What Went Wrong? - We Happy Few

[@WickedWiz]

The amount of times I accidentally said We Hello Neighfew while reading the script, has me worried that this series is giving me permanent bron dmg

[@slugcatsu]

*raisn* *bron*

[@bromomento3862]

The Bron Jame

[@kaytie_art]

bron

[@DitisEmile]

Bron dmg.

[@panda-rw9ck]

Bro dw, that bron dmg does hit hard sometimes

[@xyonblade]

it would have been interesting if the "memory loss" you suffer from the drugs actually caused the maps to randomly be re-generated and have locations change places, and not suffering from "memory loss" would keep the map from changing.

[@cyan.cephalopod]

This is a genius idea

[@videoms1271]

Yeah, I thought it would have some effect on the map other than being slightly worse than withdrawal

[@headcrabking9054]

I figured that it might impact the perk system. like if you have memory damage perhaps random perks disappear or you take longer to get new ones

[@felwraithgaming]

@@headcrabking9054 I think that having your perks be randomly changed over predetermined intervals while suffering from memory loss would do quite well, because the game was already being loosely compared to Bioshock, which jas an endgame sequence where collecting a quest item limited you to a single ability that would periodically cycle through a predetermined list of abilities that would always be the same, even if you didnt own some of the items in the list. Then again, making the perks change randomly might be extremely frustrating, since you would have to check your menu constantly to see what you habe to deal with, interrupting gameplay, whereas with the Bioshock example, you could immediately tell when a switch was happening, but you didnt have to go into any menus to see what changed. Perhaps making it so that the map was unreadable while experiencing a memory loss, or randomly changing your equipped weapon while hiding the contents of your inventory would be an interesting approach, seeing as that would force the player to think on the fly whenever their weapon changed, or try to re-equip their weapon while not being able to see what they are equipping, perhaps while normal gameplay was still happening as you were inventory like how it works in Minecraft would be interesting.

[@OrangeDog20]

I _think_ that happens when you play the classic/survival mode, but it's been a while since I tried it.

[@scottdixon2505]

The price point is a massive issue. Alot of the problems with the game can be forgiven when the games like 15 bucks. But if you're gonna charge 60, it should be very well polished.

[@garbagechannel42]

Most $60 games aren't very well polished.

[@seigeengine]

Imagine seeing a game that took a team of people years to make and being like "yeah, this is worth the price of a shit meal."

[@Jeltea]

@@seigeengine Even if it took people quite a few years it would still be overcharging if the game is hardly even playable at times, If people are gonna spend their own hard earned money and their own valuable time on a game they at least want to be playable and have a fun experience That seems pretty reasonable to me

[@thatchedrooves1204]

@@seigeengine dont know where you get your meals but 15 dollars can get some good food, and how long people worked on it or how much "heart" they put in it doesnt matter, if the game sucks and is overpriced, the game sucks and is overpriced

[@datguy1250]

@@seigeengine who cares if it took them years to make they failed to make it properly therfore it isn't worth 60 bucks

[@nrishiee5231]

I think the worst part about we happy few is the fact that you can see how much effort went into the game. It's dripping with personality, the voice work is stellar, and it's by no means a small game. It's just a shame, really. a series of poor decisions and execution led to what we have now. it could have been so much more.

[@gajendrasinghchouhan7877]

Sony putted out an impossible to meet deadline so I kinda feel for them

[@liquidsweg4858]

@@gajendrasinghchouhan7877 huh?

[@mareksicinski3726]

I don’t really like it when people say ‘personality’ like that I don’t think I like the art direction at all

[@mihailomaljkovic2658]

Poorly optimized, but had so much potential

[@nrishiee5231]

@@mareksicinski3726 well, suit yourself. personally i love the world and style created here, and i know im not the only one.

[@carbonscythe]

I actually liked that the city looked differently depending on who you were playing, it gave a sense of "this character is more familiar with this area".

[@ImYourCherryBomb]

@levichicwown9760multiple unique games have been recently released since this game and beloved. I’m glad you liked this game, seriously I am, but to boil it down to ‘nobody is happy with unique games these days’ is dishonest and ignoring the blatant problems the game and its development had, and no offense but the gaming industry needs less ass kissers.

[@mika-yy7gk]

@@ImYourCherryBombain’t that deep lil bro

[@ImYourCherryBomb]

@@mika-yy7gk as someone getting into the industry and seeing how this ass kissery had made the industry toxic filth? It is. Don’t make excuses.

[@CountessKek]

​@levichicwown9760me too!!!😢

[@Krispyy606]

Except it is ​@@mika-yy7gk

[@Koselill]

Honestly I never understood why it was a survival game. It clearly was more suited towards a bioshock like game. They could have made it more open world, but when you make such an incredible story, why would you make the world ever lasting?

[@baronvonlimbourgh1716]

Seems like the game completely changed half way trough and they didn't have the financial ability to start from scratch. I think if they had just scrapped it and started over and made it a story driven game it would have been a masive succes.

[@Neremworld]

@@baronvonlimbourgh1716 That is how it feels, I think. I did enjoy my time with the game, though it helped that somehow none of the bugs happened for now. Dunno how.

[@kwiiin_]

BioShock is actually good, lol. WHF has so many problems- from the one(!) telecreen, copy paste grandmas, forgettable story, no survival mechanics that make sense, the enemies forget you, you can bypass all of them by walking AROUND each city, the only female is a woman who OF COURSE got raped and OF COURSE delivers the baby and her gameplay is literally FEED A BABY. This game was so hyped and I was so excited and it's absolute rubbish.

[@Shenaldrac]

@@baronvonlimbourgh1716 It really doesn't take much money to _remove_ mechanics though. Get rid of the survival bars, remove them from the UI. You don't need to start from scratch, just get rid of the by then overdone survival mechanics.

[@baronvonlimbourgh1716]

@@Shenaldrac was more talking about the procedual generation or whatever it is called haha of the world. Scrapping that and building a fixed world probably was not in the budget. But yeah, it most likely was just inexperience. Shame though.

[@Am_Yeff]

the "You overdosed and have memory loss now" wouldve been such a great thing to use to regenerate the map or something

[@bschneidez]

If there was technology for that, it would be a groundbreaking game mechanic and incredible use of random gemeration... The map changing around you mid-game... I don't think that has ever been done before outside of scripted changes

[@Am_Yeff]

@@bschneidez Wiz mentioned the map randomly regenerating during his playthrough so it can be done

[@bschneidez]

@@Am_Yeff - man that would have been awesome then

[@FirebaII0]

@@bschneidez yeh woulda loved it

[@arandomcommenter412]

Completely changing the map? I feel like that would get partially frustrating and not to mention the load times to completely change the map.

[@ensuredchaos8098]

It's sad to see a company that's aware of its own issues, has done research on failed attempts at games, and most importantly prioritized listening to its fanbase failed so badly, don't find many like that anymore. They had the right mindset but after the price hike and controversial deal with Gearbox they screwed themselves over from the start.

[@legatelaurie]

I'm hoping that whatever they go on to make will be better as most of their issues with not having enough time or resources will be done away with now that Microsoft own them

[@Xeronoia]

Listening to its fanbase excessively, along with even having a fan base before it was fully finished, probably contributed pretty heavily to its failure tbh.

[@cs40660]

apparently their next project is a third person story driven game, if they simplify the mechanics and focus on polishing their storyboard team will carry the rest. They can write and design great worlds and the art style is fucking mint. be interesting to see

[@slickl9608]

Well, not to split hairs but the Gearbox thing happened later in development. So there's a version of the game that ended up being price appropriate

[@sunbleachedangel]

They did it to themselves

[@Sweet_Reverb]

That's the saddest part about indie games, getting big is the worst thing that could possibly happen. Nothing but love to the devs that tried their best. This would have made one hell of a good movie or a short series.

[@magistermartin3996]

its a shit show of the community when getting big is a problem

[@Gamer3427]

I wouldn't say getting big is the problem, necessarily, so much as the devs letting it go to their heads and making them think they can accomplish more than they can and do it all at once. There's plenty of indie games that stayed the course despite their success, and turned out really well. Look at stuff like Terraria and Stardew Valley. They paced themselves and added new content slowly over time, without making too big of promises, rather than getting caught up with ideas and trying to implement them all at launch. This game could have worked really well if they focused on the core experience, making a procedural open world experience that felt good, then slowly over time added things like "story vignettes" as a side mode where you could play through these characters' stories on their own in a tighter gaming experience.

[@Kiannka]

Yeppp. I feel like it should have been an interactive movie/experience at most, a full game just didn't really work

[@alpharius1497]

Fingers crossed for team cherry then

[@playernotfound9489]

i mean, terraria,minecraft and cuphead

[@Flame1500]

I’m gonna be honest, I had no idea this game had procedurally generated terrain. When playing as Sally I realised some key destinations had changed. As Ollie I got softlocked instantly in the opening sequence and there was no way for me to go back to the beginning. Now knowing about the procedural generation it’s blindingly obvious that the problem from the beginning was how dead-set they were on bringing this into the final game. The truth is, the linear story of this game means that any replayability gained from the terrain generation is instantly spoiled by it simply being you running for a longer/shorter length of time to get to the handcrafted missions. Great concept, poor execution.

[@thejest69]

what could have been done was give two characters the linear stories and they go without the procedurally generated maps and missions, while one character has a very loose story, and the one with always-changing maps and missions, so their chapter can be the one that's replayed over and over, while the game still has its clear story.

