Compulsion Games launched a Kickstarter on June 4 for their new game We Happy Few.
The Montreal based company is looking for $250,000 to develop their game, developing mechanics and the story. Compulsion team of 11 is looking to get as much feedback and fan involvement as possible to avoid any issues as with their 2013 release, Contrast.
We Happy Few, takes place in an alternate 1964 England, in a town called Wellington Wells. The citizens of the town are all in a sedated state because of the drug called “Joy”. The drug is used to keep them to keep the citizens from remembering the “Very Bad Thing” they had to do in 1933 when the Germans were in England, with the side effect of memory loss.
The three protagonists are “Downers”, who are underground rebels. The three characters are played separately, and come with their own skills and stories which are intertwined.
As Downers, the player must make it out of the town without getting caught by the Wellies. In order to do that, keeping a low key and pretending to be on Joy is important. If caught acting out like running or killing people in your way, the citizens will come after you and use any means – even violent ones – necessary.
You also need to maintain your food and water levels. With most of it laced with Joy, there is also a meter showing you how much has been consumed. It affects the way you see things, like making them hazy and bright. Overdosing will cause you to black out and start over, missing out on a day that could have been spent escaping.
Watch out for doctors who can sniff out your lack of Joy, nosy old women who want to know your business, and Bobbies.
If that wasn’t hard enough, Wellington is a procedurally generated world, so every run through will be different. Trying to navigate without any map will pose as a challenge.
The pre-alpha version of We Happy Few was showcased at PAX East where players got their hands on the game. Many people weren’t impressed with Contrast (there were a lot of bugs and bad reviews), but a Bioshock-like game with themes of Brave New World seems to show some promise, but it’s still a bit early to tell.
According to Polygon, Compulsion Games is looking to release an early version on Steam Early Access. Their hope is to get feedback to better develop the game, particularly on gameplay mechanics and story.
The Kickstarter runs until July 4. The only platform that has been confirmed is PC.
