We Happy Few

The best 6/10 you'll ever play.
You might ask why — one word: Story.

This game delivers one of the most intriguing narratives I’ve experienced. The voice acting is a perfect 10/10, and the writing is solid — 8/10 most of the time. The plot twists? They’re not unpredictable in the traditional sense — you know something’s off, but you can’t quite put your finger on it, and that’s what makes uncovering the truth so satisfying.

Honestly, the story is the only thing that kept me pushing through.

The gameplay loop, on the other hand, is a different story. You’ll be wandering around randomly generated maps for what feels like forever, scavenging mostly useless loot. The mechanics? Undercooked. They exist, but you’ll rarely feel the need to engage with them. Ironically, the DLCs removed many of those mechanics — and that’s where the game shines the most in terms of actual gameplay. Yes, the DLCs are worth it.

If you're into mystery, dystopia, and social experiment scenarios, this game is gold. Just don’t go in expecting a polished or engaging gameplay experience. Play it for the story — and it just might stick with you longer than some 10/10s.

To the negative reviews that harshly judge the fact it's a walking simulator, here's what being a Pathologic fan taught me: some games don't have to be good on a technical level to be a valuable experience. Yes bugs are annoying, but they're manageable. Yes it's not the most optimised but I've played Pathologic 2 Marble Nest with a max of 9 fps before and I still enjoyed it. Some games aren't meant for people who value gameplay over story and that's alright, just refund it or don't buy it in the first place if you value gameplay more.

It's not everyone's type of game, but it is mine. And it might end up being yours too.
That being said, do wait for a sale. I personally wouldn't pay that base price for any game.

I'm not joking when I say this is my favorite game despite the glitches and bugs.
The map is fairly big, but it feels empty most of the time. There are only a handful of explorable houses, and most of the size comes from the forest where absolutely nothing happens. Still, I love it all the same.
The story is rich, has that cool and creepy dystopian vibe. Main characters are well-written as well. They are all charming and messed-up but in a good way. I’d recommend playing it on hard mode or setting up a custom game with fewer resources, because otherwise you'll be drowning in loot. Your bag will constantly be full, and you’ll end up stuffing everything into your stash.
And the music? ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE. I think all their budget went to the soundtrack and they cooked so hard. I'm a fan of the imaginary band now for years. The Make Believes band is awesome!
DLC are also great and worth playing. Again, this game will have tons of bugs so I think you should wait on sale to buy, but I absolutely implore you to play this game!!

The best worst game ever made.
The story, world building and atmosphere are all perfect. Its dark, mysterious and nothing is what it seems.
The gameplay experience is where it falls apart. Theres crafting and survival elements, but they seem like an afterthought and are pretty underwhelming. The stealth is ok, but the melee combat isnt. The DLCs are a lot better than the base game, but you need to play the base game to understand them better.
Also the game doesnt run very well. Graphically, its about on par with subnautica, but doesnt run nearly as smooth.
The $60 price tag is a joke, but on sale its worth a playthrough for the story alone.

The reviewers weren't impressed on release, but this is a game it is easy to love. I have fallen head over heels for it after being chased through a derelict village by locals who disapprove of the rubber catsuit I am wearing.

