fail to pack a punch and the lack of variety in them means that they do end up becoming tedious quite quickly. Sometimes the world in which the game takes place in doesn’t feel alive and this can take the excitement out of things. Does We Happy Few do enough to get a recommendation from me? All in all it seems like a lifetime ago when We Happy Few entered the Xbox preview program and at first it was a game I had a lot of excitement for, but unfortunately that excitement didn’t last long. The idea of the preview program is to see the game improve over the months but I haven’t seen many improvements since it first came out and I must admit that I was little surprised to see it getting a full release when the game quite obviously suffers with a lot of shortcomings. Thankfully it’s not all bad and it does get some things right but at the end of the day it just gets too much wrong and when you combine that with the technichal issues it means I can’t recommend We Happy Few to you. It' once of of those maybe games, maybe rent it 1st?    … Expand
  2. BrettSiebenhaar
    Aug 13, 2018
    5
    The game means well. Nothing has really changed since the early access version. The game is still buggy, and it gets boring very quick. The makers of the game had a great idea, they just didn't execute it very well. The graphics are cute, and that's all I can really say about this game. I have played it since the early access days and I am just done with it, meh.
  3. Joellemm
    Mar 9, 2019
    3
    An interesting premise with a stylish art direction can only take a game so far. Its a charming world, but has little in the form of personality. The writing is not especially creative or amusing, failing to compliment the world, and failing to produce memorable characters or stories. This world, as visually impressive as it is, is also way larger in size than necessary. This results inAn interesting premise with a stylish art direction can only take a game so far. Its a charming world, but has little in the form of personality. The writing is not especially creative or amusing, failing to compliment the world, and failing to produce memorable characters or stories. This world, as visually impressive as it is, is also way larger in size than necessary. This results in lots of emptiness and tediously long distances to travel. The gameplay is a mix of survival mechanics, puzzles, stealth and melee combat. The number of survival mechanics are extensive, and quickly become a burden to manage. The stealth and combat are both functional but simplistic. The puzzles were the most satisfying aspect of gameplay, utilising the unique world to create fun scenarios to work through, however, these enjoyable moments were few and far between. Sadly, its a game that is too big and has too many ideas, meaning that what does work, is hard to find. This is a shame because I really wanted to enjoy this game more.… Expand
  4. HauMauKhau
    Mar 13, 2021
    0
    WASTE OF TIME. Normal mode does not feel like normal mode, combat is UNBALANCED AND BIASED, there is no prompt that selecting arcade mode deletes save files and like any other stealth games, ROOKIE NOOB DEVELOPERS used stealth as a weapon so players overlook the game's TINY LITTLE STORYLINE .
  5. BigEvilSquirrel
    Aug 11, 2018
    6
    3 out of 5.
    We Happy Few feels like it is full of potential that it just never lives up to. The survival aspects of the game (eating, drinking, sleeping) feel like they could have been done away with. The crafting system is well implemented was was a JOY to use. Combat is ok, nothing special. Overall there just feels like a lack of polish. The story feels good so far, and will probably be    3 out of 5.
    We Happy Few feels like it is full of potential that it just never lives up to. The survival aspects of the game (eating, drinking, sleeping) feel like they could have been done away with. The crafting system is well implemented was was a JOY to use. Combat is ok, nothing special. Overall there just feels like a lack of polish. The story feels good so far, and will probably be the driving force to completing this game. It just feels like a couple of design choices and a lack of polish are holding We Happy Few back from true greatness.    … Expand
  6. GBG_Jason
    Aug 28, 2018
    3
    The story follows an alternate version of Europe where America did not intervene during the Second World War and much of the country is in shambles. To combat depression, the powers that be fed the masses a drug called Joy. Joy makes you happy whether you are or not, and in a unique way, changes how you view the game world and takes away any negative thoughts that plague you, essentiallyThe story follows an alternate version of Europe where America did not intervene during the Second World War and much of the country is in shambles. To combat depression, the powers that be fed the masses a drug called Joy. Joy makes you happy whether you are or not, and in a unique way, changes how you view the game world and takes away any negative thoughts that plague you, essentially erasing them from your memory. If you decide to take the drug at some point, the world will appear clean and orderly. Off of the drug, you see the truth - everything is in disarray and the population has completely lost their minds and treats others that they discover not on the drug as criminals, calling them "downers." If you're discovered as one of the dreaded unhappy people, you'll be bludgeoned into submission and left to die. The story follows three protagonists in an intertwined tale of loss and how each of the characters is trying to piece together their own mysteries. The story is well crafted and drives the player to want to explore the world, but sadly, everything else sucks the joy out of the experience.

    The game blends scripted events with randomized sandbox/survival mechanics. The scripted areas, such as the opening that was included in the original demo, are great; it's everything in between that is awful. The majority of the open world gameplay will involve trying to locate specific items within a randomized game world, which wouldn't be that bad if the world didn't have a habit of changing mid game, also resulting in one of the longest loading screens I've ever encountered. On more than one occasion, I thought the game locked up during this only to have a sliver of the bar fill up a second before rebooting the software. This will occasionally work in your favor, moving one of the items closer to your current position, but often results in meandering around one of the most frustrating open worlds in recent history.

