We Happy Few (PC) - hands on experience

We Happy Few (PC) - hands on experience

The popularity of first person shooters survival is perhaps not as present among players and between developers, who for some reason in this genre are a clear candidate to exploitation. In recent years we have seen how survival games went from being counted as a real independent tide trying garnish a formula that is beginning to show signs of exhaustion with their own ideas securities.
Now Compulsion Games – creators of puzzles and platforms Contrast - they get filled in this genre, but we will not deny that its approach is more original than we are used to. With more than a detail reminiscent BioShock, we dive into a dystopia from which we must try to escape. Of course, as good survival game, stay alive and be a success.
Welcome to Wellington Wells
We Happy Few -title probably refers to Henry V, Shakespeare's work is a survival game in first person that leads to Wellington Wells, a town somewhat dystopian England in 1964, where people live happily. .. under the influence of drugs. With some pills that are dispensed free and legally in phone booths, people live in constant happiness, without question orders that may come from above.
We are a "drown", which could translate as "sunk" and that refers to people who do not have access to those "happy pills." As such, we banish an adjoining area being monitored by the police, which we have to fight against other marginalized stay alive. The version we tested is pre-alpha, with many visual errors, but surprisingly solid in playable, which still has a long way to go, and one of those things is history. We don’t really know who we are or what we do there, but the idea is clear: we must escape.
As usual in the genre, we began virtually with empty hands, and we have to go looking for objects that begin to build us our little arsenal through its crafting system, which basically merely to create new tools in designated areas it. Do not miss either the need to eat and drink, for which we must find wherever consider appropriate. Needless to say, this will provide depth, having to cook raw meat to not get sick, can find containers to store water if a fountain and so on.
In We Happy Few are not alone. Wells Wellington both as in the edge region, there will always aware of other characters their environment. In the "suburbs" we may face in fighting for resources other characters, but in the city (where the police are a constant) is better to go unnoticed. The combat is simple, with the option of attacking mainly body body-and to defend both fists as weapons that we encounter or manufactured.
A Different Survival
When we decide to leave the suburbs, we must find a way around the roadblocks. Can try to use brute force, sneak, trying to pass unnoticed ... The truth is that if the police see us we will pursue relentlessly, as well as many of the neighbors. The legal way to access Wellington Wells smoothly it is under the influence of the tablets in question, but are very difficult to get out of town.
In the unlikely event we get go undetected by the security forces, the next target will be missed. We will have to be "happy" and not act weird to avoid suspicion. Some characters are fixed on us, and we have to use different tactics to distract them. Some just looking for a friendly greeting, while others alert the not recognize as one of their neighbors, and we must turn away from seeing our faces. Doctors, to take another example, we can detect if drugged or not, and whether we pretend that state. The idea is to learn how each character behaves and act accordingly.
Needless to say, not all will walk around and greet, but we have to explore for resources to keep us alive. This involves making dishonest tasks, like walking into people's houses to steal, something that will end up getting into trouble. As noted above, we do not really know the story yet, but it appears that our motivation is to escape from Wellington Wells, for which we must remain concealed enough time to get the materials that allow us to perform the flight.

Conflicting Feelings
We Happy Few have a great artistic design, which virtually sells the title. We love its retro-futuristic '60s, and we love to look around when we travel Wellington Wells. The interiors are quite rich and varied, and the atmosphere that has been achieved is captivating. So much so, that seems to us that is largely untapped. In a game that is based on survival and we will have to repeat the adventure many times, the novelty and charm eventually wear out.
We are very happy for those who enjoy the genre of survival, but we believe that this time a very juicy idea, which would have better fitted into an affair with a traditional progression system is wasted. We repeat that it is pre-alpha -, and hopefully the final version will make us change our minds.
With a Kickstarter launched, We Happy Few have much work ahead. Only time will tell if it becomes a game to remember or lost in the strong tide of survival games open world.