[@mbii7667]

Procedurally-generated anything is crap, why can't they just properly design a game? (I enjoyed We Happy Few but it shouldn't have had randomized anything)

[@Flame1500]

@@mbii7667 Generally that is true, although Minecraft and Terraria rock. This game is just simply not built for it though

[@detBits]

@@mbii7667 Left4Dead's "Director" is a happy middle ground for a linear campaign.

[@marcosdheleno]

procedural quests can be done well, so long they arent the only thing the game has to offer, if, for example, you have a game like skyrim or fallout, its ok to have a "hunters guild" that has fetch quests. be it killing random mobs, randomized buffed enemies or so on. there are games that all they have to offer are randomized stuff, like pretty much every arpg. and they can be absurdly popular. but you need to make them worth having in the game, be it a low intensity for quick money, or something extra like having these randomized special mobs that are worth hunting, like for example a giant demon possessed cow that breaths fire, or a small normal frog that summons skeletons every time it jumps. the reason they didnt work with skyrim is because their game is already set to a randomized experience, that when you do it more obvious, it looks like a lesser encounter.

[@ShockedLogic]

I will never forget how interested everyone was in this game when it was first revealed, and the collective, immediate disappointment the moment all those survival meters showed up. This was at the height of when steam was drowning in survival crafting games and everyone was tired of them, so it was almost heartbreaking when the new dystopia drug-trip game suddenly seemed like it was just another one. Pairing that with the AAA price tag killed a lot of peoples interest.

[@Holgast]

I backed this on Kickstarter....I wonder if people could ask for refunds after it was revealed, some months after the Kickstarter, that it was a crafting/survival game.

[@michaelroberts5165]

The fixityuxg tx t

[@Goremize]

Yeah, really it was the timing. I remember for a good year we had sooooo many survival games releasing. Playing it now not knowing what was going on at the time would explain the different reactions. If all of these same people played it when it released, none of them would be saying they liked the game.

[@BIacklce]

what we wanted: a story-driven linearish stealth-lite with this dytopian mod-60s aesthetic what we got: open world survival drivel

[@DIEGhostfish]

@@BIacklce From what I watched the survival seemed secondary, and it wasn't that open world

[@Wojtek54829]

I love how in the game the maids outfit counts as proper so you can wear it everywhere and beat the game

[@white2765]

Simps?

[@archevenault]

@@white2765 We're all simps for Ollie in the maid outfit. Nothing sexier than a large Scotsman in a frilly apron.

[@lastchanc3stars]

@@archevenault *wheeze*

[@HankJWimbleton-v1m]

There should've been an achievement for that, not gonna lie.

[@DecayOpossum]

@@HankJWimbleton-v1m Getting the achievement should reward you with cat ears and a cat tail for Ollie that can be worn with the maid outfit.

[@ozthebeeman]

Man imagine if this was just a narrative driven game. it looks so stylish and cool, like Dr who with a unique style colour. and by god I LOVE that walking animation, dk why. it really seems like they were stuck between a narrative driven game and an open world survival game. it really is a damn shame

[@MikeMurrayFTW]

This could have been a Bioshock-level classic if they hadn't tried to crowbar in features.

[@ozthebeeman]

@@MikeMurrayFTW so true

[@Uhreg]

this was awesome for that part. trying to "open world survival" killed the game :(

[@ozthebeeman]

@@Uhreg so true I really wanted to play this game as the lore is just a master piece and I love the humour and the style it's so good but it has the worst gameplay and that killed it

[@retro2103]

@@Uhreg That's kind of the issue. They started the kickstarter with that particular pitch. People paid them a lot of money, it would be unethical to just scrap that entire premise because that's what people paid for. It was tied to its procedural survival roots even as the game evolved beyond the need for it, they tried to make it work. Sadly it didn't.

[@thatguyusee7604]

The DLCs, especially We All Fall Down, showed that Compulsion were great at designing levels. So I don't know why they went for janky, random world gen for the main acts. Still love the story and its characters, though!

[@andrehashimoto8056]

more like the DLC was them FINALLY understanding WHAT they did wrong in the base game that CRAPPED everything

[@caiustox]

But wasn't it explained? The game started as a Kickstarter campaign for random world gen because it was cheaper, and the project scope wasn't big to begin with. When the game started to get coverage and lots of people interested asking for a common narrative game, they tried to implement it but didn't want to scrap their original pitch because of the people who backed and believed on their game from the beginning. It was a really sad situation for all parts involved.

[@giftedfox4748]

They went with the random world gen to give a false sense of a new playthrough. Like what Wiz said, "they wanted a game with a lot of re playability." Plus with how cheap it is to create a game with a gen means they have to just make a few assets, rooms, characters, so on. First it was weighing the costs and all, but then greed showed up and here we are...

[@blueues]

In the documentary the devs made for the game this issue is addressed as to why this happened, and why the dlc is different. It's a pretty good watch tbh so I reccomend it if you're interested in the game's development

[@dollgen]

I'd actually defend the decision to have procedural generation initially when they were designing a survival rogue-lite. It's not an inherently lazy or cheap decision and many games do it well. Maybe some of the people in this thread just don't enjoy that genre, but it's still legitimate. That said, when they pivoted to a AAA story-first game they should have made a fixed map.

[@timogul]

"Pretending I'm not there in hopes I'll leave them alone." DAMN, I WANT that mechanic in a stealth game! Have plenty of guards in the game that are coded and animated in such a way that they make clear they know that you're there, but that they are actively ignoring you because they know they can't take you. Too many AI are berserkers, or, at best, total cowards that will flee in terror, but "pragmatically ignorant" is a cool middle ground.

[@lordpumpkinhead265]

S-Tier Idea. If you overpower guards to an extent that they know you could kick their ass, but not to a point where your mere presence is terrifying, guards will try to avoid noticing anything you do until you cross a line, at which point they attack. If guards know you're an easy target, they rush you down with reckless abandon, and if guards know you can and probably will snap them in half within the next ten seconds, they flee.

[@timogul]

@@lordpumpkinhead265 I'm kind of picturing a guard standing in front of a doorway, and as you stealth up toward them, they sort of take a few steps to the side, widely clearing the way for you to get by, one. . . by. . . one, and then if you get too close still they take a few steps forward, all carefully avoiding eye contact. :D

[@lordpumpkinhead265]

@@timogul If you get right up next to them they start whistling to try and sound calm.

[@mr.mistersquidspongesquare9652]

reminds me of how enemies in earthbound avoid you if you're too strong

[@rocksnrolls]

@@lordpumpkinhead265 this is honestly AMAZING as an idea. However, coding that AI would be incredibly difficult for a game developer. Though, would be insanely fun to play. Imagining a guard looking into a room that's on his patrol route and seeing blood pooling in the center of the room, and spots a tall dark figure (the player character) in a dark corner. Said guard looks in for a few moments before turning around and slowly walking away.

[@EJV1490]

I was mainly angry that there are three flavors of joy and three characters yet they all get strawberry missed opportunity

[@jennawatermelon358]

i always thought i was the one picking strawberry (f vanilla & chocolate!) i never even knew you couldn’t pick the other ones 😭

[@emwimm]

I always wanted the choice to have vanilla.

[@XhumpersX]

They explain why at one point. They're not the same compounds and the blackberry joy is a huge plot point in the second chapter.

[@bossowl33]

@@XhumpersX thats what i was gonna say the "new flavor" is an experiment for a new dangerous joy

[@SERPENT741]

tell me you didn’t play the story without telling me you didn’t play the story lmao..

[@miffedakko9312]

My dad is an even bigger gamer than me, and about a week ago he texted me "I started playing we happy few." I didn't see it at the time cause I was at work, but then about 4 hours later he texted back "I changed my mind."

[@entropic-decay]

Sticking with procedurally-generated environments despite the shift in the game's focus to story-related stuff did this game a massive disservice, I think. One of the best things you can do as a game developer (or as a development studio) is to know when to remove or rework a mechanic when it no longer serves to make the game better.

[@FFKonoko]

Except the procedural generation was the original concept for a reason, the amount of time and such to craft entire world carefully is different to creating procedural generation..

[@RedLancerMoto]

@@FFKonoko lol

[@andrehashimoto8056]

@@FFKonoko except that shit ISN'T GOING TO WORK for a STORY DRIVEN GAME... a reshift THAT DRASTIC means THE CORE ALSO NEEDS to be revised. there's shit that WILL NEVER PAIR WELL in game design, one of which is PROCEDURAL GENERATION and a LINEAR STORY

[@maddieb.4282]

@@FFKonoko your opinion is a great example of the sunk cost fallacy

[@rafterman5072]

@@FFKonoko The issue is that the procedural generation and survival aspect of this game was broken and boring. They really needed to admit that to themselves and just move ahead with a linear story driven game. It’s a shame because the story and concept for this game is really quite good.

[@benpeterson831]

the first 10 minutes of this game actually gave me chills. it was so cool and disturbing. especially the rat scene. but then you escape, and suddenly the game turns into an annoying walking simulator. this could’ve been such a cool game. but they really missed opportunities.

[@ScottyDont1945]

I think they wasted a lot of their energy at the start of the game, its like putting all your effort into the first punch then just resorting to baby slaps because you're now exhausted

[@HankJWimbleton-v1m]

​@@ScottyDont1945 I feel like these games have teached me that interesting concepts aren't as nearly important as the execution of said concepts. Sure, it sounds legitimately cool on paper at first glance, but the way it was implemented felt very shoddy.

