Now this is the kind of week we like to see. Two VR experiences (one of them free!) and not a gun in sight. These two apps represent something genuinely new for headsets; no wave shooting or third-person platforming. Let’s check them out.
We Happy Few: Uncle Jack Live, from Signal Space Lab
Price: Free
This is a surprise tie-in app for Compulsion Games’ long-awaited We Happy Few. It finds you thrust into the game’s dystopian world as a guest editor on a radio show. Though brief, it uses some pretty interesting techniques to immerse you in one of the most interesting gaming worlds we’ve seen in some time.
Electronauts, from Survios
Price: $19.99
Sprint Vector developer Survios returns with an entirely different type of experience. Electronauts is a VR music mixer that uses smart interactions to produce a strikingly natural experience. The music might not be suited to your tastes but it’s hard not to feel the groove as you start playing around with this audible feast.
Compulsion Games’ long-awaited non-VR tale of a dystopian society full of twisted, demented, mask-wearing authority figures, We Happy Few (PSN, Steam), finally releases at the end of the week, but the studio’s got a small taste of that world ready for consumption on PSVR right now dubbed Uncle Jack Live VR. There’s no word on a PC VR release at this time.
In the full, non-VR version of We Happy Few you take on the role of a small group of rebels trying to break free from an alternate reality 1960s version of England that’s controlled by drugged-up crazy people. Nothing is quite as it seems in this chilling world as everyone conforms to the strict rules set in place to enforce a false sense of happiness. It’s a really twisted setting that reminds me a bit of Tranquility Lane from Fallout 3 or the film Pleasantville.
As is often the case with VR snippets of otherwise non-VR video game worlds (Monster of the Deep from Final Fantasy XV, The Last Guardian, Ark Park, and DOOM VFR all come to mind) We Happy Few’s Uncle Jack Live VR isn’t much like the full game at all, but it’s a delicious taste of the dense, terrifying world that Compulsion has crafted in partnership with Signal Space Lab.
In Uncle Jack Live VR you’re a new producer on the titular character’s talk show: Uncle Jack Live. Using the PS Move controllers for hands, you’re in charge of which news stories he talks about that day and get to make several choices across the entire 10 minute experience. Simply existing behind the camera and watching things unfold is unnerving enough, but the way the short game flows and unfolds in such a dynamic fashion makes it all the more uncomfortable.
Here’s a live action trailer skit filmed as an example of the talk show:
It just makes your skin crawl, doesn’t it? Now imagine being the one behind the camera helping bring that twisted man’s vision for “news” to life.
If you pick the right stories, aka the feel-good happy stories, then you make him happy with your performance, but if you pick the “wrong” ones about bad things in the world, then he could eventually get so upset the show is canceled. That’s the path I took in my playthrough and I definitely recommend it.
With each subsequent unhappy news story I picked, Jack got more and more frustrated. He’d change the details of the story to make it about happy things. For example, one instance during the experience was “the well is closed for renovations and improvement” instead of “the well is closed because of a Cholera outbreak.”
In the world of We Happy Few the populous is medicated with a drug known as “Joy” that keeps them sedated and gleeful. Remembering to “take your Joy” is important, but you don’t want to take too much. During the broadcast an outbreak of “Downers” starts to happen, derailing things and forcing you to take matters into your own hands to treat the subjects with a blast of Joy gas into the studio.
At the end you’r so hopped up on Joy the studio fades away as you’re surrounded by butterflies, rainbows, and a picturesque view of the city down below. It’s a great effect.
From start to finish the atmosphere is thick and tangible in We Happy Few’s Uncle Jack Live VR and it made me want more. It’s too bad this couldn’t have been expanded into a full game or at least opened up to let players walk around the town and studio. That’s a lot to ask out of a free marketing tie-in, but what we’ve got is a tantalizing taste.
Once you finish We Happy Few’s Uncle Jack Live VR experience, there is an archive to explore with over 40 recorded episodes of Uncle Jack Live, selected songs from the full game’s soundtrack, and bonus material like trailers and animation reels. There are some nifty Easter eggs spread around the experience as well.