    On top of the survival mechanics, you'll have to manage your inventory in a careful manner, as crafting is a huge part of the game and many districts within will attack you simply for wearing the wrong clothes. In other situations they'll attack you because, well... I honestly have no idea, but when they do, the enemies come in huge swarms and are relentless in their pursuit. Sure, you can fight back (good luck if you're dealing with more than a couple of them) or hide in various containers, but all of the dastardly Joy users seem to have acquired X-ray vision as a side effect of the drug. You can try to sneak around the enemies, but the randomized areas make trying to experiment or find alternate paths fruitless, as failure results in a new area being loaded. Once frustration set in, I simply found myself running from point A to point B, hoping for the best with a trail of enemies following me.

    If you've played the demo or Early access version, very little has changed in terms of presentation. The abstract character and level design works well and succeeds at making We Happy Few feel like a spiritual successor to Bioshock or Dishonore;, however, the comparisons end there, with the game feeling like an utter failure on every other front. The fetch quests are boring, the crafting is never-ending, and the overall mechanics fail to impress, with combat being the weakest link. As I mentioned previously, our protagonists are barely able to defend themselves against the hordes of enemies, even when armed and going up against enemies who are using their bare fists - this is due to your attacks feeling as if they lack any power and are often heavily delayed. With this being said, the game would've been better off taking the route Outlast and countless other titles have done, which is simply removing combat entirely and requiring you to hide.