[@pflo1543]

@@HankJWimbleton-v1m light 🕯️🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨 hgoggggggggoggggggggg

[@Caffeinated-DaVinci]

Totally agree. I think We Happy Few's biggest problem was the actual genre of game they decided on after the frankly amazing prologue. If the entire game was more like the opening 10 minutes instead of a randomly generated survival crafting game, maybe something more akin to Bioshock, it would've been so much better.

[@midnights2631]

I agree, I loved the first 10 minutes watching a playthrough video but afterwards.... it's sad because it looks and sounds so good.

[@EastyyBlogspot]

The procedural part was one of my biggest disappointments.....really hoping for well designed levels and memorable locations

[@volcranoii7709]

I really don’t know why they chose that, I was hoping for something like Rapture.

[@volcranoii7709]

@Mike will What are you talking about?

[@ActualDavis]

that's the thing, there was literally no benefit to procedural worldgen in this game. They should have either scrapped it or went all-in and make the quests, story, and NPCs have procedural elements too. As it stands the game just feels like a confused mess that doesn't really know what it wants to be.

[@112523]

Good procedural games do exist but they often have limits to where key locations can be. Like the game dark wood (only one i can think off) The map is always different but key locations are always in the same biomes and logical locations. So on replay it will still be vastly different but you still benefit from the experience. Which is nice cuz it's hardest mode is an ironman mode

[@112523]

@@volcranoii7709 you shouldn't have expected such a thing from an indie game tho

[@Tnt0Tony0Tnt]

"banned in australia for glorification of illegal substances" the entire plot of the game is drugs are bad. governments really telling on themselves that they make uninformed desicions

[@watappp]

Yea but u do drugs in this game

[@Yewtewba]

Pretty dumb, in "Lisa: the Painful" you get stronger and a health restoration when you do joy. Then again it has massive long term side effects and doesn't change the visual. Also its graphics are 2d sprite... Maybe that's their issue, "drugs make everything look gorgeous and there's no downside".

[@poisonpotato1]

The drugs in the game make you happy and make everything look better... that's glorifying it

[@Tnt0Tony0Tnt]

@poisonpotato1 the drugs in the game also made a rat look like a cake in which everyone was eating and you were required by the government to take them or else. that's not glorifying it

[@HaveSomeHalloweenSpirit]

In the game they literally tell you that the entire city the game is set in is going to shit BECAUSE of joy, and later you find out that joy gives people brain damage. For fucks sake it's very obviously telling you that they are BAD

[@taxfraud498]

I genuinely loved this game. Whether that be the setting, the story, mechanics, etc. But a guy can only get clipped into the floor so many times.

[@OysterCupcake]

True

[@stingerjohnny9951]

A lot of Elder Scrolls and Fallout fans sympathize with you.

[@bioticgod]

For me the WORST part of all was mission locations making you WALK 10 minutes straight from one place to the next. Not being able to run or not being able to go out at night when there's literally no other path was just too excrutiating for me. Edit: I loved the story and the combat was fine. But I could not get past Sally's arc

[@Sadaaaaf]

I watched Mark play and nothing happened (he didn’t finish the game tho THATS sad)

[@p.s7730]

It did have a bomb ass soundtrack though, really did have a Beatles feel too it

[@zacr7698]

This game was made to represent what it's like to spend one whole day in England.

[@jasonphillips5816]

Sounds like someone hasn't been taking their Joy!

[@jerrymartin7019]

Untrue. I tried to assault a downie in the street and the police arrested me instead of joining in.

[@ScottyDont1945]

Have to act overly nice? Check Have to take drugs just to be able to leave the house? Check Tea? Check British? Check

[@bluemax956]

@@ScottyDont1945 Oh yeah, don’t forget about the fish and chips! I like them myself, so check.

[@akizza47]

A mix of this and bloodborne for sure. AWAY FOUL BEASTS

[@Tytoalba777]

Basically, in summary, it's a game with an identity crisis. It started off as an urban survival game where each game was slightly different and the story was secondary, but became a plot-driven game where those survival elements hindered it.

[@zoltanz288]

yup. the devs clearly didnt really have a vision for this.

[@CosmicChris]

So... basically a shitty version of Pathologic?

[@friendofp.24]

Sounds like Subnautica. Subnautica's story is pretty bad as well but the mere experience of being underwater is so captivating that it carries the game.

[@Cronatic]

@@friendofp.24 No idea what you're on about the story was great. It's the bugs and poor optimization that drag the game down. Sub-zero story was mediocre though.

[@videoms1271]

@@Cronatic the story is hyperborean bullshit.

[@rooknizan2923]

I feel like at most, the memory loss thing could've been used to regenerate the map. At least, it could've made you forget some things, like skills, or make you misplace/drop things accidentally, "forgetting" them from your inventory.

[@desireesmith862]

If I think of the idea of We Happy Few I say to myself,”there was no reason for it for be procedurally generated.” Then when I remember there are three main character campaigns taking place in the same area I think to myself, “There are more reasons for it to not be procedurally generated.”

[@pixiehellpup1579]

I feel like they wanted to convey that sense of "Woops off meds- Time to not know where I am at any given moment." Without thinking about what that might do to the game play on a technical aspect. Its like they get distracted by the concept of ~Vibe~ and focus on that and then think 10% into thinking about the game play. They wanted to tell a story not play a game. But this is a game. So they needed to make a structure first before tacking on cool ideas.

[@desireesmith862]

@@pixiehellpup1579 I see. I’ve never thought of it that way. I thought they were just immensely pleased with their procedural generation that they pasted it everywhere they could. (Hmm seems like someone in this scenario are off their meds just not the characters or players…) As he pointed out in the video it broke immersion. When I initially saw that the seed had changed I was devastated. Just why.

[@charlesblasini2134]

I just don't understand why they couldn't just use a single generation for all three acts

[@ValkyrieFryea]

They had one when they first gave whispers of a story being made and they should have kept it at one. We Happy Few was the last game I ever backed as I was immensely let down. I really loved the alpha and beta phases of the game and was excited to always provide feedback. Story came along and we figured there would be one character as we only ever played as one.... And then it kind of derailed.

[@casanovafunkenstein5090]

Judging by the quotes from the developer it seems procedural generation was core to the original GDD, so arguably the way that they decided to tell the story was what caused the issues, but I do agree that if they had dropped that feature in order to give a more focused experience the game could have been special. I'm imagining what the game could have been like if they had specifically laid everything out and been able to pace things more consistently to provide a better end product but sadly we got this iffy middle ground between two conflicting design principles.

[@Radium_Alarie]

For some reason to me this seems like the most disappointing of the "What Went Wrong?" series thus far. A promising looking game set in a goofy, stylized dystopia, being worked on by a seemingly genuinely passionate developing team, and a big crowd funding campaign that all just went to waste.

[@zynstein]

ngl for a moment I thought u meant the vid and not the game xD

[@ReiDaTecnologia]

There is no happy endings in real life. Sadly 😔

[@HankJWimbleton-v1m]

Welp, it's time to swallow my Joy pills and forget everything bad about this sad reality.

[@Gatorade69]

@@ReiDaTecnologia There is... if you have money.

[@obiwancannoli1920]

@@HankJWimbleton-v1m give me some please

[@creativeplanetentertainmen7868]

I like this guy. No drama, no hate-talk or bashing, just straight up facts and to-the-point rundown of what happened. Even goes over a few positives the game has. Respect

[@porcela1nn]

Ong!!

[@xBINARYGODx]

a new simp has been created - bask in the glow of a new creation

[@sonetagu1337]

@@xBINARYGODx y'know, imagine that as a "notification" of pretty much every twitch channel. Oh well..

[@elvickRULES]

Ironic praise given the game’s world.

[@ThePenguinMan]

lets hope this guy never watches his hello neighbor review…

[@Bearleyburied]

I always took the Dr. Faraday’s house being in a different place for Arthur, Ollie and Sally was because of the joy making them not fully remembered where she lives so it’s different for each of them

[@limendime3720]

I picked this up at a Bookoff for $20 and no expectations as I had never heard of it before. I had a blast, even with its rougher edges. Some of the side quests and notes you can find around are heartbreaking, and the game has some very memorable characters and music. Although the game certainly has negative aspects, the positive ones are the ones I remember most.

[@noahbradley4146]

@@AlphaCarinae Because they spent $60 on it, and didn't feel it was worth $60. A higher price means higher standards. That's why people are more forgiving of mistakes when spending $20 on the game.

[@mclovinpo]

You spent 20$ on it. The artuent is it’s not a 60$ game. Why can’t you understand that

[@Tyranicalroomba]

@@AlphaCarinae because you expect good quality like Mario odessy for example

[@AkameGaKillfan777]

@@AlphaCarinae Typical strawman argument: "You're criticizing it because it's not a perfect game." Gtfo

[@AkameGaKillfan777]

@@AlphaCarinae In this case, it does. People will be happy with an overall good game, it never needs to be perfect.

[@bufogeist]

I remember watching people like jacksepticeye and markiplier play this years ago and I was so pumped for the final release. seeing it fall from grace is disappointing, but I'll still be watching a playthrough to get the experience without that price tag.

[@evelynsheppard7713]

same here and then they just stopped and never played again! Guess we know why

[@benwadley3163]

When you think about it there are so many of those indie games hyped by KZbinrs that just never went anywhere

[@Myth_or_Mystery76]

That’s the only reason people care about games like this.

