We Happy Few

There is an uncountable amount of completely valid complaints to be made about We Happy Few so we'll start there. The game is incredibly buggy even though most of the truly game-breaking bugs have been patched. In my own opinion, I don't consider this too much of an issue simply because it can cause for some pretty funny gameplay moments but admittedly does also take away from the immersion quite often. The stealth aspects of the gameplay are simply not very interesting or exciting but necessary if you don't want to spend hours on end collecting materials for crafting healing items (something I personally disregarded purely because it's hilarious the amount of bodies you can pile up in a heavily populated area). In addition, the stealth system is just lazy and mostly boils down to running into designated "safe" spots if you're being chased. The "joy" system is very surface-level and could've been built to be so much better considering how integral the system is to the core story. It's more an annoyance than anything and you will inevitably fill the bar and deal with the debuffs at some point; you just have to hope it's not at a crucial time. Generally, the gameplay is simply not very immersive.

HOWEVER, although this seems so far to be a scathing review, the positive aspects for me make up for these issues massively. I find the story incredibly immersive and really enjoy it and I would be lying if I said each characters' endings didn't make me very emotional. The aesthetic of the game is objectively fantastic and it creates a really immersive dystopian world. The main characters are heavily flawed and you may come to heavily disagree with things your character does or says, but their flaws are not irredeemable, especially in the dystopian world you are placed in. Despite the gameplay not being the most polished or interesting at times, it's still a game I can't help but be excited the play purely for the world they've built. And the best part of that world is the culture. The Make Believes are genuinely a fantastic band and I adore their songs (many being mainstays in my Spotify playlists) and the various other media from television to radio broadcasts are things I always get excited to find, combining the dispositions of real English media from the time and the dystopian aesthetic they've built, at times reminding me of "the quiz channel" sketches from That Mitchell and Webb Look.

Overall, despite its flaws (and there are many), I really really enjoyed We Happy Few and plan on replaying it soon.