We Happy Few – Brave New World
Rather like BioShock, Compulsion Games’ We Happy Few depicts a dystopian society of the 1960s. And also similarly to BioShock, it’s heavily inspired by the iconic novel Brave New World.
Huxley’s Brave New World details a society that adheres so rigidly to a strict class system that their genetic traits are artificially manipulated so that they fall into categories from birth. The result is a class-conditioned utopian society, utterly brainwashed by psychological manipulation. Void of any real ability to feel emotion, society is administered a drug called Soma, which helps them to feel happiness, and keeps them under control.
We Happy Few incorporates all of the major themes tackled by Huxley’s work. Joy, the happy drug that inebriates the people of Wellington Wells, is one obvious starting point. But there are other major themes that are all on display quite vividly, too.
For one, the way in which violence and sex are perceived and represented. In Brave New World, the population, high on Soma, believe violence not to exist. Sex, on the other hand, is largely taboo, to be handled in a regulated and orderly manner. The Feelies, for example, is the name given to a theater where the population is able to experience pleasure in a controlled fashion. Lust and passion don’t exist among these peoples removed from normal human nature, and it warps their perception of normal behavior. In the same way, for citizens of We Happy Few’s Wellington Wells, violence also doesn’t exist, simply because it’s actually their form of entertainment, spurred on by the effects of Joy. Sex, meanwhile, isn’t even mentioned.
More than just Huxley’s Brave New World, We Happy Few draws on other popular British literature such as Clockwork Orange and V for Vendetta. It also weaves social problems affecting our own contemporary society into its overarching story to produce something of a satire about many of the issues with consumerist and capitalist lifestyles. Narrative director Alex Epstein said in an interview, “We Happy Few is inspired by, among other things, prescription drug culture — the idea that no one should have to be sad if they can pop a pill and fix it. It’s also about Happy Facebook culture: no one shares their bad news because it would bring everyone down. As a culture, we no longer value sadness.”