[@JackieGoon]

Hey the game is almost ALWAYS ON SALE FOR 8 BUCKS

[@xero9ravity150]

i recommend 8 bit ryan because he actually finishes the game and he's pretty entertaining

[@shedjamsk8er]

Issues are: -No clear layout of how to use specific mechanics, where to use them, and when (i.e., clothing, how important the hatches are). -The joy meter and overdosing is extremely confusing and frustrating -The AI is either stuck on you or never sees you -The bugs. I got softlocked twice because my goals showed up as 999m away and the solutions were unreachable. I still really enjoy the game but each time I play it through these issues definitely stick out

[@HankJWimbleton-v1m]

My biggest gripe about this game is that the open-world exploration part is so exceedingly uninteresting and aggravating to me. Most of the sidequests generally entail you walking from point A to point B in an open landscape where absolutely NOTHING happens at all because of how ridiculously large the map is. There are numerous reasons why We Happy Few should not be classified as a procedurally-generated survival game like it was originally advertised on Kickstarter. Just make those two gameplay elements (the survival mechanics and the procedural generation) completely optional and let us experience something along the lines of say, Bioshock or Dishonored.

[@dootpooter4740]

@@HankJWimbleton-v1m It took me a sec to figure out the reason for point A to point B travel - crafting ingredients and hidden loot caches. Also sidequest stuff. Once you get the ability to fast travel the game is pretty dank

[@dootpooter4740]

@@MadWatcher if running to every location in We Happy Few is your idea of fun, that's a weird one bro, but you do you.

[@rooknizan2923]

@@MadWatcher I myself did the math (and by math, I mean I played the game on the hardest difficulty where fast travel is mostly disabled and had a timer program running for when I played) and it takes approximately 45 hours to complete all 3 acts with no fast travel. This is with 0 side quests, 0 sleeping, and only foraging for resources required for game progression. So yeah, I feel like fast travel is kinda necessary most of the time.

[@dootpooter4740]

@@MadWatcher you can't fast travel to places you haven't been to yet, so your point is horrible.

[@pedrooliveira936]

I had a blast playing this game, loved it. The story was very good and you feel for the characters struggles, its cool as well how each character uncovers a different hidden truth. The DLCs are very very good, specially the one about the rock star. Of course that the bugs and SPECIALLY THE WALKING, were very annoying and because of the size of the map, the world felt somewhat empty in some places. I hope that one day they make a prequel or sequel, or just a big remake, its concept still holds up.

[@Zipperskull_]

And plus, we never knew what happened to Dr.Verloc, so I hope for We Happy Few 2

[@HankJWimbleton-v1m]

I feel like they should make a Director's Cut version instead, where the developers could express their original vision of this game.

[@Zipperskull_]

@@HankJWimbleton-v1m I remember it was mainly a survival that set you on a timer, but people were asking for a story for the game so they just put the survival aspect in a bobby game mode. I kinda wish to see how its like if the game headed to that direction instead of putting up a story.

[@davidlee9870]

We happy few too is announced now, that game made its money back and more

[@StealthTheFoxz]

@@Zipperskull_ I wouldn't mind the original vision coming out. I'd be interested.

[@TheRealGuywithoutaMustache]

29:42 "Overall the story shines above the gameplay" As someone who's never played the game for myself and only listened to your summary of it, it sounded like it had a lot of untapped potential. The worldbuilding is amazing, it's just sad that the gameplay lacked proper execution.

[@CuntDku]

I saw Just Some Guy Without a Mustache at a grocery store in Los Angeles yesterday. I told him how cool it was to meet him in person, but I didn’t want to be a douche and bother him and ask him for photos or anything. He said, “Oh, like you’re doing now?” I was taken aback, and all I could say was “Huh?” but he kept cutting me off and going “huh? huh? huh?” and closing his hand shut in front of my face. I walked away and continued with my shopping, and I heard him chuckle as I walked off. When I came to pay for my stuff up front I saw him trying to walk out the doors with like fifteen Milky Ways in his hands without paying. The girl at the counter was very nice about it and professional, and was like “Sir, you need to pay for those first.” At first he kept pretending to be tired and not hear her, but eventually turned back around and brought them to the counter. When she took one of the bars and started scanning it multiple times, he stopped her and told her to scan them each individually “to prevent any electrical infetterence,” and then turned around and winked at me. I don’t even think that’s a word. After she scanned each bar and put them in a bag and started to say the price, he kept interrupting her by yawning really loudly.

[@propeladdict9174]

@@CuntDku I want to turn this into a copypasta

[@guy3452]

Ay am kinda early

[@veru6907]

shame that every small city and the areas around it look exactly the same

[@scarysteeww]

@@propeladdict9174 it already is i think . I remember a few years ago reafing the exact same thing but it was about Logic the rapper instead

[@kk_butterfly]

It seemed like an interesting game but once again too many bugs, too high of a price, and other problems made it unlikable and annoying. However, the storyline helped the game tremendously even with all the other problems.

[@poweroffriendship2.0]

Still, the storyline saved the game.

[@kk_butterfly]

@@poweroffriendship2.0 yes

[@lazuliartz1296]

Honestly, the game seems like it needed to just ditch the survival/open world aspects entirely and center the game on the story, and the stealth mechanics. I'd probably also get rid of the procedurally generated world, as it clearly works more to the detriment of the game than any interest it could provide. Basically, it needed to be a linear, story based game, with some stealth elements, because this is where the game truly shines.

[@i.d.9754]

If the story helped the game with that many cons, I imagine it to be really great

[@palladiamorsdeus]

​@@i.d.9754 Temper your expectations. It started off promising and fell off a cliff.

[@peculiar_wood]

The concepts of both this and Contrast are so cool, this studio really has potential.

[@stephenmisener1659]

Siding with gearbox was their biggest mistake. That alone is what killed this game. Should have listened to their gut and published alone. Could have kept updating it over time, and maybe it would be more successful today.

[@glitchedoom]

The curse of Randy.

[@bobdylanlovr69]

@@glitchedoom RANDDYYYYYY

[@BlooFlow]

Just played it tbh pretty buggy but I still liked it a lot

[@DR3ADER1]

False, the game was doomed, to begin with, because Compulsion Games are a terrible company that can't code, can't write for shit and their one-trick-pony method of style over substance has never worked for them for these very reasons. Gearbox's ONLY responsibility was the pricing. Nothing more or less. The REST of the issues that constitute the game being a shit pile is COMPULSION GAMES' FAULT. They did it to themselves.

[@ditzyhere3138]

@@DR3ADER1 I'm sure people could have been more forgiving if the game hadn't been so over-priced. Gearbox likely insisted on multi-platform releases as well, so if they couldn't code a game for pc they probably shouldn't have done it for everything else.

[@Xploshi]

It’s easy to point and laugh when an overhyped game stumbles at launch, but personally despite its balance issues and bugs I always adored this game for its story world and art style, absolutely impeccable work in that department ( That said, I recommend picking it up when it’s on sale )

[@ErickRicardo]

As person who bought the game and invested his money on something that doesn't work properly, he can "point and laugh" how much he wants. 👍🏼

[@cookermirror4552]

not sure if this is everyone in my country it's on sale at 90% its rn 6.37 USD

[@user-uh1fs5xx5j]

For real tho, i got it like for 4,19USD in my country when it was on sale with all the DLCs and its an amazing game

[@krekmin]

Its £5 on ps4 at the moment !

[@Kyoobur9000]

Compulsion Games is not affiliated with the disappearance of gravity

[@rippererd1934]

Just wanna say this first, the voice acting, world building, plot, and everything like that is truly amazing in the game.

[@HappyLarry.]

I remember finding out about the story and being pretty disappointed tbh

[@Ikeman-ew4zd]

If there was an American version with western accents that would be so fucking good. Imagine the scene where Arthur says, “just because you fucked my dad in my mums bed” but In American

[@mattpace1026]

@@HappyLarry. Let me guess, it's the same "the government will always create a dystopia and the rebels need to take them down" stuff we've seen a billion times?

[@adriells5695]

@@mattpace1026 not really it’s them surviving and escaping that dystopia so yeah kinda the same but with a nice story in between

[@mattpace1026]

@@adriells5695 It's about them surviving and escaping the dystopia? So, every generic dystopian story ever, then? Still doesn't sound like anything unique, unless there's some twist about the dystopia or the world outside it...is there?

[@itzjazthefox1629]

I played this game after a few years it came out. I thought it was amazing and i loved the story and characters so much. They were so close to perfection

[@mayonotes9849]

Just like what the Internet Historian said: "Price tags set expectations." For a $60 game you should've polished it and reduce bugs to a minimum.

[@obamabeanlatin]

honestly with crunch culture and the countless examples of buggy releases in the past 5 years, i'd say the expectation for a 60$ title is that it will come out unfinished and buggy, and either the devs will fix it in 2 years (which is when it should've released anyway) or abandon it and pick up their losses through monetization.

[@DR3ADER1]

Price tags don't set anything, IH is full of shit here. The value of ANY product must stand above the price, as it lies within the build quality and nothing else. A cheap, shitty game can be as equally bad as an expensive, shitty game. Top Gear's "Cheap and Cheerful challenge back in 2009 blows this idea into smithereens. The idea of something shit being excused or demonised for its price is logically bankrupt and deluded.

