The game itself looked interesting solely because of its premise; In an alternate WW2, the Island of Wellington Wells committed an unknown atrocity on an invading force. Guilt ridden, the population invented a new drug called 'joy' that they take at regular intervals to feel all cheery and forgetful of the awful realities. From this setup, we end up in 1964 (if the clocks are to be believed) and take on the role of one Arthur Hastings. If my gameplay was anything to go by, he loves censoring articles for a living, at least until a woman with a smiley face mask comes in and invites him to the company party.
After refusing to take the joy pill, you discover the unfortunate realities of what is going on in the party, and run to hide from the bobbies, a very 60's dressed police force with creepy smiles.
Now in a safehouse, you begin to explore the world, and complete a few quests and side missions, while surviving on rotten food, water and bandages.
For an early access version, the story was set up fairly well, even if it is a bit abrupt. On top of that, the opening animations are smooth and the world they set up is well crafted in the opening scene, even if some tiles like exterior roads are missing in the build. There is a constant sense that nothing feels quite right. A filing cabinet has papers flung around, a coworkers clock has the wrong date, a mysterious agent drugs a colleague....wait
Yes, there is an Orwellian 1984 vibe running through all of this, with influences from Kubrick and with other Unreal engine powered games like Bioshock and Dishonored coming to mind from the aesthetic. Dishonored especially comes to mind when you are in the safehouse, within the sewers and where you can collect anything not tied down. Even so, it has its unique look, and the vibrant aesthetic works to hammer the joy addiction rather pleasantly.
Once outside of the safehouse, it is quite a large playable area, with sidequests and a few missions. It feels generous knowing a lot of other games on the 360 had tiny contained demos. However, the procedural generated map felt a bit samey, with few real surprises in the architecture in a way that other games with fixed levels tend to have. The sidequest of clearing a pond of syringes felt like it could have been placed anywhere within a hundred metres of the safehouse for example.
Then the actual game happens, and the unique facade begins to reveal this as a survival game. Being a novice to the whole idea, I didn't really enjoy the way you need to constantly sleep, eat and drink. The meters felt like they were draining far too quickly, or that the minute you sort one of the meters, another would drain almost too quickly or inconveniently. I feel there could be tweaks needed to make the game more enjoyable for novices of the genre; maybe have it so that the ramifications are less severe than death, or the meters drain slower, or perhaps an option to change settings in a difficulty menu.
Being a fan of the later Far Cry games, I did dig a full crafting system. The inventory for the preview build is large enough for most needs, and you eventually take any little item just because the space is there for you to. Having items you craft break after a few uses was a nagging issue. Like the survival system, the degradation was too quick to be enjoyable, and looks like it needs a set of difficulty tweaks for a wider range of players.
I hated the combat, but since the game emphasises stealth in public in areas, it doesn't look like its the games intention for a full combat experience. However, I did feel like the use of weapons on downers and bobbies was a weak point, with stiff animations and a lack of enemy feedback to how much damage you are inflicting. You also get downed an awful lot from even trying it out, so avoid at all costs. This looks like another aspect to improve.
Finally, there are a few other interface issues that are notably absent or could do with a tweak. The lack of a safe zone for the HUD hurt my enjoyment, as the main menu text cut off to the side of my screen, and gamma correction could do with a picture that needs adjusting to the suitable shade of grey. Otherwise, options are fairly standard for a console version, but add in the aforementioned difficulty adjustments and this may be a lot better for the novice players.
My takeaway thought is that I am not sure if the Xbox One should adopt early access the way Steam has. While We Happy Few looks like it will be more polished and narratively stronger in the final game, its not as enjoyable as a demo might have been, and I have a feeling that some players may be turned off by the existing chinks in the armour. A demo of the full version would have got me more excited for the final game than testing the unfinished build that starts out strong, but gets clunky when in the actual game. Still, its worth watching out for when the final build comes along because of its art style and setting. I do want to see what comes of its world and the characters attempting to escape it. Reviews and player feedback on the final game will be a better bet than buying at midnight on launch.
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