    While the scripted elements and story are worth taking note of, We Happy Few is anything but a joyous romp through an alternate reality that could have rivaled the games it clearly drew inspirations from. The game still feels unfinished, despite the Early Access phase having ended, leaving an empty, joyless shell in the place of a title that many, including myself, were looking forward to as "the next Bioshock." Even at a deep discount, I would strongly recommend leaving this game in the gutter with all of the other downers on the market.    … Expand
  7. Exanthius
    Aug 14, 2018
    1
    I was hyped by the trailers showing off all the gameplay mechanics, but they did not show that the game gets repetitive very quickly. This is a typical 20 € game with a great atmosphere, but it is 70 € on the German Xbox Store This is 50 € too much and, to be honest, very shameless. All these years of waiting and delays for such a thin and overpriced game. What a shame.
  8. GamerJosh0137
    Aug 16, 2018
    6
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. The real meat and potatoes here is the story. I was legitimately engrossed in what the protagonists wen't through and will go through. By now I'm sure you get the basics. You play as Arthur, Sally or Ollie in a dystopian setting. In order to conform to society you are forced to take a drug called joy which masks the post world war 2 scars in a town called Wellington Wells, making all who take joy unaware or ignorant of their war torn world. The only thing I can say I enjoyed besides the story is the crafting mechanic. The loop of finding the right materials to craft a new weapon or piece of clothing can be quite satisfying. Unfortunately actually using the weapon in combat can be super tedious and repetitive. Stealth is really important in this game and even that can be cheesed real easy. If you are caught you can simply run to the nearest hiding spot (and there are many) and hide until everything dies down, which makes you wonder why stealth is even a thing in this game. If you are expecting to play a new version of Bioshock, you will be disappointed. If I were to recommend picking this game up I would HIGHLY suggest waiting for the price to drop a bit. At least to 30 bucks.… Expand
  9. RemyMEX2001
    Oct 29, 2018
    8
    We Happy Few a game that I highly recommend to those who like mystery and horror, with an interesting story inspired by another well-known 2K games franchise, you may come across some bugs but they are not of affection, I also admit that the mechanics of Combat is slow but at the end of the whole game it is enjoyable.
  10. RemyMEX2000
    Aug 10, 2018
    8
    We Happy Few a game that I highly recommend to those who like mystery and horror, with an interesting story inspired by another well-known 2K games franchise, you may come across some bugs but they are not of affection, I also admit that the mechanics of Combat is slow but at the end of the whole game it is enjoyable.
  11. Wolfenstein51
    Jan 29, 2019
    9
    Probably one of the most underrated games of all time. It may have had bugs when it first came out, but as of Jan 2019, this is a great game that runs smoothly and plays well. The world does remind me of Bioshock, which is a good thing and the game is just really well paced. It's free on Xbox game pass so try it out and decide for yourself.
  12. SuperkenGaming
    Aug 12, 2018
    8
    We Happy Few
    Lovely Day for it
    When we happy few was first shown off, it was basically being sold as a survival based game set in a creepy procedurally generated word. But since then this game has drastically changed The world is still procedurally generated, but the game is completely with a fully fleshed out 23 hour long campaign and plenty of side quests to extend this time..    We Happy Few
    Lovely Day for it
    When we happy few was first shown off, it was basically being sold as a survival based game set in a creepy procedurally generated word. But since then this game has drastically changed
    The world is still procedurally generated, but the game is completely with a fully fleshed out 23 hour long campaign and plenty of side quests to extend this time..
    Throughotu this campaign youll be playing as 3 characters all seeking to escape in an alternate reality post world war 2 world during the mid 1960s, first is Arthur, hesa very balanced character.. his 12 hour or so long campaign is probably the most enjoyable, but youre in a eutopian world where you go off your joy.. a drug that takes away all emotion other than happiness, when you go off you begin to remember.. your past.. your brother.. its then you realize you need to escape… so youre off on a ourney to do just that.. the thing is.. being off your joy makes you suspicious, so oyull have to fake your way through town and occasionnaly pop a joy to get through downer detectors…
    This world feels very much like a bioshock meets dishonoredworld.. you feel as though you have just as much freedom…
    At first we happy few is at a near masterpiece level
    The world is so creepy and intriguing to explore… within the first couple of horus I found myself in an abandond home with creepy music box music playing, and epty crib.. toys on the bed, I found a home where a couple hung themselves together… a table set up for tea alice in wonderland style
    I was absolutely enthralled and intruged.. disturbed and curious…
    Sadly though this attention to detail and world building quickly completely evaporates…
    going through these abandoned world is so earie at first, there would be moments I would stop and have to tell somebody about it or share a picture.. but by time you get to the first town… this is completely gone… the game turns into busy work fetch questing…
    The experience you have in the world of We Happy Few depends on your difficutly.. there is an option to customize your difficulty, I hose to kep survival and combat on easy, but I kept suspicion on normal.. I wanted to be immersed and get the intended experience of the world without having to worry about eating or sleeping.. but having to fit in to stop suspicion is where things can get super annoying.. plenty of chases through the streets and hiding on benches and in trashcans..
    There is a skill tree though to unlock perks and make towns a little less frustrating.. these are rewarded to you by completing story quests as well as sidequests.. and you can build up to the townpeople just accepting youre someone that runs around without them wanting to fight you because of it..
    But Arthurs act is the most complete feeling… there a lot of missions here where youll be in buildings, sneaking around.. taking out enemies, gathering materials, getting costumes to blend in.. its all a nice ballanece before youre challenged with the final 2 acts of the game…
    First up is Sally.. her story is around 6 to 8 hours and runs parallel to arthurs story, so you will meet eachother with a different perspective from both ends…
    Here theres an added challenge of taking care of a child, as youre completing tasks you will have to come back home, feed the baby and hold it or every hour a found of weight is added to your carring copacisty making it difficult for you to carry items and weapons… this is een more challenging because sallys act is very heavy on crafting… all three characters can craft… but the focus is really here for this story.. so many cool moments in her story though, so it was worth getting through even though it was infuriating.. .she cant fight with anything other than super light weapons but has the most hostile enemies out of all three stories, the havng to take care of a baby thing is annoying too when trying to gather crafting components, and finally in ollies chapter you have an insane weapon that does the highestdamage possible… this is a 3 -4 hour long father daughter story and is the sweetest and funniest story of the 3 and concludes the entire story of we happy few, no sequel bating.. this game has an end…
    his added challenge though is you have to manage your blood sugar level… food and honey super important here.. its quite challenging at first balancing the too as running around with low blood sugar cuts your health in half…
    But all 3 have a different skill tree…
    Ollie also isn’t able to blend in and be accepted like Arthur and sally…. So its basically impossible to sell items at shops… you literally cant walk through a town without dozens of enemies constanly wanting to fight you.. its super frustrating but again super worth it for the story..
    Which is what sumerizes we happy few perfectly.. worth it for the story…    … Expand
  13. AB3STA
    Jan 20, 2019
    8
    We happy few fulfills a gamer expectation for a new generated open world . The darkness among scenes and creatures is unbelievably sensable . Story is explained crystall clear for even a newbie enters to an intimidating world .
  14. EvilEmperor2
    Sep 26, 2018
    10
    We Happy Few have many elements of Bioshock and try to execute them in a somewhat bad and not explained way, but that is improving with the course of the game, I think there is still room for improvement.
  15. Broyax
    Feb 13, 2019
    2
    Une dystopie à la Orwell plutôt intrigante sert de fil conducteur à ce petit jeu indé fabriqué avec les pieds et financé par quelques milliers de quiches (une "happy few" en somme) sur Kickstarter. Sauf qu'il n'y a vraiment pas de quoi être "happy" en ce qui concerne le résultat final.

    On se débat déjà plus que de raison avec l'interface générale très perfectible et l'humour "so    Une dystopie à la Orwell plutôt intrigante sert de fil conducteur à ce petit jeu indé fabriqué avec les pieds et financé par quelques milliers de quiches (une "happy few" en somme) sur Kickstarter. Sauf qu'il n'y a vraiment pas de quoi être "happy" en ce qui concerne le résultat final.

    On se débat déjà plus que de raison avec l'interface générale très perfectible et l'humour "so british" nous passe par dessus la tête dans cette Angleterre autocratique (cest comme le rosbif aux groseilles, on y arrive pas...) ; et si on peut sauvegarder manuellement, le jeu ne nous remet jamais précisément là où on était...

    L'infiltration ne fonctionne pas vraiment ou du moins pas de façon tout-à-fait exploitable, ce qui oblige à passer trop souvent par des combats au corps-à-corps incroyablement brouillons et mal foutus.... une jauge d'endurance à la con restreint de surcroît énormément les mouvements d'attaque et les armes s'usent un peu trop vite. Il faut aussi fabriquer sans arrêt des tas de trucs, une fausse bonne idée encore mal implémentée ici dans ce petit univers bizarre.