[@IMITZU]

@@DR3ADER1 True, but what he means with this is that people expect a valid reason behind a high price. Why isn't it cheap like all the other games? It must be good then, right? It would be a pretty ballsy move to charge a high amount of money for a shitty experience. People expect there to be a reason behind the high price, expect the quality to be better, expect the product as a whole to be better. Which is exactly what he meant by "price tags set high expectations."

[@DR3ADER1]

@@IMITZU Except they don't. Because again, PRICE IS NOT A FACTOR TO ANY PRODUCT'S QUALITY OR ASSUMED QUALITY! You can have a really cheap or expensive dud or a really cheap or expensive feature-filled gadget. Cheap and Cheerful is one of the most misleading misnomers on this planet and is where the Sunk Cost Fallacy and Fallacy of Cognitive Dissonance dwell at the most, not when a product is expensive, but when a product is cheap. THAT'S how they get you, that's how they scam you.

[@spookygal777]

@@DR3ADER1 I don’t know why you’re arguing against the point that people expect higher quality if they spend more money

[@mightylink65]

Just like No Man's Sky, they absolutely overblown the marketing for this game at their press conferences, treating it like it was a AAA game. Suddenly the indie chains came off and it had to be rushed out before a deadline because the publisher said so.

[@gobalbucs]

Guess it really did become a AAA game in the end then: overhyped and rushed through an impossible-to-meet deadline because Sony Said So.

[@elvickRULES]

Except the main issue was the dev himself overpromising and being cagey (and outright lying) about multiplayer. Yeah expectations were falsely set being on stage in such a big way and the marketing behind it, but he didn’t help anything. Their post release strategy was the way to go. Silence and fixing it. Results say more than words. Plenty of games like Anthem say they’ll be supported then die. And that was actually AAA.

[@FuraFaolox]

@@elvickRULES multiplayer wasn't added at launch because they didn't have time, not that they lied

[@Dante02d12]

@@FuraFaolox No, multiplayer wasn't planned. In the months prior to its release, it was a massive point of confusion for everyone, up until the devs themselves said "no, it's not a multiplayer game". They didn't say "we had to give up on it" or "it's coming later", they cleared up the fact that it wasn't a multiplayer experience and wasn't meant to be. Sean Murray did lie. The entire marketing for this game was a lie.

[@FuraFaolox]

@@Dante02d12 saying "we had to give up on it" literally means it was planned

[@IamSpacedad]

There is brilliance in this mess of a game. As busted as it was, the developers are incredibly creative - and their improvements in the DLC show they learned from their errors. I feel like they are going to produce amazing things in the future, having learned hard lessons from the early days.

[@LiteralBeans]

I love this game, I don't mind bugs, I love the story, gameplay and puzzles. I rate it.

[@jared6343]

The bait and switch of how the trailers made the game seem like a bioshock-esque game and how it turned out to be a generic open world survival crafter will always be what did it in for me

[@Zeromaru42]

If this game was more like Bioshock I'd probably love it but the DLC was better than the Main Game.

[@StreamlineDeet]

When I first saw the trailers, I got super hyped for it. Then when I first saw the gameplay, and realized it was yet another procedurally generated open world survival crafting game, I immediately stopped paying attention to it. They were a dime a dozen in 2016, and I was sick of how every new game was jumping on that bandwagon. They are still annoyingly common, but at least it's not every game anymore.

[@SaturnSenshi3105]

If it was what the trailer showed it would’ve been a masterpiece

[@kamikeserpentail3778]

@@StreamlineDeet It's not annoying if they're good. The problem is a lot of them aren't.

[@omgomg123123lol]

The name for bioshock esque games youre looking for is immersive sim

[@ethribin4188]

What I was most disapointed in in this game is how little changes visually between the three states. High on joy, neutral, and joy withdrawl (true downer). It was all just slight filters and music. No true hallucinating or change in the landscape or looks.

[@flylikeabeetv]

I would even go as far as to say it's difficult to tell the difference sometimes

[@Flame1500]

How about you play some TF2 with the Pyrovision goggles

[@screamingopossum7809]

I wish that there was more hallucination like in the first scene with the "Pinata". Where if you picked up a ripe apple on joy and ate it, you'd find out quickly it was a rotten apple. Stuff like that. Or you hallucinate something has good durability and it just breaks in the first swing. This way it would incentivize you to be careful with your inventory while on joy, as you don't know what you actually picked up (in the beginning, you'd learn what things were as you progressed through the game naturally). Or make it where you're so loopy that you just can't fight while on joy. This makes joy hell of a downside to use, but you also don't have an entire city on your ass. There's absolutely no downside to taking or overdosing on joy. Overdosing on joy can be manipulated by using the sinks in the underground. If you're close to overdosing, overdose in the safe zone with no repercussions, however I can't think of a balance for leaving a safe zone on joy without there being an over abundance of pills in the open world (even then, you'd still just overdose there). Without making it to where you can't take joy in a safe zone, I don't know how it would be balanced. It's how I cheesed my way through Arthur's story in the late game.

[@psychobillynumbnuts1]

Yeah. The places also look like it was just copy and paste

[@notelijah4650]

put in console command drugintensity_ 20 and out mmmm take sone shrooms

[@xtremegaming1232]

"That is a terribly charismatic duck!" is stuck in my nightmares thanks to this game now

[@M644theawesome]

Was hoping this was brought up

[@BananaPhoPhilly]

I actually managed to forget about that for 5 years. Oh well :')

[@Calvin_Coolage]

Hmmmm.....that gives me an idea

[@GangstarComputerGod]

I enjoyed this game and to this day the phrase “Sleep…poor man’s dinner” runs through my head all the time.

[@madmouse4465]

The lesson: if the big suits are constantly pressuring you to sign a contract, DONT TAKE IT.

[@asddsa8203]

It's okay, a contract signed under duress is not enforceable.

[@Bigol_Jimbo]

@@asddsa8203 sadly, duress is a gun pointed at you, a knife, forced captivity, blackmail, etc. Just being a pushy businessman does not a signature under duress make.

[@dripfeeder]

If they're that desperate they should've negotiated more

[@planescaped]

The contract with Gearbox wasn't even the biggest issue. The biggest issue was a fundamental problem with how the game was marketed and presented. People had the perception that We Happy Few was going to be much more than it ever was, and they didn't really do enough to curtail that.

[@palladiamorsdeus]

​@@planescaped What's funny is that has they marketed it for what it was we wouldn't still be talking about it. It would have faded away like most open world survival games do.

[@cadenwilliams9851]

I remember when this game was announced on Kickstarter and me and my dad couldn't get enough of it and we donated to them. A lot of the hype ended up dying out but we were thrilled when the game was finally available. The story and stuff was not too bad, just not enough for the price of the game. Then with all the bugs and glitches, the game was kinda a dud.

[@JLacay]

This is why I don’t donate for game projects. There’s always a chance that the game might not end up well or get cancelled

[@lordbiscuitthetossable5352]

Generally part and parcel of kickstarters. You are not so much paying for a product, but an idea. Thus my mentality with it is if you invest? Be fine with it being money that I would have to throw away. I’ve had a few kickstarters for much more simple things that I’ve seen nothing of. Not ideal, but it an inherent risk with crowdfunding

[@ariaxrose1]

I wished I had a family member or friend to play this with it seemed like I was the only one interested. It’s one of my absolute favourite games the atmosphere and aesthetic is so unique to me

[@HankJWimbleton-v1m]

You're explaining the biggest reason why I personally don't like donating to a Kickstarter project. If it turns out to be a massive disappointment or somehow get cancelled, then everything you did to support those creators' effort will eventually went to waste. That sucks.

[@TuberoseKisser]

"We seen No Man's Sky and backpedaled on the Hype" Yes, More of this, companies need to look at others as examples rather than make snarky comments and references about failed games only to fail themselves.

[@grandmagunsales2125]

You also need to remember both this and no mans sky fell short from expectations. When there weren't any expectations until some jackass leaked the game to for early access

[@solouno2280]

Yandere simulator curse is universal... Do anyone remembers the outer world's that mock both Bethesda and Bioware just to deliver the same content of what could be considered DLC for another game?

[@LuizAlexPhoenix]

They still went with procedural generation so I see no difference from lamp shading it.

[@refineddoggo6657]

@( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) due to already existing issues I believe

[@xBINARYGODx]

@@solouno2280 they never mocked anyone - that was other people thinking the trailer must has been snarky because of the timing, but the trailer was create before 76 came out and bombed and it was players that made a big deal out it and of the content of the trailer.

[@q306005]

I remember one of my favorite KZbinrs hyped this game up so much. He started an LP of it when it released and he just stopped without any word after about 3 videos. I kinda understand now why he stopped. Honestly, I didn't even know it was supposed to be a rogue-like.

[@AngryCaesCorporation]

Is it Markiplier? 😏

[@verylostdoommarauder]

If I had a nickel for every time a game came through that - Was horror or had horror elements - Got at least one Game Theory video - Got at least one song from JT Music/The Living Tombstone I would have a good amount of money. It's practically a genre at this point.

[@princessthyemis]

I love JT Music!!

[@burnttoaster431]

Waiting for a TBoI song

[@whatswiththisnewhandlesthing]

I once watched this KZbin doc of a guy talking about what went wrong with Hello Neighbour and he pretty much convinced me that "Post-FNAF" is entirely it's own genre

[@GrimJoe05]

Should make a Bingo Card game with these type of categories

[@therealevilmudbug]

Indie Horror should be a music genre at this point lol

[@crusaderthestranger5982]

Never had a problem with sally's baby oddly enough, i wasn't even aware of the totem of neglect, i guess i was able to keep track of gwen (the baby) to the point i made those auto-upgrade things. The crafting quests though, yeah it was quite irritating to find specific parts....