i want to preface this review by saying that despite its flaws, this is one of my favourite games of all time, if not literally THE favourite. i love it to pieces.
i credit my adoration mainly to the environment and world design. WHF has one of my favourite aesthetics of all time - one that i have yet to find in any other piece of media. a cheerful, psychedelic, and rainbow dystopia is jolly enough, but one that's predicated on 60's propaganda post-WW2? ive found peak and i fear i won't find it again. so much of this game is built through visual storytelling, through ambient dialogue or graffiti on walls, and its 'show don't tell' approach to the worldbuilding makes it so much more nuanced. keen players could likely discern all the major issues plaguing wellington wells in the first hour or so. its truly such an immersive environment and i adore the designs of the various structures in this game. in particular, the Village is such a treat, with rainbow roads and old english buildings. exploration is never dull when i find the environment to be beautiful.
on top of that, the actual worldbuilding and plot are very compelling. i played through my first playthrough completely unaware of like, at least half of the major issues affecting wellington wells, (only discovering them afterwards when i read the wiki), but still loved it all the same. its unique & detailed, executed relatively well imo (good voice acting, good cutscenes) and really just the greatest strength of this game.
and of course the plot is fuelled by its characters. in an epidemic of TikTok appropriating the term "morally grey" to any Bad Boy™ with a conscience, the characters of WHF (in particular, Arthur & Sally) are a breath of fresh air. complex, unreliable narrators that, despite all their flaws, draw in emotional investment from the player. theyre also just so full of personality. you can really see that emphasized in the differences b/w the journals/notes they keep and their dialogue. just really well-written.
with that being said, i do have a few gripes with the plot. Act I is clearly more fleshed out than the other two. not only does it have a greater abundance of side quests, (most of them of higher quality as well), the main quest is a lot longer and a lot more compelling. it really feels like arthur gets to shine but the other two were somewhat rushed as a consequence. so i wish we had more development regarding the other two acts. on top of that, i wish we had more hand-crafted side quests, like the butcher one in arthurs playthrough. it just really would pump a lot more life into the world and make up for the lack of npc models and such.
regarding the criticism levied that it feels like a "walking simulator" or "tedious", i think this is honestly in part an attention span issue on account of the players. with a market oversatured with fast-paced overstimulating fun, (which has its own place!), whf does take a slower approach that doesnt land well with everyone. for some of the people here it gets to a point though. like complaining that the initial arc with arthur and the hardy boys was "too long" is a bit absurd when it takes like, 1-2 minutes tops to walk there and thats the basic introduction to how the game works.... i personally didnt find my initial playthrough a chore at all, but thats because i thoroughly enjoyed the world and loved looting it. (ie. i voluntarily unlocked all the hatches and cleared all the fog i could from my map). obviously not everyones going to do that, but im of the opinion that running between locations wasn't that bad at all, especially since there is a fast travel system in game. THAT BEING SAID i understand when people say the fetch quests feel tedious. i think they were necessary bc they fleshed out the world so much more, and im unsure of what else they could've done other than just Walk On Out of Wellington Wells. but the derailment of the main quests could definitely get frustrating when theres such little signs of progress towards the main plot. tl;dr i thought the fetch quests were fun and the payoff was more than worth it, but for somebody that primarily cares about reaching the ending, i can definitely see it getting annoying.
regarding combat and survival mechanics. i thought they were okay. i initially played whf when i was Really Bad At Video Games, so i appreciated the more simple combat system that still lent itself to being fun. very beginner-friendly. stealth was cool. i like strangling people. not much else to say there. the main issue here is how easy it is to cheese. you can literally outrun everyone and just hide in a trash can until they all deaggro. it is so so easy, even on hard mode with permadeath. nothing poses a threat when theres a way out in every single alley. and survival truly had zero consequences. i think they tried to reach a balance here between people who enjoy looting and people who dont, but all that ended up creating was a mediocre, low-stakes system. a better option here would be to toggle off survival mechanics for those who don't want them. otherwise, theres very little penalty for running low. the only time survival mechanics were ever an issue was in sandbox at the start of the game with thirst. none of this was bad per se, like the game absolutely does not need a complicated combat system when thats NOT WHAT YOURE SUPPOSED TO BE DOING, its only that it could be a lot better.
stealth was super fun though. i enjoy the approach where youre punished for engaging in combat, which makes sense for such a social-focused game like whf, where youre supposed to blend in. sneaking around buildings is deeply entertaining and only ruined by the occasional buggy npc that somehow sees you when theyre not supposed to. really not gamebreaking.
like, a lot of the stuff about bugs was made by earlier players. much of it has been fixed now (AT LEAST TO MY KNOWLEDGE) and i didnt personally run into anything bad. just a few npcs sitting the wrong way and maybe poorly procedurally generated worlds partially blocking entrances, which was rare.
and the social mechanics were cool. joy, blending in by choosing the right clothes and actions, suspicion meters, etc, are all super interesting feature. the main problem comes from the fact that they werent implemented enough. i wish joy had a bigger factor in this game. while taking it, everything becomes more saturated, and thats it. i wish it was instead something akin to arthurs intro pinata scene or victoria watching the couple eat charcoal in the dlc. wellington wells should be a lot more ♥♥♥♥♥♥ up when youre off your joy. not in terms of gore or graphics, but little things that more obviously indicate something is terribly wrong. also joy is genuinely optional in playthrus so what's up w that?? make it harder. joy detectors, doctors, and headmistresses are not a threat when you can walk past 2/3 without fully aggroing them, and run past 3/3. or just literally walk on the other side of the street from a doctor and they dont detect you at all. zero punishment in gameplay. but alright. concept cool, execution falls flat.
honestly the procedurally generated worlds are fine. like yeah itd be better if it was ENTIRELY handcrafted but also the generation brings it own unique charm n upsides. i think most of the complaints could just be solved with more personalized/handcraft side/main quest experiences instead of overhauling the whole system. outside of a few bugs it can even be very enjoyable.
tl;dr i would never pay this full price for any game in the world but if you see a few clips of whf, dont need constant action, and like how it looks, its totally worth it on sale! beautiful environmental storytelling, great characters, and compelling plot! gameplay is decent, though some of the mechanics are lackluster. fun times overall!