    Techniquement parlant, on est pas loin du désastre : 1,35 mn pour charger, des saccades et des ralentissements récurrents et un aspect général assez repoussant perdu entre le dessin animé simplet et une direction artistique sans goût, pour ne pas dire bâclée.

    En bref, on s'emmerde et rien ici ne sort assez du lot pour nous pousser à continuer tant on bute régulièrement sur des éléments désagréables qui entachent le gameplay durablement et définitivement.    … Expand
  16. DKurac
    Aug 16, 2019
    9
    Really fun and enjoyable game. Visually beautiful with nice atmosphere.

    Survival mechanics aren't hard it just punishes you with stamina decrease but you can eliminate it with some stamina boosters. Also too much things in inventory makes you slower. I like very much that it isn't so hardcore. You can choose if you want to be a crafting person who crafts special things, loot every    Really fun and enjoyable game. Visually beautiful with nice atmosphere.

    Survival mechanics aren't hard it just punishes you with stamina decrease but you can eliminate it with some stamina boosters. Also too much things in inventory makes you slower. I like very much that it isn't so hardcore.

    You can choose if you want to be a crafting person who crafts special things, loot every single container, house, person and collect special things this way or you can also sell thing to vendors and buy things from them. Stealth is well made so you don't have to kill anyone. Combat is harder but with better weapons you can kill them or stun them really easily or just run and hide there is lots of places to hide.

    Then there is joy and it is just up to you how you want to deal with it. Take it, fake it or don't take it. I love how various it is.

    World is randomly generated so it is little confusing if you are looking for something in walkthrough. There is also so many side quest and big world so if you like exploring you will like it. For side quests you get skill points but you can get more points than you can spend.

    Story is made of 3 acts. First one you play as Arthur, second one as Sally, third one as Ollie. Arthur have biggest world so playtime as him is longest. It took me 35 ingame days to finish his act. As Sally it was way shorter with just 15 day and Ollie shortest playtime 7 days. Totally it is equal to cca 78 hours.

    There was also things I didn't like so much but these wasn't so game breaking. First thing is really long loading screen which can take up to 2 mins. Second thing is glitches. People stuck in texture, teleporting, etc. but this was problem just with people on streets so I didn't mind it so much.    … Expand
  17. Zrulez
    May 22, 2020
    9
    Although this game is not perfect (no game is ever perfect) this game is one of a kind because of the unique and intense story, great visuals, and pretty good gameplay. The gameplay reminds me of Metal Gear Solid and Bioshock which is not a bad thing but some parts of Sally’s chapter feel like of bland for me at least, easily my least favorite part of the entire game. Though the positivesAlthough this game is not perfect (no game is ever perfect) this game is one of a kind because of the unique and intense story, great visuals, and pretty good gameplay. The gameplay reminds me of Metal Gear Solid and Bioshock which is not a bad thing but some parts of Sally’s chapter feel like of bland for me at least, easily my least favorite part of the entire game. Though the positives easily out weight the negatives. I would easily recommend this game if your interested in action adventure games Like Bioshock Infinite, Fallout, and Rust.… Expand
  18. Mindkiller7522
    May 12, 2021
    1
    12/31/20-1/10/2021 100% Story 50% Side Quests

    Terrible! The only (somewhat) good thing about this game was the story, which was still too long. You play as three different characters, none of which are interesting or compelling, as you try to escape a town in which anti-depressants are required and enforced. The world was interesting, but far too large for what content it had in    12/31/20-1/10/2021 100% Story 50% Side Quests

    Terrible! The only (somewhat) good thing about this game was the story, which was still too long.
    You play as three different characters, none of which are interesting or compelling, as you try to escape a town in which anti-depressants are required and enforced.

    The world was interesting, but far too large for what content it had in it. The art design can be neat at times, but most of the humor was a miss for me. There is also some amount of random generation, but there is absolutely no need for it other than for fluff and padding.

    The only way to accurately describe the game play would be “frustrating”. Survival mechanics can usually fall on the annoying side, but “child happiness” and “diabetes” might be the worst meters I've ever seen. Most people will probably ignore even the basic food and water meters, I suspect.

    All three character stories have this horrendous social blending nonsense built in, which means if you aren't wearing the right outfit or if you try to run instead of walk (slowly) everyone (EVERYONE) will attack you and chase you around. It's not uncommon to wind up having to run from or fight 20-30 people as you try to escape from a person who saw you do one hop in the air.

    The combat is bad enough to make you want to avoid it (not that the stealth is any better). Basically, it boils down to blocking and only taking breaks to hit someone who is also blocking.

    The voice actors do okay, but it was really irritating to hear Ollie's clearly fake and cartoony Scottish accent. They couldn't have found a real Scot? Or where they just not bothered to look?

    There were also glitches everywhere. From people walking on air to sound cutting out. It's tough to know what is and isn't a glitch, since the game play makes no sense most of the time. I kept hoping for a game-breaking glitch that would give me an excuse to shut it off for good, but I was able to make it all the way through.