For fans looking forward to the full release of We Happy Few, this is an excellent primer. It really gets you in the mood of the game’s chilling, dystopian world and sets the tone for what is sure to be an unsettling experience. It’s a shame the full game won’t have VR support, but this is a solid free download for any PSVR owner.
Let us know what you think down in the comments below!
Just over a year ago on VR vs. I wrote a rather impassioned column about my desire to see the rather wonderful looking We Happy Few make it to the world of immersive gaming. For those that are not familiar with We Happy Few, it is set in a version of sixties Britain – a version that has gone very wrong indeed. In fact, things are so terrible that in order to keep the ol’ upper lip sufficiently stiff to it all the entire populous is under the sway of a powerful drug known as ‘Joy’ which as the name suggests makes everything seem not just merely ‘okay’ but all flowers, sunshine and rainbows 24-hours a day. And for those that are off their Joy and living in reality? Well these ‘Downers’ had best remove themselves – lest they be removed permanently.
At that time, I postulated about how the joy induced hallucinations would be particularly interesting to see utilised through the powers of mixed reality (MR). Well, that’s not exactly what’s happened today but it does look like you’ll get to be very personable with propaganda speaker (and well documented ‘Simon Says’ expert) Uncle Jack thanks to a new and free side-story produced for the PlayStation VR by developer Compulsion Games.
In We Happy Few: Uncle Jack Live VR you take on the role of Uncle Jack’s producer. Helping him to put together an episode of the endlessly broadcasting propaganda show for which he has become a household name in the likes of Wellington Wells – and which became an instant favourite part of the advertising for the main videogame. Unfortunately, things rapidly deteriorate when the studio building itself develops outbreak of Downers and it’s up to you to put smiles back on people’s faces. There’s also an archive section where you can put your virtual feet up and enjoy various bonus materials connected with the main title, including music, video and forty episodes of Uncle Jack doing his thing.
Speaking on the PlayStation Blog, Compulsion Games Marketing Director Cord Smith explained the team’s aims in creating Uncle Jack Live VR: “The original goal for Uncle Jack Live VR was to provide players with a chance to meet and work with Wellington Wells’ most prominent celebrity figure. Initially, the experience simply involved ways to manipulate a broadcast camera within a standard Uncle Jack episode, but the project evolved from watching Uncle Jack in-studio to actually building a full broadcast with him, featuring dynamic content and multiple outcomes.”
“We owe the enhancement of the concept to the multi-medium expertise and masterful execution of our partners at Signal Space Lab. By their design, each phase of the broadcast tasks the player with selecting the perfect news article for Uncle Jack to read aloud on-air, ensuring Wellies everywhere stay entertained and remember to “take their Joy.” If you happen to get it wrong, UJ will expertly roll with the punches, spinning the bad news in hilariously positive ways—but you can count on his opinion of you changing as a result. Anger him enough and he’ll outright cancel the broadcast. Make good decisions, and you’ll be his favorite guest producer ever!”
We Happy Few: Uncle Jack Live VR is due out today on the PlayStation Store as a free download. With We Happy Few itself due to launch on PlayStation 4 and PS4 Pro and come out of Early Access on PC as of August 10th. We Happy Few: Uncle Jack Live VR looks set to be an exclusive to PSVR, and so will sadly not be brought to PC VR, but VRFocus will bring you more news on any developments regarding it as soon as we hear anything.
The psychedelic dystopian survival game We Happy Few was deemed too over the top for the Australian Classification Board. Now the game must either be modified or it will be effectively banned from the country.
Citing narrative inconsistencies, Compulsion Games delayed We Happy Few to a summer release. The studio will also offer refunds to any Steam Early Access players disgruntled by the lack of content available thus far.
After partnering with Gearbox Publishing, developer Compulsion Games is upping the ante as We Happy Few nears its formal release in 2018. New contentincludes a full-length story campaign played through three different characters.
Hello again and welcome back to VR vs. the time once a week where a keyboard is thrust into my hands and I jab away at it until I make some kind of point. Today is actually the last VR vs. for a couple of weeks as I am off on holiday to relax. So if there is a VR vs. next week it certainly won’t be written by me. One of the things I wanted to do for a while is get back to talking about games and away from the super serious discussions regarding the industry for a bit. We went through a bit of a period of talking about very serious industry things and I think we’re due an excited tête-à-tête about a game I’d like to see make the jump into the world of immersive technology.
