Review: We Happy Few - ‘They Came From Below’
We Happy Few has been on my steam wishlist for almost a year now. Some friends got the opportunity to try it at PAX East a few years ago prior to their release and were skeptical, so while I was excited at the premise I held off on purchasing. When they reached out about their DLC’s launch, I finally bit the bullet and decided to give the game a shot.
Before trying the DLC, I tried out the main storyline for about a bit to get a feel for the game. Wellington Wells, the setting of the main plot, is a beautifully designed area with distinct features of each district. You need to be aware of how your character is presenting themselves; if you are in the lower-class district, a well-tailored suit will make the residents suspicious while you may want to dress in your best in the upper-class area. The zone is created each time you create a new campaign, so no two playthroughs will be mapped the same. The game also truly cares about giving you a storytelling experience. There are documents and notes littered throughout the world that give you insight into what living in Wellington Wells is like, and I appreciated the amount of detail that can be found in those notes.
I like the interactions that your character gets to have with the NPCs throughout the game. I also really liked that every NPC had a first and last name, so I definitely felt a bit worse when I had to fight or kill an NPC and they gave me their name (D:). The interactions help make the world seem more immersive.
My biggest complaint with the main-game is the crafting system. It feels sprawling to the umpteenth level, with so many small items you pick up over the game that I can’t even tell what I need and what I don’t. When an item is necessary to the plot-line the materials can usually be found relatively easily, but any other time I just feel like I’m picking up random scraps and hoping for the best. I’m not sure if the feeling from this improves over time, but for my short time playing the main game I found it to be an added stressor to the experience (that already includes survival mechanics, which are the bane of my existence).
Onto the DLC! Trailer
‘They Came From Below’ is the first of three DLCs that We Happy Few will be releasing. This DLC released on April 4th, but I can’t seem to find any information on when the next two will come.
The story follows Roger and James, two research assistants in Wellington Wells. The men travel underground to try and save their boss Dr. Faraday, who fell through a portal in the middle of their lab into a chamber beneath their house. They find dangerous robots and alien technology down there to assist in finding and saving her.
The story itself is immersive. The characters felt like they had a great level of depth and I felt invested enough in the story to want to keep playing. Like the main game, there are notebooks littered throughout the zone that clue in details about the plot and move it forward without dialogue or cut-scenes. It feels like one of the old alien movies, and I liked the aesthetic throughout the zone. My favorite part? No crafting and no survival mechanics! I found it much easier to enjoy the story and combat without needing to worry about those side items that are found in the base game. I also appreciated the way that they presented the relationship between the two men; it felt authentic and it helped me become more invested in what happened to them.
The weapons and tools introduced are quite a bit of fun. The first thing given is an alien ray-gun with three charges that can change into a melee weapon if the charges run out. Hitting enemy robots with the melee weapon help to recharge the main weapon, and it took me some time to get it down-pat. I think the melee fighting feels a bit flimsy, and I often felt like I was blocking an enemy attack while the game registered a hit. This led to the combat feeling more challenging than I think the developers intended. Along the way, Roger picks up new pieces for the ray-gun to change it’s abilities, such as faster charging rates and a way to power-up a single shot by using the melee weapon. You also pick up a radar device that allows you to move different objects in the game. The final device (and my favorite) is a chrono-grenade that slows time. Since I was struggling with the combat so much, I super appreciated this grenade but wished it had arrived a bit sooner! Also in my struggles with combat, there were a few parts of the game where finding healing items was incredibly difficult. I found that I was surviving on very small amounts of health, and if I died I respawned at an autosave where I usually had the same amount of health. Nearing the end I suddenly found a TON of healing items that I didn’t even need for the final boss (ugh). All in all though, I did enjoy the combat (especially the final boss mechanics) and found the changing weapons to be exciting.
Unfortunately the DLC is fairly short, clocking in at about two hours even when I was reading all the extra notebooks for more lore. The individual DLC is $7.99 (with a season pass at $19.99), which feels a bit expensive for only two hours more of gameplay. Additionally, there is no save function for the DLC. I had to leave to go out for a bit and was panicked thinking that I’d need to restart the DLC, only to find that it had auto-saved (to my relief). The ability to save at user-chosen points would be appreciated, even for a DLC.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
I really enjoyed the DLC, but still question the price. The graphics are wonderful and the story really pulled me in from start to finish, and while the combat was challenging I found that it evolved throughout those two hours to keep things interesting. I’d be interested to try the other two DLC to see if all three together would be worthy of the season pass price compared to buying all the individual DLCs. If you enjoyed the base game, then I’m sure you will enjoy this one as well and would likely find it worth your while.
Disclaimer: Gearbox Software provided me with a code to be able to try out We Happy Few and it’s DLC ‘They Came From Below’.
- iLuffhomer — https://twitter.com/iluffhomer