    There was a kernel of a good game within this mess. If they had not made this open world and cut out the survival aspect, just a linear story in and interesting world would have suited this way better.    … Expand
  19. osprey
    Aug 29, 2018
    3
    I bought it right away when the early access was offered and was very excited by the look and sound of the game. I continued to play it as it developed and grew to hate it as time passed. I am happy that I didn't have to pay more to play the finished game as after such a long wait that would have been highway robbery but still hated the finished product. So sad that this didn't pan outI bought it right away when the early access was offered and was very excited by the look and sound of the game. I continued to play it as it developed and grew to hate it as time passed. I am happy that I didn't have to pay more to play the finished game as after such a long wait that would have been highway robbery but still hated the finished product. So sad that this didn't pan out because obviously many people were excited about this game and it seems like most feel as I do that along the way they lost the magic that was there at the beginning.… Expand
  20. CoolDadTx
    Apr 24, 2020
    7
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I'm not really sure why this game got such low review when it came out. I particularly enjoyed it. It was an interesting concept with some memorable characters, quests and interesting art style. The overlapping stories, while a little confusing, were also a nice change of pace. The first story was particular good while the second story was more interesting and the last story was just dull. Based upon the merits of all this it is easily an 8 or 9. Unfortunately there are aspects of the game that are so bad that I felt it important to lower the score.

    Overall the 3 stories was interesting but it really felt like a gimick. While the skills mostly seemed to overlap it might have been clearer to have the stories intermixed as you went along. This would have caused some challenges with the maps and inventory but ultimately I think it would have made more sense. Ollie's story in particular was really dull and unfortunately is what ultimately brought the score down so let's start there.

    I played through without killing anyone. It was easy with the first 2 stories but the very first mission of Ollie puts you in combat immediately with no weapons or healing. Unless you run there is no way to complete this without kiling someone. And it just gets worse. The second mission requires that you gather materials that takes quite a while in the other stories. But you are on a time limit so you have to find them in random containers quickly. It just seems forced. This is for Ollie's diabetes which I took a point off because of the gross misrepresentation of this disease. I get game mechanics but taking a real world disease, changing it to meet a game requirement and then forcing it on you is utterly insulting. Does anyone on the team even understand diabetes. Your body doesn't produce insulin or your body rejects it (depending upon type). The net result is that you cannot get your blood sugar down without exercise, counting carbs and insulin. Yet Ollie's blood sugar drops continuously. Medical news: you aren't diabetic if you cannot hold insulin. Yes, if your blood sugar drops too low you slip into a coma but that would only be an issue if you overdosed on insulin. Inversely having a high blood sugar doesn't have any short term consequences. The game could have easily picked a made up disease and easily avoided this very insulting game mechanic.

    Ollie himself is an ex-soldier but he cannot run 10 feet before running out of breathe which makes the constant attacks from citizens painful. You continually play a game of running around a corner and climbing up on something so the AI times out. You cannot outrun anyone so it isn't an option. The other characters are fine. Ollie just seems too wimpy and it breaks the gameflow. The other aspect of Ollie is that even when you are wearing the right outfit, doing the right things you will quite frequently suddenly aggro a random citizen. I've literally walked by 3 bobbies and a handful of citizens just to walk around the corner and aggro a citizen. Combat overall is awful and it is better to avoid it. Enemies seem to have really, really long reaches with their weapons.

    Arthur's story is interesting but ultimately he is unlikable. A self-centered, bitter, all-about-me personality. It makes you not care about him or his story. The wrap up of the game doesn't make this any better. Since you have no control over the story the decisions you might want to make you can't. You're stuck with a guy you really just want to jump off a bridge with.

    The glitches are numerous. Most are funny such as characters using the sit animation in the middle of the street or characters starting to aggro and it permanently leaving them like that. The TV shows also stop working after a while. A reload is the only workaround.

    The worst bug I found was a crash in the early stages of Sally's story. When I restarted it had wiped all of Sally's saves so I had to start over. I was only a couple of missions in but it was frustrating. Speaking of Sally, her special need that is at the start of the game is frustrating as well. It gets a little better but a glitch basically makes it meaningless. If you sleep the "special need" meter goes away and doesn't come back until you activate it again. Technically all the characters' need for food and water did the same thing.

    Finally the save system is odd. You can save just about anywhere but when you reload it always starts somewhere out in the open nearby. Sort of defeats the purpose of saving.

    Ultimately I hope the devs make another game along these lines, but fix the isssues and bad decisions of the first.    … Expand
  21. Steyraus
    May 24, 2021
    2
    The games a mess. Failed survival aspects, failed fps combat, failed story game. Not sure how a group of people can make such an unapealing product.
  22. CamyVero
    Jan 14, 2021
    7
    if you like games like Fallout 3, you like games where the mechanics of exploration, accumulation, crafty and stealth are the main ones, as long as you have the patience to tolerate the deep technical problems the game has, the story is drinkable and there's no denying that some missions have memorable moments, good production design and originality. At a good price in sales it can giveif you like games like Fallout 3, you like games where the mechanics of exploration, accumulation, crafty and stealth are the main ones, as long as you have the patience to tolerate the deep technical problems the game has, the story is drinkable and there's no denying that some missions have memorable moments, good production design and originality. At a good price in sales it can give you about 25 or 30 hours of fun. But only if you are tolerant of bugs.… Expand
  23. aljirik1992
    Aug 31, 2018
    5
    Не сдохнуть бы от радости. (WE HAPPY FEW)