[@ClipCrew]

At the beginning of her story, you use ingredients from around her house to make an auto feeder. Idiot me accidentally sold said items and had to spend a week getting the stuff back with a full inventory of totems.

[@crusaderthestranger5982]

@@ClipCrew yeah, i didn't realize it for a while until i saw it on (the quest log i think?)

[@OpticalJesu5]

I feel like the biggest issue is everyone just thought it was going to be a Bioshock clone and when it wasn't no one cared.

[@Furellus]

This is pretty much it. I was really hyped for this game, the setting was looking to potentially be even more amazing than Bioshock... And then they announced it was some sort of weird rogue-like and I totally lost interest and when it eventually released it was even worse than everybody thought.

[@frohawkmaster]

@@Furellus It was announced as a rogue like at the start if i recall. Thats why there was a noisy nanny and stuff, it was always built to be this stealth survival game. Guess no one paid attention.

[@Furellus]

@@frohawkmaster I remember they only announced it at E3 with a trailer. Afterwards they announced it was going to be a rogue-like and I remember being disappointed. But the first trailer at E3 definitely got us hyped for a game like Bioshock.

[@legion999]

@@frohawkmaster The first announcement was the trailer, it made it look like a bioshock style open world stealth melee game. There was *nothing* to suggest it was a...roguelike survival crafting game. I remember immediately losing interest and my immense disappointment

[@Shenaldrac]

Yup. If you're gonna be a clone, be a clone of something great like Bioshock. Nothing wrong with that. But more importantly... _make it clear from the start what exactly you're offering._ If your big reveal/announcement trailer makes your product look like one thing, but then it turns out it's something else people are going to feel cheated because it isn't what they were initially promised. If you sell me a car, and you deliver a boat, I'm going to be unhappy. Even if it's a great boat, it's not what was promised.

[@SAND_CASTLES]

I had this game for the longest time. The whole thing felt like a fever dream, and just, i got so lost so easily and found myself getting stuck a lot. Whole thing was weird

[@NicaArts]

My boyfriend loved this game and played it a lot, until it got to a point where lockpick stuff wasn't spawning/generating, and he spent over 5+ hours searching for ONE, which he absolutely had to have in order to continue to the story. It sucked the joy out of the game until it wasn't worth playing anymore.

[@lebronjahamez7430]

Get it? Sucked the JOY? I’ll see myself out.

[@peggedyourdad9560]

When your survival game suddenly becomes an RPG, lol.

[@alexkass5548]

i had this problem alot with sally and looking for metal tubes. ide search and search and would spend hours before even finding one.

[@LadyBern]

Happened to me for something stupid like a rock or a stick to make crutches. I still like the game but I'm well aware that it could've been way better.

[@chrisberg7862]

I was expecting this game to basically be a playable A24 film about drugs, addiction, depression, anxiety, putting on a mask, conformity and have a really powerful story, but it just never reached the deeper levels I thought it would

[@Mellypepper]

I honestly thought the children were sent off to be turned into food. There were so many perfect setups! The problems with food and everyone slowly starving. The mysterious canned meat. There's a picture in the train station of two fat blonde children surrounded by candy (like Hansel and Gretel). And just the way everyone reacted so traumatically. I thought for sure the kids were sent to be raised like cattle and turned into canned food. And I thought, shit, they're eating their kids!! But nope, they are just living off somewhere with the Germans. Making them food would have been way more compelling a reason for them to do what they did to themselves. Super disappointed they didn't go that route.

[@sfm.viciousmane1374]

Both really good points. I just would've preferred if they went in a darker more disturbing direction. The themes and imagery would've made it 1000x creepier

[@chaosinc.382]

They even have a butcher in the game that is turning corpses into V-Day Meat. So it's not like that was off the table. And the guy was secretly German, too. Shoot it would have really meshed.

[@AmieEss]

@@sfm.viciousmane1374 It gets pretty dark when you realise what the Germans were doing with people like Percy back then. We'd like to think he went to live with a nice family but...

[@Mellypepper]

@@chaosinc.382 Yes! And the beginning of the game when they eat the rat that looks like a "pinata" when on joy. It was such dark imagery that I just expected the story to match. It almost feels like that was what they had intended, but in the end, chickened out.

[@franciasii2435]

Soylent green is people! It's peeeeoppleeee!

[@owl6637]

I actually really liked WHF, despite the bugginess at launch. It was a great idea and i loved it. I came in expecting an indie game, and got exactly that.

[@TheOldBlackShuckyDog]

I remember this being one of the most talked about and hyped indie games a few years before it’s release with huge KZbins talking about it and playing alpha gameplay, then it just completely dropped off the face of the earth, didn’t even realise it was out

[@RangosMangos]

I feel like this game would be perfect if it used procedural generation once per save file that way you still get a unique playthrough while having the world be same for each character you play. Edit: The devs should also make it even though it's random certain key building you need to progress (buildings for quests and progression in general) always spawn in certain areas (example: place a can spawn anywhere inside the big blue box and place b can spawn anywhere in the big green box)

[@docvolt5214]

That's actually quite a good idea

[@112523]

Even procedurally generated worlds need their limits. I personally love how they done it in dark wood. There you have some landmarks that are important to your quest. Their location will always be different but they will also always be in the same type of area and in a logical place. I bet if they had key locations set to be generated on a max set distance, most of the Quest issues would be fixed. It would still always be in a different spot but it would never be too far away due to generation issues

[@furgel7717]

Also the landmarks are REALLY useful for navigation.

[@TheSweetSpirit]

Starsector does it well too. There’s a world map - the civilized space is all largely handcrafted. The space outside of this area, the ‘core worlds,’ are entirely randomized.

[@PaulonTheBrave]

Yeah many games that use it well still has hard rules to keep things on track. Like with Terraria, even with all its randomization important biomes and structures are still in predictable locations for a reason.

[@charlesblasini2134]

@@PaulonTheBrave Terraria came to mind as well. It necessitates having certain biomes in predictable places. Imagine if you had to find The Underworld in a different location of the map every single time. Id have a quarter of the time in the game i do now

[@dragonace119]

@@PaulonTheBrave Yeah I like how in Terraria the Dungeon is either near the end of the far right or left side of the world and how the Jungle Temple is always in jungles

[@somethingisverywrong]

I actually really liked this one. I played it last year, and all the bugs had been pretty much smoothed out--I didn't notice anything wrong. I think that having procedurally generated levels wasn't necessary--the work could have been creating a REALLY neat/more stable world. But it's definitely worth it today.

[@Zarastro54]

26:07 “Dressed as a maid; I was running from the police as per usual.” ~WickedWiz 2022

[@simonnilsson8375]

Gearbox publisher: “We saw a game with promise, so we decided to throw it out the window. THERE WERE NO ALTERNATIVES!”

[@benfletcher8100]

The concept and setting is amazing too, such a shame it didn’t go well

[@HankJWimbleton-v1m]

I have my own hypothesis about why indie games like We Happy Few and Hello Neighbor perform so poorly. I refer to this as the John Romero Syndrome because it all began with John Romero, the well-known developer responsible for the terrible Daikatana. In essence, the creators of those games are artists, not programmers, and this is made very evident right away. We Happy Few had an intriguing premise and a beautiful visual style, but its creators are not qualified, game designers. They can invent and develop a cool mechanic, but they lack the programming skills or anything to make it fun. Therefore, a game may be under development but not make much progress as a game. Although it will look good, playing it will be awful. This is what occurs with many little independent games: These developers have a vision for their game but have no idea how to turn it into a good gaming experience. To fill the hole, they slap features together like procedural generation (a crutch for level design) and fetch quests. They, like John Romero, lack an actual game developer who can turn ideas into reality and create all of the gameplay; they lack someone like John Carmack. A game cannot be created by an incomplete studio. As a result, we have stuff like We Happy Few and Hello Neighbor, games that are graphically excellent and interesting but lack a lot of essential game content.

[@benfletcher8100]

@@HankJWimbleton-v1m Hello Neighbour was more a case of developers getting too ambitious

[@HankJWimbleton-v1m]

@@benfletcher8100 I'm already aware of it. My issue with those two games is that the developers are unable to decide on the appropriate genre for them, which led to everything being so overcomplicated and thus falling apart in the end. After all, they're artists first, and programmers second, emphasizing creativity of their ideas than actual practical game development skills. Hello Neighbor originally started off as an atmospheric little stealth-horror game about breaking into your neighbor's house while trying to overcome a highly-sophisticated AI that learns from your previous tactics, but then it somehow devolved into a bizarre, nonsensical moshpit of a point-and-click adventure game and first-person platforming, whereas We Happy Few struggled on whether or not it's supposed to be an open-world survival crafting game with RPG elements and procedural generation, or a linear narrative-driven game like Bioshock.

[@Zancter]

@@HankJWimbleton-v1m I think the main issue is crowdfunding as it makes it so they can expand there stars and add more when they really don't need to. I think this is why Cuphead was very successful as the creators refused crowdfunding and paid for it by themselves. The more restrictions you have the more you have to get creative with what you got. Also Hello Neighbor was never a love project that was too ambitious it was and still is just a half baked childrens horror game. Maybe it didn't start like that but look as Hello Neighbor 2 and you can see that that is what it has evolved into.

