We Happy Few

There’s not much wrong with We Happy Few that can’t be fixed with some patches, and regardless of what happens there, the game has a narrative that is brave, intelligently crafted, and so incredibly poignant. There’s a reason that this game is set in the immediate aftermath of World War 2, and it’s something that people should be paying attention to, as inconvenient as that is, because it tells us an awful lot about what’s going on today. Focus on that, and the game’s other flaws become almost redundant in comparison.

Gamer EscapeAndrew "Fusionx" Copeland

7/10

We Happy Few is an interesting game. It has a story that can quickly switch between dark and hysterical as you move through it, leaving you wanting to know more about the world of Wellington Wells. Because of the optional difficulty choices, Compulsion Games has created an interesting world that anyone can enjoy, regardless of their gaming skills and that in itself is something that should be applauded. At the end of the day, however, this world can present some odd bugs. While not perfect, W...

Gaming NexusNicholas Leon

6.5/10

The ideas of power, giving in to hegemonic cycles just to feel safe, and other gameplay systems are unfortunately overshadowed by the technical hiccups found in the game's software. It's a shame, because this game could have been good.

Video ChumsTyler Hall

5.8/10

After a long and turbulent development period and an early access release, We Happy Few is finally available in its (mostly) finished form. However, does it have what it takes to make this reviewer happy?

Press StartBrodie Gibbons

5/10

After being revealed to a reasonable amount of fanfare, it's fair to say that We Happy Few is one of the year's biggest disappointments. Though there's a lot of the BioShock fingerprint evident here, this lineage isn't ever lived up to. The story, characters and the character of the world itself are positively to die for and exist as the game's few triumphs. It's a beautiful disaster of a game and was perhaps too ambitious for a developer so green as bugs, frustrating A.I. and a slipshod procedural generation robs We Happy Few of any chance it had to be great.

Push SquareGraham Banas

5/10

We Happy Few is a confusing game at first glance. It’s got the trappings, grand scale, and look of a AAA title. But dig a little deeper, and it’s really an indie title masquerading as one of the “big boys”. Given that just about everyone in the game wears a mask, this is a rather enjoyable double entendre, but the real question is ultimately whether developer Compulsion Games – one of the studios Microsoft announced it had acquired at this year’s E3 conference – was able to make us happy with its game. And the answer to that is: it’s complicated.

DualShockersLou Contaldi

4.5/10

There's no doubt a ton of positive elements to We Happy Few, but it seems like a fantastic world clouded over by overzealousness on the part of Compulsion Games. While they should be lauded for their hand in crafting a world that I wanted to dissect every inch of, too much of the game feels like filler for its own good. Perhaps with a little Joy, We Happy Few could be more palatable to modern audiences.

VideogamerColm Ahern

4/10

While We Happy Few's story contains some genuinely wonderful twists and turns once it gets going, it's dragged down by frustrating survival systems, shoddy combat, and an empty world.

Xbox AchievementsDan Webb

40/100

We Happy Few is a case of quantity over quality. A by-the-numbers venture whose game world seems to have been populated by a script rather than being handcrafted. Despite moments of what could only be described as brilliance, We Happy Few is full of fetch quests, boring busy-work and some of the most baffling design decisions in the history of video games. Oh, and it’s broken as shit too. Happy? Not really, no.

The OuterHavenBy Karl Smart

We Happy Few is a game that began it's life on Kickstarter before being picked up by Gearbox and Microsoft where it could be polished up and given the life it was meant to have. However what we got in return was something that should have spent a lot more time in a program like - Read our full Gaming News on The Outerhaven .

GameLusterLaura Ward

0/10

We Happy Few went from being a ‘little known’ indie game to one of the most anticipated games of the year after Microsoft’s E3 conference.

MonsterVineDiego Escala

With this “final” release, the game sees an evolution from a survival game into one that resembles something more like an adventure title, but what’s here just doesn’t do much and its piss poor mission structure hinders what little is there. The basic goal of each character is to leave the island and missions play out like this: reach a roadblock on the way to your goal, character has inner-monologue that Person #1 has the McGuffin that will let you past the roadblock, go see Person #1, they say they won’t give you the current McGuffin unless you fetch something for them, do that, receive your...