    Настроение... Пожалуй это единственное слово за которое можно зацепиться, когда проходишь данное творение. В отличие от душевного состояния ГГ, которое можно приподнять пилюлей "Радость", очень малому количеству геймеров игра сможет предоставить такую же возможность. Отдалённо проект Compulsion Games напоминает Dishonored, где-то рядом эхом    Не сдохнуть бы от радости. (WE HAPPY FEW)

    Настроение... Пожалуй это единственное слово за которое можно зацепиться, когда проходишь данное творение. В отличие от душевного состояния ГГ, которое можно приподнять пилюлей "Радость", очень малому количеству геймеров игра сможет предоставить такую же возможность. Отдалённо проект Compulsion Games напоминает Dishonored, где-то рядом эхом доносятся антиутопичные нотки Bioshock. Эти два мира как будто сталкиваются лбами в неком аналоге города Бэнтон из фильма "Трасса 60". И вроде бы, что ещё нужно для счастья? Геймплей... Который едва ли соответствует продуктам такого рода. В целом всё нормально, но как раз таки это и выбивается из общей структуры творящегося по ту сторону экрана умилительного ужаса, где история с каждым часом обрастает новыми подробностями, а финал попробует подарить некую, призрачную лёгкость. Так сказать позволит влиться с матюками в струю, где последней каплей будет та самая злосчастная таблетка.    … Expand
  24. emporio2866
    Mar 10, 2019
    6
    Я это осилил - выбил все ачивки! Почти 100 часов времени потратил!!!
    We Happy Few - игра из раннего доступа с Kickstarter, которая ушла таки на релиз, но так как игра чертовски противоречивая и из-за того, что подняли дико стоимость (в нашем сторе цена выросла с 600 рублей до 4000) - она провалилась в продажах.
    Позже Майки покупают перспективную студию и выкатывают игру в свою подписку    Я это осилил - выбил все ачивки! Почти 100 часов времени потратил!!!
    We Happy Few - игра из раннего доступа с Kickstarter, которая ушла таки на релиз, но так как игра чертовски противоречивая и из-за того, что подняли дико стоимость (в нашем сторе цена выросла с 600 рублей до 4000) - она провалилась в продажах.
    Позже Майки покупают перспективную студию и выкатывают игру в свою подписку Game Pass, которую я взял за 30 рублей по акции… то есть мне игра обошлась дешевле более чем в 100 раз!
    Не успел пройти её до окончания льготной подписки и уже думал продлевать по обычной стоимости за 600, но вспомнил о неиспользованном коде из коробки с приставкой Xbox One X, который вроде как просроченный (до конца 18 года), но сработал + ещё дали халявный месяц за автопродление, то есть я получил халявную подписку ещё на два месяца до 8 апреля сего года!
    В итоге игру я прошёл и выбил все достижения, благодаря щедрости Microsoft на своей любимой приставке с лучшим геймпадом из всех выпущенных в истории, за что спасибо этим американцам:)
    Игра получилась отличная, несмотря на большое количество багов и криво реализованных механик от маленькой независимой студии, но зато игра ни разу не зависла и не вылетела, а это огромный плюс, ведь даже Bethesda не смогла выпустить Fallout 4 стабильнее и она у меня постоянно тормозила на PS4 и вылетала раз в день стабильно, а тут лишь небольшие проседы кадров раз в пару часов, так что ок! Единственная серьёзная претензия - это завышенная цена, ведь 4к это нереально дорого, максимум 2к, но я халявно поиграл, поэтому не обидно ни разу.
    Ещё есть претензия к боевой системе - очень часть не регистрируются удары, да и в целом боёвка очень нудная, долгая и бесячая, и всё бы ничего, проходи в стелсе, но стелс тоже довольно корявый, поэтому в узких помещениям и в сюжетных заданиях приходилось терпеть, а городе проще убежать и спрятаться в баке мусорном. К счастью противники тупые и не могут додуматься посмотреть в единственной помойке в переулке и думают, что герой испарился. Драться с ними нет никакого смысла, так как никакой награды существенной не дадут и опыта тоже:(

    6,5 из 10 моя оценка - хороший сюжет и побочные квесты; три играбельных персонажа со своими геймплейными особенностями и с грамотно пересекающимися сюжетными линиями; уникальный визуальный стиль; неплохо проработанный игровой мир, представленный в виде Британии после войны с Германией в альтернативной версии развития истории (хорошая интерпретация, не хуже Wolfenstein: New Order); харизматичные персонажи… в общем, плюсов гораздо больше минусов и этой игре я смело говорю ДА    … Expand
  25. Overwatcher
    Apr 27, 2019
    3
    Pros:
    + Promising story
    + Strong voice acting
    + Visually-pleasing art style

    Cons:
    - Extreme texture pop-in and streaming
    - Long loading times (like loading The Witcher 3 on a 5400rpm HDD)
    - Abundance of technical problems (glitches, constant frame stuttering and crashing)
    - Janky combat
  26. Horrorseeker
    Aug 30, 2019
    7
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. A alternative way to video game world in the mid 1960s go through three acts but prepare for joy journey… Expand
  27. SenorKoquonfaes
    Dec 1, 2019
    2
    First thing I noticed about We Happy Few is it's retro-futuristic art direction, akin to the BioShock games. We Happy Few pulls this off well enough and it creates a nice looking game world.