I was also not going to write a column about Palmer Luckey cosplaying as Quiet, because dear God why did every website out there do a story about that? Who cares! He can dress up as whoever he likes! People cosplay. This should not be a shock to the games industry at this point. Besides, I’m sorry he’s not topping Jamie Lee Curtis secretly cosplaying as Vega.
Long time readers of VRFocus will of course remember we used to do that on a regular basis courtesy of our Make It A (Virtual) Reality feature, something I actually used to write moderately frequently before taking over VR vs. Unfortunately in February last year someone made the decision to take Make It behind the VRFocus barn and proverbially Old Yeller it with an editorial shotgun. Which was a shame, because damnit I likedMake It A (Virtual) Reality. I got to talk excitedly about TRON, reimagined classic video games and board games, and discussed children’s television and Bruce frickin’ Campbell. So today I want to get back to that, and since this is my column I hereby resurrect Make It soI can talk about a game that whilst I have not played (and am not going to until it is finally released) that I love to watch others play and think would make a highly interesting mixed reality (MR) – not VR – experience. So I guess we’ve got a VR vs. Make It A (Virtual & Augmented) Reality? Oh well.
As an aside before we begin I am aware that it is #MentalHealthAwarenessWeek (in the UK at least) and I will throughout this be talking about a game where people are en masse using medication to escape their troubles. There is no deliberate timing for this, it is nothing to do with the campaign in any way. Nor am I directly equating We Happy Few with the topic. Mental Health is a serious concern; many people do struggle getting through life from day to day in oh so many ways. Depression is a proper son-of-a-bitch, as this writer oh so readily knows. We will actually be having a three-part mini-series on emotion and how VR can help tackle such things beginning tomorrow. So keep an eye out for that. I can however see why someone might, might think the timing is deliberate or I am being critical in some way. I’m not, this has nothing to do with it. I just really want to talk about this game today.
In any case… Wakey Wakey, everyone! It’s another fabulous day on VRFocus. The sky is gray outside although I am sure that we will soon be spotting streaks of lovely sunshine poking their way through the clouds. Everyone at VRFocus is working busily away on news and features and doing absolutely everything that they can to bring you information on virtual reality (VR) – the brand new technology that can bring you joy. You can never have enough Joy can you? Happiness is a choice!
We Happy Few first poked its head out of independant studio Compulsion Games in 2015. although I didn’t hear much about it until it featured in during XBox’s E3 presser in 2016. Then, ohhh, then it got my attention. We Happy Few is set predominently in Wellington Wells, a series of islands in the UK surrounded by a river. Quite possibly near Blenheim in Oxfordshire. That’s based on that there is a Blenheim Bridge and the lead character making references to “Mr. Churchill” whilst talking to himself in the area.
Kevin’s Historical Explanation: Blenheim Palace was the birthplace and ancestral home of Britain’s great wartime leader Sir Winston Churchill. After he died he was buried so that you can see Blenheim Palace from where he rests. So it’s a pretty good theory.
Kevin’s Televisual Tip: If you get the chance watch the documentary series Churchill’s Bodyguard. It’s fascinating.
Speaking of World War Two, We Happy Few is set in a dystopian past – not future – where following World War Two it seems the populous has decided the only way to get through and make sure such a tragedy never happens again is to medicate their way through it. Utilising an artificial high known as Joy, readily available in pill form on every street corner phone booth – even in multiple ‘flavours’ – they steadfastly ignore all the terrible things going on around them. The lack of food, the utter misery of lives spent in drudgery. Choosing instead to live in delusion. “When life annoys, pop a Joy.”