Put simply, We Happy Few comprises one of my favorite narrative experiences in all of video games. Put less simply, I wouldn't call this game a "must play" for everyone, but it is most certainly something everyone should consider playing if they're big fans of video games as a storytelling medium.

From a purely gameplay perspective, We Happy Few is a bit of an oddity. It's primarily a stealth game with splashes of combat and survival mechanics, and many people find it a bit boring in that regard. It's true, there are large sections of map you'll be walking in between story destinations that have a whole lot of nothing really going on, but I wouldn't say that qualifies the game as being empty or dull, personally. I found the long open areas good places to sit back and ruminate on the story elements in between Doing Missions and Fighting Enemies. Here's why.

Set in 1950s-60s England, the story's primary theme is that very traditionally British notion of Keeping Calm and Carrying On. It's about unsavory topics like revisionist history, the pressure to conform, following a corrupt system that kind of doesn't really know what it's even doing anymore, and forcing everyone to swallow pills that let them pretend everything is peachy-keen, as if they didn't all just commit major atrocities in a massive World War, let alone this air of mystery regarding a Famine and Missing Children and all that.

And using that as set dressing, this idea that you must appear Normal around other people - pretend you're having a great day, don't go around running and jumping and climbing on rooftops like a lunatic, and eat your magic forget-me candy instead of actual food - lest you get jumped and beaten by the smile police, becomes more than just a cute plot gimmick. It becomes an integral part of the game's experience, and seamlessly ties the story themes to the gameplay elements. And as I've always said, you get out of a game what you invest into it, so if you're not the kind of gamer who can meet a game on its level and play along, you might not enjoy this one very much.

This ludonarrative experience extends to the other chapters in the game as well. Each one (including the three DLCs) follows a different main character with their own unique approach to "blending in", and each one follows different gameplay mechanics that fall in line with their individual story. I don't want to spoil surprises, but the way each one is carefully woven into the gameplay experience using such unusual concepts as the burden of motherhood, the dangers of low blood sugar, and wooing lovestruck fans in a parody of Beatlemania is simply masterful. I'm still agog over how cool these elements work as immersive gameplay mechanics!

As far as the concerns over "game breaking bugs" go, I never had anything like that in my 50 hours of play. Normal bugs and weird glitches, sure, but nothing catastrophic. No worse than an average run of Skyrim, if that means anything to you. If the threat of bugs is a dealbreaker for you then so be it, just know that most of those bugs were Day One problems, and the game has been quite well patched up since then.

Bottom line is: I LOVED this game. It remains one of my all-time favorite story experiences, and I wish I could wipe it from my memory just so I could play it for the first time all over again. Just phenomenal. I hope more people give it a fair chance as the years go by.