    Sadly, the game's art direction is about the only positive experience I can relay about the game. The game's open world feels rather soulless and lacks any sort of personality. NPC's walk around    First thing I noticed about We Happy Few is it's retro-futuristic art direction, akin to the BioShock games. We Happy Few pulls this off well enough and it creates a nice looking game world.

    Sadly, the game's art direction is about the only positive experience I can relay about the game.

    The game's open world feels rather soulless and lacks any sort of personality. NPC's walk around the streets and that's it. No conversing or interacting with other NPCs and will only interact and talk to you if you engage them. The game's open world also feels unnecessarily large, a good chunk of the game's run time is just tedious commuting, until you unlock fast travel areas.

    The game crashed on me, well over half a dozen times, kicking me back out the Xbox One dashboard. The game's loading screens are unforgivably bad, lasting nearly a minute in some instances. The traversing of the open world environment also triggered slightly less long loading screens while still being in the same level area. This happened well over a dozen times and then I stopped counting.

    The game also has a serious issue with texture loading and streaming. Some textures would fail to load altogether, leaving a garbage bin to look like a blurry mess or a sign on some one's desk looking like the raised dots and dashes of brail. Some textures would pop in well after a second or two, others would slowly load in over time.

    The game's AI is among the worst I've ever seen. In one case, I was choking out a police officer who was not more than 2 feet away from his buddy and his buddy kept walking on like nothing was happening. There were also times where I was clearly trespassing in an area, stared right at an NPC a few feet away, and nothing happened, no reaction at all. The NPCs essentially have no peripheral vision and can't see past their own nose, so they're easy to cheese, run around and pick off.

    The game is also just a buggy mess. There's at least one area of the map that I can reliably clip through and see underneath the world. Several times an NPC's walk cycle **** up, so they just looked they were gliding around on rocket skates. One of my favourite moments was a woman NPC moonwalking backwards while doing the "happy strut" and then clipped through a building.

    The game relies on survival crafting elements for health, food and drinks, clothing, weapons etc, which weren't bad, but just took a back seat to all of the criticisms listed above.

    Overall, We Happy Few is a game that has some nice ideas that were poorly executed, serious optimization issues and various bugs and glitches. I bought this game for 50% off and still feel like I overpaid for this game.    … Expand
  28. MOLEX3000
    Jun 23, 2020
    10
    Great experience! Really excited for this game! Waiting on news from the devs! Let's go!
  29. Jorge_Salvaje
    Jun 20, 2020
    10
    Maybe this is a infravalorated game, personality I love this game. I don't understand why the people disgust this game
  30. TrueRatings
    Jun 21, 2020
    8
    The crazy plot is intriguing by not only having 3 endings but just the similarities to bioshock .
  31. Awanka
    Jan 26, 2023
    3
    I've been putting this off for a long while because I couldn't figure out what it was about. Well, it turns out the developers didn't know either. This is an annoying schizophrenic game that doesn't know what it wants to be. If I had to describe it, it's like a discount version of Dishonored with a Bioshock aesthetic. The setting is a post WW2 Britain where Germany won, and the societyI've been putting this off for a long while because I couldn't figure out what it was about. Well, it turns out the developers didn't know either. This is an annoying schizophrenic game that doesn't know what it wants to be. If I had to describe it, it's like a discount version of Dishonored with a Bioshock aesthetic. The setting is a post WW2 Britain where Germany won, and the society has been reshaped into something gaudy and cruel like Huxley's "Brave New World." There's a good amount of political messaging, and an undercurrent of absurdist humor in just about everything. It's a strange stew of themes and gameplay elements that don't work together at all.

    Dialog is pretty bad. The humor is like Mike Myers in his later years, or a bad Monty Python skit, and it almost always lands with a thud. There are flashback cutscenes that are dull and serve no purpose. I started skipping them after a while because they were so pointless and uninteresting. Quests are mostly of the fetch variety, and also endlessly annoying and badly designed. Quests often ask you to retrieve some common item you have left in your stash back at base like mushrooms or sewing kits. I love spending five minutes running back to base to retrieve a mundane item. This happens ALL the time. It would be great if you could carry everything with you, but the game has strict weight limits for your character.

    Combat is clunky. You swing at people until they start blocking, and then you wait until they unblock and swing again. Stealth mechanics are basic, and if you mess up you can usually just run away for a minute until enemy aggro resets and then try again. There's no real fun in this gameplay. It feels like just another chore you have to finish to get to the next part of the game.