[@kptmaci4979]

As a game developer, I cant state how much I love this channel. This is some really fun and informative video about actual development of certain games and how to learn from others mistakes and also all the good that happened during production / all the bad decisions and interesting stories that can be told. Thank You for providing this quality content!

[@LeneChibi]

I feel so incredibly sorry for the devs. I'm at a very similar point right now with my own indie project and it's extremely hard to keep up any motivation if you disappoint fans because you have to sign contracts that you would NOT sign under other circumstances. But it's the only way your game will actually have a release AT ALL. I poured 4 years of my blood, tears, and complete savings into my project just to end up at a point where players hate "the devs" - the ones that barely could decide anything in this whole process. Stopped counting how many times I've cried myself to sleep. The game industry is hard, I wish these devs a brighter future - they are extremely talented and deserve some happy times.

[@IACOIACOIACO]

im rooting for you!! i know things will turn out alright, if there’s anyway i can support the team or the game, just let me know :D

[@dreamwareinc.3071]

hey man, you doing alright?

[@crimsoncomposure]

Hiii peter

[@beckelmore8448]

What game are you working on? I'd very much like to buy it, even if it's not my usual style of game.

[@kaitlynmorgan4613]

what game?

[@silvercandra4275]

I remember being incredibly hyped for this game to come out, only for it to actually come out and just... be a disappointment... it was pretty sad to see that no one I know, ever played it to the end of the first act, because everyone just got sick of running a kilometer back and fourth between quest objectives...

[@HebiHouse]

I played to the end of act one, and was frustrated too much with act two. Plus my eyes couldn't take anymore.

[@Z-O-D-I-Y-A-K]

I felt the same way about OuterWorlds.. Am I the only one that thought OuterWorlds was boring as hell?

[@theaggressivesalesman2424]

@@Z-O-D-I-Y-A-K yes

[@aelfwynn94]

@@Z-O-D-I-Y-A-K nope. i agree with you it was pretty boring

[@plaguepandemic5651]

It bites even harder cause the game costs a full $60.

[@PlatinumLP]

I played this game without knowing anything behind the scenes. Just really like the concept. I had no idea the game was procedurally generated until now lmao. I enjoyed what I played but I think it was way too stretched out. It was really repetitive and I was worn out by the stealth in the final acts. Might try the DLC later

[@Rose-ef2cm]

The DLCs are really fun! There are three of them, and they’re all fairly short. Each one you can get through in 1-2 sessions. It’s all very condensed so I think that’ll help the drawn out aspect you felt in the main game.

[@Titi-zm7gr]

I played this game 2 times when it was on gamepass, and since it came back literally today, you can be sure that I'll be playing it again and again... The theme and the atmosphere this game gives you is just so unique

[@Kaiser_Pug]

I genuinely never knew why this game fell out relevance, heard a lot about it earlier on. Thanks for the video explaining it!

[@cupocoffee9369]

I think the most confusing thing, for me, is the fact the map seed changes for every character...why not just keep it one large, open world map? What's the point of the procedural generation?? It literally baffles me why they chose to go that route

[@collectorofmyst2107]

I think, because it was part of their core game design when they started making the game.

[@zephyr8072]

It’s still baffling because why not keep that for a sandbox mode and have the story be more cohesive?

[@haseulalive1782]

story wise, the reason is that joy messes with your memory. Arthur especially is NOT a reliable narrator, id say sally has the most accurate view of how the world looks because she has never taken joy

[@Shenaldrac]

Keep in mind when the game was being developed. Procedural generation was seem as the big cool thing at the time. No Man's Sky would go on to over-promise the moon and fail to deliver, but before all that the big selling point was that it had a billion unique planets you could visit due to procedural generation. It was the hip thing to have in your game, and most people hadn't yet realized that procedural generation is shit for most things so it was a huge draw. Like back when 3D video games started to come out. Didn't matter if your game was a good fit for 3D, you made it 3D because if you didn't people would hold it against you. People had the notion that 2D was old, outdated, automatically bad as if the third dimension somehow makes a game more fun. Eventually folks realized that was stupid, but there was a period where it was a make or break decision whether your game was 3D or not.

[@mbii7667]

That's a trend that needs to die in games

[@ezio_auditore5425]

I still enjoy this game, but it tried to be too many things at once. And just like when you go to a soda dispenser and mix too many in, at the end you get a mix of brown sludge. I appreciate the devs ideas on paper, but in practice, you can't really have a procedurally generated world with such a poignant roguelike story.

[@blockedblock5203]

Speak for yourself but that's the _only_ kind of drink I get at a self-serve soda fountain. Dr. Pepper, Orange Fanta, lemonade, Root Beer, Cherry Coke, all go way better together than it sounds. I'm careful with it, though; I stay away from the iced tea and Powerade. Also I don't use the diet sodas. Anyways I think I've lost the point of your original comment.

[@illseeyaonthedarksideofthemoon]

@@blockedblock5203 What do you call it? Liquefied diabetes?

[@tinkerer3399]

@@illseeyaonthedarksideofthemoon It's still the same amount of sugar as any of its individual components. So not any less healthy than a regular soda.

[@Casey0706]

@@illseeyaonthedarksideofthemoon it's called a suicide

[@mbrody4046]

Just found your channel from watching another video, and i was surprised you've only been doing KZbin for a year because you seem like a natural. These videos are really well done and detailed and i hope you get more subscribers because you deserve em!

[@jayshartzer844]

"We Happy Few" refers to the amount of gamers that enjoyed playing despite the bugs

[@zoltanz288]

yeah, and i think they really are on pills too.

[@m0ddotrar]

Truuuee

[@MutheiM_Marz]

i am one of them....i kinda like it. (it's about British ww2, so i am half way in) twist is i never play bioshock. but at that time (2-3 years ago) i just finished PREY, WHF kinda similar to it.

[@Jack_804]

I loved the game, and to be honest I don't remember having many bugs.

[@MutheiM_Marz]

@@Jack_804 bugs happened, but we just ignore or immerse to the game. it's not like we play looking for bugs.

[@Mattthe3th]

I played the game and to be honest what happened to me was that I started playing because I wanted to know more about the lore of the game and in my opinion I think the Lore was really good but the gameplay wasn't. I ended up feeling like I had to labor through the gameplay to get to the good bits

[@pancazuli]

We Happy Few is a game that I saw everywhere and that I knew friends were playing. However, I have no idea what the gameplay looks like. Time to finally see if this is a real video game!

[@euclodies1719]

Sauce artist pfp?

[@hahabrrrrr4465]

Ah I see, another Skullgirls player as well

[@bernkastel7438]

Average skullgirls enjoyer

[@REXae86]

@@euclodies1719 you down bad

[@fluttzkrieg4392]

​@@euclodies1719 Get out R34 and get into the real world for a second.

[@BloodMoonASMR]

0:44 “And before the FBI shows up” Dude, you're British. It's MI5.

[@masterretro1585]

I like this game but there are some big problems 1. Overpriced, this game is $60 as much as a AAA and it's so much money, I was lucky that I got it when it was on sale for $15. That's more of a reasonable price. 2. The glitches, this game is so buggy and glitchy. 3. The story, it's not the worst story out there, but it isn't a magnum opus in story telling. It slogs in most parts and I thought the only story I liked was probably Sally. The rest were just above average. 4. The survival aspect, this is not the type of game that should have one. Overall this game can be a chore in most parts, and to repeat myself, this game is way to overpriced, and the price has not lowered after all these years. Get it while it's on sale if you really want to play it. The game overall is just slightly above average.

[@jaimegarcia767]

Yeah thats wild, i forgot if u didn't pre order way before it was changed to 60 from 30

[@masterretro1585]

@Mike will not really, $15 is more reasonable.

[@DR3ADER1]

Even if the game was sold for free, it's still a pile of rancid, decaying old horse wank. NEVER accept broken, poorly-designed games regardless of how big the developer was or how much or how little money was spent making it. You can make a good game with a budget of £0 and a bad game with a budget of £500,000,000 and vice versa.

[@rhinuu045]

yeah i really really wished this was a heavily story based game. from the beginning i was hooked but then it slowly became like any other survival game which is miserably bland

[@thechugg4372]

Which is weird because the game started out as a survival game and attracted a lot of people to this idea, until it completely changed course.

[@DeepCDiva]

It's really weird that the survival and procedurally generated aspect of the game is what they started with and ran with, considering it's what makes it incredibly tedious and what was praised since VERY early on was the unique setting and storytelling. Ironic how their bet for a bigger project with repeated playthroughs could've been much better if it was small, polished and focused.

[@YeTheGOATNoCap]

@Baxi what's bad with Horizon?

[@agentace1476]

@Baxi not really and outright scam game

[@thereseemstobeenanerror1219]

@Baxi Spam, report.

[@sushi5600]

I got the game and all it’s dlcs for 4 dollars during a massive sale and for a low price, this game is absolutely amazing. When the price isn’t that high it’s so easy to look past the bugs and actually enjoy the absolutely amazing story. The story is actually so good you jsut have to get through some bugs

[@sc3961]

It's 6€ on grey market websites too. I eat as much daily, if not double the amount. If I had the time to make sure I pass it, I'd get it in a heartbeat, and I'm sure I'd enjoy it. Hell, the classic comparison of "spent 10€ on a 2h movie and popcorn in cinema, and I hated the movie" vs what videogames can give you, and when it's AS cheap especially, I don't see the need to complain. 60 bucks though... That's a little much, yeah. But then again I wouldn't give that much to any game, and that's been my opinion for over a dozen years. Got stung once, furthermore for less money than that, so no need to risk any of that anymore :) Either "yarr" to try before I buy, or wait for a sale (or both!). I can support actually good games, so they can progress/get rewarded, and greedy giant companies that like to ruin stuff can go suck a donut.

