Like any game, adventure games can be confusing throughout the whole game, but even more so starting out. There are so many places to explore and different things to distract you. There are often unique in-game mechanisms, such as crafting or building, that can seem overwhelming at first. All this could leave you wishing you had some guidance. Well, you’re in luck! In our We Happy Few Beginner’s Guide, we have some great tips and tricks (11 to be specific) to help you start out!

If you are looking for a We Happy Few trophy guide, we have one of those too.

Spoiler Statement: I have tried very hard to keep this guide spoiler free!

We Happy Few Beginner’s Guide: 11 Things I Wish I Knew Before I Started Playing

A Proper Understanding of the Story

Story is important in every game, but especially in We Happy Few, which is narrative driven. The game tells the story of the citizens of Wellington Wells who have lost their ability to be happy. In this alternate timeline of World War II, the United States did not join the Allies, leaving Great Britain to fend off the German attacks with little support. With almost all hope being lost, the people of Wellington Wells are forced to do something so heinous, they can no longer be happy. That is where Joy is introduced, but more on that later.

The game follows the individual events of three characters—Arthur Hastings, Sally Boyle, and Ollie Starkey—one at a time, who are all connected in one way or another. Each of them has their own demons that they would like to soon forget, but not at the cost of losing their memories (a side-effect of Joy). After seeing the negative effects of the drug and deciding they want a different life for themselves, you must help these characters break free from Joy to regain their life and fading memories.

Have You Taken Your Joy?

Joy is an artificial drug that makes you forget your worries and memories, so you can just be happy. The addictive drug comes with lots of side-effects and overall makes you into a mindless robot. It is mandatory to take it if you want to be a citizen of Wellington Wells. Refusing to take it will result in you being beaten, outcast, or even killed. If you get caught withdrawing from recently taken Joy, then you better hide, because you will not be treated kindly.

There are some places in the game in which you must have Joy in your system to enter, or at least look as if you do. While this is not the case for all of the towns, you will find yourself needing to take it occasionally. You need to be careful doing this though because too much Joy will cause you to lose your memories, which you are desperately trying to remember.

Different Players Have Different Skills

As I said earlier, the game follows the story of three different characters who are intertwined in some way. Each of the characters has a different set of abilities, that can work to your advantage—if you know what they are. So, a strategy that works best for one character may not work as well for the next character. If you use their skills to your advantage, playing through the game will be a lot less frustrating. You can read in-depth about the different We Happy Few characters on their website (possible spoilers if you follow the link).

The game allows you to upgrade the skills of each player to make things a little bit easier. This is a common mechanic and isn’t very different than it would be in other games. You receive skill points when you finish a mission, then you are able to use those to upgrade your character. Sometimes it is hard to see when you earn skill points because it pops up in tiny text on the bottom of your screen. Don’t forget to check your skill point balance regularly. Upgrading your skills really does make things easier!

Be in by Curfew

If you are walking around at night and the guards start chasing you, it’s because you are out past curfew. Curfew ranges from 9 pm-7 am. Being caught out past curfew will cause the guards to be suspicious of you and if they spot you, they will chase and beat you until you defeat them, run away and hide, or die. However, there are two different things you can do to try and avoid this.

The simplest thing to do is just go to sleep. All you need to do is find a bed, any bed will work, and set how long you would like to sleep. Sleeping results in you becoming hungry and thirsty, so make sure that you are prepared.

The other thing you can do sounds kind of stupid, but it works. You can just run. The guards don’t chase you very far, so you can easily outrun them if you want. However, this can backfire if you need to go into a building where the guards are. They will group up and follow you into the building. Fighting two or three of them at a time can be quite difficult. So, you may want hide and wait for them to stop searching for you before you go into a building to avoid the conflict.

Outfits are Important

During the game, you will need different outfits to go to different areas. For example, if you are in Wellington Wells, you need to be in a Proper Suit. If you wear a Torn Suit into Wellington Wells, you are going to get some weird looks. If you do not quickly change, people will think you’re an outsider/downer and begin to attack you. If you go from one area to another and people keep trying to fight you, make sure to check your outfit.

Certain outfits can also help you get into certain places a bit easier. For example, at one point in the game, you pretend to be a maintenance worker. If you show up in your Proper Suit, the Bobbie isn’t going to buy your story. However, if you show up in a Boiler Suit, they are going to be a bit more likely to believe you since you’re dressed for the job!

