We Happy Few PSA: Bringing Up the Inventory Will Not Pause the Game

We Happy Few is an unforgiving survival game, something that may be overlooked while enthralled by the disturbing yet beautiful world. Even when everything seems to have calmed down, you can never be too careful while moving in between the Wastrels, Wellies, and Bobbies that inhabit the game’s areas. This is especially true when you find yourself dealing with aggressors.

While fighting or doing other things, you may find yourself in need of some last-minute crafting or having to swap out an item, such as a weapon. Naturally, you’ll pull up your inventory or crafting menu in order to get things done. After all, it will pause the game allowing you to take care of business, right? Unfortunately, no.

The action of We Happy Few doesn’t stop for you to make preparations. Those need to be made when you find a secluded place to catch a breather or back in your safehouse. That means if you’re in the middle of combat and your weapon suddenly breaks, you can’t just bring up your inventory and hope for the best. Not only will you still be under attack (taking damage as you sit in the menu), but each hit will interrupt the timer for equipping an item, meaning you won’t accomplish anything for your troubles.

There is only one way to pause the game, and that’s to hit pause. On the Xbox One controller, this is done by hitting the menu button (the one with three lines on it). The game’s clock, as well as all of the action will come to a screeching halt.