We Happy Few is the 214th episode of the comedy web series Honest Game Trailers. It was written by Andrew Bird, Max Song, & Spencer Gilbert. It was narrated by Jon Bailey as Epic Voice Guy. It parodies the action-adventure game We Happy Few. It was published on August 21, 2018. We Happy Few was originally published on Smosh Games, but is currently available on Fandom Games. It has been viewed over 600k times.
Watch Honest Game Trailers - We Happy Few on YouTube
"From the publishers of Borderlands and Fortnite, comes the game that asks the question: what if we made Bioshock, but about anti-depressants?" ~ Honest Game Trailers - We Happy Few
Script
The following trailer is rated H for honest. From the publishers of some of gaming's most popular shooters -- and some of its hardest flops, comes a game that asks the question: What if we made Bioshock but about antidepressants?
We Happy Few
Uncover the unhappy history of We Happy Few that got funded through the curled monkey's paw of the internet: Kickstarter, where good game ideas go to die. Then was revealed to the world in a main stage E3 trailer that got everyone's hopes nice and high. Only to dash them to the ground when it turned out to be a procedurally generated survival game, causing the developers to spend two years in early access trying to make it into the linear story everyone wanted it to be. And getting maybe half of the way there! In a gameplay experience that's less Dishonored and more Dead Island. You're gonna make me fill survival meters and I can't even get fully nude? This is way behind the genre!
Jump in to the brave new world of Wellington Wells, an apocalyptic reimagining of a fictional Britain. Where the inhabitants are heavily medicated, society is run by an oppressive government, and everyone is wearing the Anonymous mask. Then step into the shoes of the three protagonists, featuring: Arthur Hastings, an awkward British everyman searching for his brother; Sally Boyle, a chemist looking for a way out with her daughter by doing a Breaking Bad; and Ollie, the drunk, diabetic war vet Scotsman that really stretches the limit on how many racial stereotypes you can fit into one character. Watch as they struggle through a series of strange and surreal set-pieces that will really grab your attention -- just enough to distract you from how cartoonishly British everything is! In a story that feels like the developers watched Austin Powers and A Clockwork Orange once, and designed a whole world around it. Seriously? You drink tea to heal? What do I have to do to get a skill point? Start a colony?!
Prepare yourself for the monotonous gameplay of We Happy Few. That tries to make stealth, action, survival, and crafting -- and doesn't really nail any of them! With clunky combat that has little-to-no variety, stealth that's either overpowered or completely useless, a ton of items that you hardly ever need to use, and a thirst, hunger and sleep meter that don't add anything to the experience. As the story always feels like it's about to get interesting, but just ends up being a different flavor of fetch quest. In a gameplay experience that's about as fun as actually living on the street!
Meet the idiots who populate this surreal slice of Britain -- all with identical dopey faces like a town full of Funko Pops! And discover an AI so profoundly broken you can literally get away with pretty much anything you want! As you sneak around right in front of them, break into houses, chokehold the residents and steal all their stuff, and straight-up murder people in broad daylight! Until you forget to wear the right suit or something, and the whole town swarms around you're like a crowd of angry bees because you're not poor enough! There's only so many little old ladies you can stun-baton before it gets stale. You know what I mean?! Sorry Gram-Gram!
So take those pharmaceuticals and get that mojo flowing for another in a long line of unfortunate Kickstarters that bit off more crumpet than they could chew, and created a game that's only going to make a few people happy. Because for all its faults, at least they delivered something close to what was promised. Speaking of which, how's Star Citizen coming along? [News headline: Court denies Star Citizen's backers $4,500 refund lawsuit] Yikes.
Starring: Austin Powerless; The One Who Rears; Groundskeeper Willie; Of Mice And Big Ben; Genderbent Georgie; Evil Michael Caine; Little Illusion Annie; and Piers Morgan.
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The honest title for We Happy Few was 'Charles Dickens 2000.' Titles designed by Robert Holtby.
Charles Dickens 2000
Look, I know that they used British voice actors, but I haven't heard dialogue this bad since Keanu Reeves and Winona Rider in Dracula.
Keanu: "We can be married when I return."
Winona: "Of course."
Keanu: "I'll write!"
Ugh!
Reception
Honest Game Trailers - We Happy Few has a 98.0% approval rating from YouTube viewers.
Production credits
Video thumbnail for Honest Game Trailers - We Happy Few.
Executive Producers: Matt Raub and Spencer Gilbert
Episode Written by: Andrew Bird, Max Song, & Spencer Gilbert
Voiceover Narration by Jon Bailey