    Something that is very different from other action RPGs is the emphasis on randomizing the maps, so the town city layouts, as well as quest and safehouse locations will be different every time. It's a bizarre usage of development resources, since almost no-one is going to play this game again. Another thing that I almost never see in other games is that you play 3 characters consecutively, each with their own abilities, storyline, and side-quests. It's almost like the game developers didn't know what story they wanted to tell, so they went with 3. It's more content, so it's not bad exactly. Just weird.

    One of the genuinely cool things in this game is you can take a hallucinogenic drug called "Joy" which changes the way the world looks like a giant AR filter. There's not much reason to take Joy in the game itself though outside of a few quest-related instances, so it seems like a lot of development effort was spent creating a mechanic that doesn't add much to the game. That in a nutshell is the problem with the whole endeavor. My impression of "We Happy Few" is that a bunch of people shouted out random ideas and tried to cobble them together into a game. It's a mess, and you have to look hard to find the fun.    … Expand
  32. BrownBreadBiscu
    Sep 2, 2020
    8
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. We Happy few is a game with a beautiful setting, atmosphere, story and gameplay. There were a few tedious parts, namely just after 'Oh, Behave!' for about 40 minutes afterwards because I didn't know you could look at the map to see joy booths and couldn't sprint to them, yet. Along with some of Sally's gameplay becoming a bit annoying because of Gwen. But if you look past that, the game is amazing, telling the story of a tragic WW2 story set in a dystopian future. The game is also funny at times, which provides some much needed comic relief. The gameplay can seem a little meaningless, but after those parts, it's back on with the amazing storyline and character interactions. Also, the game is buggy, yeah. But there's nothing more funny after seeing a horrific war story than seeing a reporter type 8 feet in the air… Expand
  33. Mephistofun
    Sep 19, 2020
    6
    This is a definite ‘Try before you buy’ title for me. What begins as an imaginative ‘Bioshock-like’ alternative history sci-fi romp quickly falls into the trap a lot of survival genre games fall into and drowns in its own crafting system. The narrative and world building elements had enormous potential and they do occasionally shine through, but they get drowned out by the monotony ofThis is a definite ‘Try before you buy’ title for me. What begins as an imaginative ‘Bioshock-like’ alternative history sci-fi romp quickly falls into the trap a lot of survival genre games fall into and drowns in its own crafting system. The narrative and world building elements had enormous potential and they do occasionally shine through, but they get drowned out by the monotony of managing multiple survival mechanics that do nothing other than provide busy-work for the player and push those fun moments further apart than they need to be. We Haapy Few needed a little more time to distil it down to a more focussed experience in order to be great.… Expand
  34. Morgan35
    Apr 12, 2021
    0
    The game is very buggy and graphics are not impressive on Series X, it's even crashing. After Arthur's end you're starting with Sally's story, however Arthur don't leave anything to Sally so you must do same thing again. Spending your time looting and and improving Sally, this is just wasting of time, that's why the game is repeating itself.
  35. CaptainWrst
    Feb 21, 2023
    8
    It's a lovely game, with 3 quite likable characters. The writing is pretty good, along with the voice acting. Each main character playing differently is also a really fun aspect to the game, Arthur being stealth based, Sally is sort of a mix of Arthur and Ollie, and Ollie is combat focused. The story has discrepancies like where Arthur meets Sally, but this is a good tell that the mainIt's a lovely game, with 3 quite likable characters. The writing is pretty good, along with the voice acting. Each main character playing differently is also a really fun aspect to the game, Arthur being stealth based, Sally is sort of a mix of Arthur and Ollie, and Ollie is combat focused. The story has discrepancies like where Arthur meets Sally, but this is a good tell that the main characters themselves are untrustworthy narrators because of how Joy **** with someones mind. The three DLCs are also amazing with their own great stories.… Expand
  36. Furiamanca
    Sep 4, 2023
    9
    Talvez sea por el hecho de ser uno de los primeros juegos que juegue en mi consola pero le tengo un gran cariño, me gusta la banda sonora y que cada personaje sea único en el juego, quisiera ver una secuela pero lo dudo un poco viendo los finales.

Awards & Rankings

26
#26 Most Discussed Xbox One Game of 2018
25
#25 Most Shared Xbox One Game of 2018

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
64

Mixed or average reviews - based on 17 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 5 out of 17
  2. Mixed: 10 out of 17
  3. Negative: 2 out of 17
  1. Official Xbox Magazine UK
    Oct 21, 2018
    50
    There's a general technical ropiness. [Nov 2018, p.80]
  2. TheXboxHub
    Sep 12, 2018
    80
    Even though the gameplay comes with its occasional glitches, has a bit too many things going on and is run by some strange mechanics, the story, characters, and overall tone are all brilliant and extremely well put together.
    Read full review
  3. TrueAchievements
    Sep 4, 2018
    60
    If We Happy Few had all of these problems while in Xbox Game Preview and a pre-release state, you'd be more likely to excuse it, but it's rare to encounter so many issues in a full game release. While none were game breaking, they spoil what can be a decent game, with a unique world, interesting characters, and a convincingly damning depiction of the perils of taking hallucinogenic drugs. It's a world to which you want to return, but it's also a world that throws up a new problem with every visit. With several patches, this game could be a fun experience, but right now it can often be an exercise in frustration.
    Read full review
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