Loot Things, but Don’t be a Pack Rat

There are various cabinets, toolboxes, dressers, and more all over the world that you can loot for different items. Some things are useful like first-aid kits, lockpicks, or food items, while other things are useless like a rotten potato, moldy bread, or something along those lines. Your character can only carry so many items, so you need to be wise about what you pick up, or you will get overburdened and won’t be able to move fast. There is no need to hold onto some items.

The moral of this story is, just because you see something doesn’t mean you need to pick it up. Only pick it up if you think you can use it or if it has value and you can sell it. It is very annoying to have to pause the game to drop stuff constantly because you can’t hold things that you want since you have a bunch of useless items or things you forgot to sell. Make sure you are wise with what you pick up and sell things constantly!

Crafting

Having a basic understanding of crafting and how it works is pretty important—especially if you’re in need of medical supplies. The act of crafting itself is pretty simple. All you need to do is hold X if you have all of the supplies. There is one main thing that I wish I knew earlier when I was playing—you cannot craft in combat. So if you get in a fight, begin to bleed out, and you don’t have medical supplies already crafted and in your inventory, you’re gonna be out of luck.

One of the most important things you will need to craft is medical supplies. This means you will need to know how and when to craft as well as have the supplies needed in case you get in a bind. Sometimes you are able to find bandages or first aid kits laying around, but a lot of the times you’re not going to find any. So, you need to make sure you pick up certain medical crafting items whenever you see them, mainly things like Rowanberries, Rose of Gilead Petals, and cloth scraps.

Combat can be Hard

Let me just be honest here. The mechanics for fighting in We Happy Few suck. It is hard to land good hits, easy to take damage, and the weapons aren’t great. Landing good hits is difficult, because if your opponent has their arm/weapon up, then you deal little-to-no damage. You must catch them with their defenses down before you start swinging. This can be especially hard when multiple people are attacking you. The easiest way to deal damage is to block one of their hits, then swing back. However, be careful because some opponents double swing.

If you swing your weapon too much, you are going to run out of stamina and likely take a beating. It can be quite difficult to escape when you are out of breath. In order to fill your stamina bar back up, you have to move around without your weapon in the blocking position–in addition to all that, you will move slower when you’re out of stamina.

Always, always, always make sure that you have enough weapons on hand. Getting caught in a fight without one will likely result in you dying. The players do very little damage with their fists—especially Sally—so you are better off trying to run if your last weapon breaks than you are to stay and fight. Make sure you have a few weapons in your inventory and that you are using the ones that deal the most damage on the strongest opponents (aka the Bobbies).

Don’t Overthink It

This sounds silly, but I am serious. If you get stuck on a quest and can’t find whatever item you’re looking for, then go back and look in the most obvious place. Sometimes you’re expecting something to be so hidden that you miss it right in front of your face. I wasted a lot of time searching for something or trying to do some task when the solution was right under my nose. With that being said, the answer isn’t always going to be handed to you, but most of the puzzles aren’t too hard if you simply think it through.

There is Usually More Than One Solution

Sometimes the obvious way to do something is not the only way! There are times where you need a keycard or something to access a specific area, but you have no clue where the keycard is. If you don’t feel like searching for it, or can’t find it, then often times there is something like an air duct that you can crawl through to bypass the card reader. This may seem obvious and simple to some, but sometimes you just don’t have the proper items in your inventory to get into a specific area.

Another example could be when you go from the Garden District to Wellington Wells. You have to take Joy to get into Wellington Wells, but you don’t need it in the Garden District. However, if you have found a keycard, you can use the employee access door and bypass having to take the Joy. Little things like this are not only cool but can make your playing experience a little bit more pleasurable.

Save Often

This is the most cliche of them all, but I am 100% serious. The game only saves after you change districts or complete an objective. So, if you collect a bunch of loot on the way to complete an objective, and then die before you complete that objective, you will lose all of the things that you have looted. So if you pick up a bunch of good stuff, but don’t manually save your progress, you will risk losing all of that sweet loot.

We Happy Few crafts a great narrative and entices you with its three intertwined stories. However, these are some tips that we have for you, which can make your gameplay experience a bit easier and ore enjoyable. Hopefully, our We Happy Few guide for beginners has captured some of those and will allow you to have a jolly good time playing!

Do you have any tips of your own for playing We Happy Few? Don’t forget to check out our We Happy Few Trophy Guide if you are aiming for Platinum.