We Happy Few is set on the island of Wellington Wells, somewhere off the west coast of England. The inhabitants speak in a drawl common to Somerset and surrounding counties, though the local police force are cockneys, because all bobbies are born and bred in East London, apparently. It's more fun that way. It's the swinging '60s, but not as we knew it. America never got involved in World War II and Germany bested Britain. The implication is most of the country descended into ruin while Wellington Wells surrendered, enduring German occupation for several years. Not Nazi occupation, mind. We Happy Few does use the concept of alternate history as inspiration, but the complexities of the conflict aren't really part of its story.

One day, the Germans pulled out, which the residents of Wellington Wells call "the victory." Nobody really remembers how that came about, though, but not to worry -- everyone's happy now. They wear masks that show they're always smiling, and take a drug called Joy that keeps spirits high and perceptions favorably altered. Wellies and Wellettes thrive on this artificial joviality and chemically induced memory loss. Joy is a part of daily life, and if you don't take it, you're labelled a Downer. And nobody likes Downers. They're hunted, driven out of the comically stylized, neon town to the neglected countryside to survive amongst the Wastrels -- vagrants who can't take Joy anymore after coming into contact with a bad batch. They are just as cruel and, without pills to suppress their unwanted emotions, consumed by a sense of guilt.

Where did all the children go?

This is almost too much information, because Compulsion Games is hoping to do something a little different to other single player, story-driven titles. The aim is not to handhold the player, instead letting them discover the lore of Wellington Wells through the eyes of the game's three protagonists. "I guess you could call it a novelistic approach," Narrative Director Alex Epstein told me. "We want you to discover stuff. We're not just telling you everything, we're not pushing the story at you. You'll pull yourself into the story." He likens it to life; much of what you learn isn't taught to you directly, but if you pay attention, you get it.

We Happy Few drops you immediately into Wellington Wells as Arthur, a redactor at the Department of Printing, Recycling and Archives -- the game's equivalent of the Ministry of Truth in George Orwell's 1984. An article that crosses his desk for potential censorship features him and his brother as kids, triggering him to neglect his routine dose of Joy. And so his search for the long-lost sibling he once swore to protect begins, with him as an exiled Downer.