[@blatherskite3009]

Absolutely stunning art design on that game - elements of Clockwork Orange and The Prisoner. It's one of those games that you can't help thinking would've been better off as an animated feature film, as it's really just the "game" aspects that bog it down. Which is kind of a problem when you're a game...

[@meratheafflictionwarlock]

I bought the game on sale last year, and when I finally decided to test it out, I spent 90 hours on my first playthrough, and then the DLC was on sale the next day and I bought it all (even the soundtrack and wallpapers) and atm I'm on my third playthrough. I just love the game so much. Sure, there might be some bugs, and one quest annoys me, but I dunno, I don't mind bugs so much when they don't break the game, I find them funny.

[@XhumpersX]

Glad I'm not alone. I went in blind for 10 bucks and the story and aesthetic are so top tier I could easily overlook anything. I also did like the combat and ragdoll a lot. The whole game plays so much better if you play the side quests too because they give you what you need for the main quests. Also once you upgrade your workshop and chem stations you unlock some super whacky and fun weapons and throwables that are great to mess around with.

[@ariaxrose1]

Me too it’s one of my favourite games! The atmosphere and aesthetic is so unique, the crazy characters I just love everything. I wished the dlc’s let us free roam though

[@jelly_lori]

thankfully I'm not the only one, I absolutely like the game. It's a great concept, although it's flawd I can understand the hate. I like it very much

[@Bixen_Bings]

Just started playing the game, and I have to say they changed a ton of the difficulty, for example you can fast travel into another bunker by looking at your map and clicking on the fast travel, and finding items are much easier like I already found 10 gasmasks and i just barley depleted half of the filter on just one mask, the only few complaints I have is the fact that the stuff you steal from other people's houses do not regenerate but I suppose it's to avoided from item grinding, and the other complaint is why we can't take different joy other than strawberry flavor

[@OtakuUnitedStudio]

The main issue is that for what sold as a 60 dollar game, it was really unpolished and kind of short. For 10, it's worth every penny.

[@adammidderigh4150]

This was a weird one for sure. Bought the game on a brief sale for around £15 very very early in development when I didn't even have a PC that could run it at more than 12 fps. Finally tried playing it properly years later and while it ran perfectly and didn't seem buggy (at least not to me) its vision seemed to have changed dramatically. When first dabbling early on in EA it seemed like a borderline psychedelic hardcore survival game with an interesting setting. Years later it suddenly seemed completely different; far more polished but also felt like a different genre, more like a moderately-challenging story driven RPG/adventure that wasn't quite sure what it wanted to be. I played a little way in but it never quite caught me and haven't touched it since. Not saying its a bad game, just didn't quite turn into what I expected.

[@majones117]

I remember when a lot of people were interested/unhappy with the art style being less horror based and more colorful. Now the most popular horror game have cartoon or kid friendly graphics

[@froglifes6829]

None of the top 10 most sold horror games have kid or cartoon graphics...

[@ketamineheadyoda2248]

@@froglifes6829 dude thinks hello neighbour was good

[@QuiteSimplyInsane]

@@ketamineheadyoda2248 I think he means, it looks Better. Most horror games like Hello Neighbour with this Cartoon and Kid Friendly style, look absolutely horrific. We Happy Few managed to have such a nice balance between Realism and Wacky.

[@darthcupcake3845]

@@froglifes6829 he’s talking about things like poppy playtime or I think that’s what it’s called

[@Friunt24]

Try Pathologic, weird but creepy vibe. Lovecraftian vibe.

[@Neolith_]

faintly remember this game, having watched a playthrough that ended only after a few episodes. I was somewhat hooked at the beginning, always wondered what happened

[@maxvogt3515]

I’m a recent subscriber, and I’m really excited to have your “what went wrong?” Series be more focused on. It’s always incredible stuff, following interesting topics that you present very well. I guess that’s just your channel as a whole.

[@Matt20264]

The backstory seems very important here. Since they started on a survival game with procedural generation clearly taking cues from don’t starve together. That game, while not for everyone, proves such a concept works. The issue is the linear storytelling with procedural generation. You just can’t do that well. Even NMS is more of a stumble upon kind of storytelling. But it’s weird because I’m not sure how well the game could’ve done without the story. I would hope that without a linear story they could’ve devoted more time to fleshing out the procedural side of it, and maybe that would’ve done well idk. It seems like the answer here was to take the story and leave the world generation. Focus on the interesting and colorful world you thought up instead of letting an algorithm throw legos everywhere. It’s just a bad combo as is either way

[@malcomchase9777]

Griftlands does both (good story and procedural challenge) but it has a clear advantage: it's not a "map"-based game with a consistent world, it's a "node"-based game where you click on missions on a map screen. So it doesn't need to connect stuff spatially, just narratively. As long as your character has a reason to go somewhere, it can have events happen during that trip and it doesn't cause problems.

[@protoman1521]

The entire reason i was interested was because of the story bought it on early access and every update was essentially failed promises

[@mustangmckraken1150]

I have 50 hours in NMS and have completely ignored the story up until I was forced to play it to go to the anamoly. It sucks and is the worst part of the game, the story is completely unnecessary lol

[@aurelianspodarec2629]

I eman, the backstory is whats happening now in real life, so prob less important now : p

[@waffelhaus]

I genuinely adore We Happy Few, the stories and characters make it one of my favorites. It isn't perfect, far from it, but through its issues it's charming. The history behind it is such a cluster-fuck, though. Really saddening knowing what went on behind the scenes.

[@Flizz0]

The Joy Doctors are my fav :)

[@SockyNoob]

Exactly how I feel about Spore lol

[@muffinman2143]

The memory loss mechanic could've been utilized so well, but they really didn't do anything with it. You could've lost skills if you went too deep, had districts rearrange themselves, lose items in your inventory as you "misplace" them or change/erase/retread quests because your character can't remember what they were doing. Such a waste of potential

[@DeviIInADress]

I was so hyped for this game, decided against trying for myself after seeing all the bugs on release. But last summer it was on sale for $10 so I thought why not? A year later and I never made it past Arthur's act. Such a shame bc I still love the world and premise :(

[@evo5dave]

Pretty much my story too. It sits in my Steam library with a couple of hours play

[@DeviIInADress]

@@evo5dave your pfp just brought back childhood memories lol what show is that from?!

[@flippedoutcookie]

@@DeviIInADress Secret Squirrel

[@evo5dave]

@@flippedoutcookie correct!

[@Scalfr193]

Just wanted to add I'm happy you decided to stick with the What Went Wrong series. You do this documentary breakdown style so perfectly I can't help but stay interested the entire time. Keep up the good work!

[@LateNightHalo]

My interest in the game was dropped the second I learned Gearbox published it and it was an open world survival game :(

[@MumboJumboZXC]

The “survival” aspects aren’t really that punishing though so. It’s got a great story

[@TheGoldNShadow]

Yeah. Gearbox is pretty… iffy. Also, enjoy your content, Late Night. Keep it up!

[@jerrbear5958]

Yo, its Late Night Gaming!

[@xnate26x91]

@@TheGoldNShadow they made borderlands

[@charcoalhomie8682]

Pee pee poo poo

[@patrickmuhwheeney6518]

Your content displays a great work ethic, and never disappoints. Thanks for the upload!

[@Tomixx1199]

in defense of the whole "map is different with each act" I believe that was done to have the "unreliable narrator" trope as all of these characters have memory issues due to the drugs

[@ryansullivan3085]

wait that's clever as hell if that's the actual reason behind that

[@Tomixx1199]

@@ryansullivan3085 yea the chapters have some overlap and you see conversations from the point of view who youre playing as, and they happen in wildly different locations.

[@senbontorii2680]

@@Tomixx1199 The problem isn't that the mechanic isn't justified in the story. The problem is that it's a bad mechanic in the first place.

[@Tomixx1199]

@@senbontorii2680 I don't think that particular mechanic was bad, but theres definitelly other factors that detract from the experience

[@seisosimp]

Should have at least implemented that with Joy Overdose. When you do, the whole map resets and is procedurally generated again, and you have no idea where you are. Gives it some weight, for once.

[@harshbarj]

This was a game that started out looking SO promising. I tried several of the early demos. But in the end, they just broke the game. Not sure why but they just suddenly changed direction after about a year of development.

[@harry2597]

I really didn't like the change of characters. I got used to running around with boosted stamina and movement speed. Getting reset killed it for me

[@brodriguez11000]

NieR:Automata™ manages to pull off the different characters, multiple play throughs.

[@Darqion]

Yea i much prefer games where you st ick with 1 character. It's a big reason i couldnt really get into GTA 5

[@hei7846]

@@brodriguez11000 Well hold on you cant just drop an actual masterpiece into the convo

[@boxcutter4]

@DripTrollKing Yall still on this arguement?

[@MGYT2106]

The distance between quests reminds me of when I was playing Dying Light 2 and realized that in some parts I needed to go a kilometer and thought that it was quite a big distance. But then I ran it and realized it only too minute, and having played this game it makes me think about the difference in mobility an environment in these games. One of the problems with WHF wouldn't be the distance if you could run faster or even if the environment was a little more interesting.