Everybody must feel the same happiness. Everyone must go around with a big smile on their face. (The same painted faces are another sign of the need for everyone to be the same.) It’s like a bit like the film Equilibrium set in a twisted version of the 1960’s. Joy’s forced happiness versus Equilibrium‘s all emotion stripping Prozium. Instead of the mysterious pseudo-religious character of Father and his conformist broadcasts there is Uncle Jack. A happy-go-lucky and slightly enigmatic figure ripped straight out of 1950’s early television broadcasts. A continuity announcer, in more ways than one, he is there to reinforce the message of those above and his cheery attitude and stories keep everyone going through troubling times. The people’s dependancy is such that he has reached a near religious status for some. The more you look, the more you wonder if his words aren’t slightly tinged with a touch of menace. Shades of the BioShock series permeate the story, surroundings and gameplay. The Equilibrium comparison also amplifies even more as the lead character Arthur Hastings’ job is to ‘redact’ materials that may enduce an unsatisfactory emotional response. Do your job. Smile. Join in. Be the same. Play Simon Says and learn to do as we say. Be happy. I said BE HAPPY.
Swinging these sixties are are not.
For those who don’t take their Joy their behavior soon has them found out, and those who are not on their Joy and are not conforming are called Downers. The presence of Downers are a threat to the happiness of the conformists. There are anti-Downer security devices and traps placed in the more oppulant residences in order to protect them. Traditional looking British ‘Bobbies’ roam the streets and are quick to judge and secret enforcers work behind the scenes. If discovered it becomes an essential free for all on the Downer, they are caught and sent packing to Wellington Wells where other Downers are – that’s if they don’t die of course. Death is everywhere. But the shock of death can be overcome and ignored of course. There’s a pill in your pocket to put a song in your heart.
For Arthur, a reminder of his lost brother sets off his story as he refuses to take his Joy as the memories set in. The scene shifts and everything begins to look decidedly wrong. He is eventually discovered when the work party he is encouraged to attend includes a brightly painted piniata and after whacking it he looks again to see what they all see as a piniata is actually a dead rat.
However this visual transformation between the real world, the ‘ideal’ world of Joy, and also the visualisation when crashing off of Joy is what would make the most interesting augmented or mixed reality experience. Imagine you interacting with the real world around you and find that it is changing? What if you saw everyone with a painted smile on their face? It’s not that far away from what you’ve got on the likes of Snapchat right now, is it? We’ve had VR experiences where the world around you shifts based on your emotional responses. Remember Nevermind?
We Happy Few does I think have the potental to produce an experience in a similar vein. Villagers judge you based on your movement and attitude both of which have the potential to be tracked. Imagine travelling through a location which can change from sunshine and rainbows, to misery, menace and monotone hues. About not just playing a game with a controller but playing the game. Moving through in a certain way physically, having to worry about the sheer vibe you’re putting off. Desperately trying to play a character in a world where you haven’t seen the script. In many ways it’d be a stealth game but a stealth game in plain sight. An MR conform-em-up.
We Happy Few is still very much in progress, the team put out a big update not that long ago adding another island. If you would like to see the game played I suggest definately you watch ChristopherOdd’s let’s plays where he covered both the 2016 version and the recent Maidenholm update. Incidentally I also recommend following his playthroughs of XCOM 2. (Locksley forever!) We Happy Few is also set to get a film at some point so we’ll see more of Uncle Jack yet.
But wouldn’t you all like to welcome Wellington Wells into your home – your actual home- via MR? Ha ha ha… of course you would.
We Happy Few, the upcoming survival horror game revolving around government mind control and an alternate post-WW2 timeline, will receive a screen adaptation. Gold Circle Films, best known for Pitch Perfect, will produce.
At that time, I postulated about how the joy induced hallucinations would be particularly interesting to see utilised through the powers of mixed reality (MR). Well, that’s not exactly what’s happened today but it does look like you’ll get to be very personable with propaganda speaker (and well documented ‘Simon Says’ expert) Uncle Jack thanks to a new and free side-story produced for the PlayStation VR by developer Compulsion Games.
“We owe the enhancement of the concept to the multi-medium expertise and masterful execution of our partners at Signal Space Lab. By their design, each phase of the broadcast tasks the player with selecting the perfect news article for Uncle Jack to read aloud on-air, ensuring Wellies everywhere stay entertained and remember to “take their Joy.” If you happen to get it wrong, UJ will expertly roll with the punches, spinning the bad news in hilariously positive ways—but you can count on his opinion of you changing as a result. Anger him enough and he’ll outright cancel the broadcast. Make good decisions, and you’ll be his favorite guest producer ever!”
