All the trailers for this game make it look very interesting but hearing more about the gameplay makes me think twice. This sort of Clockwork Orange-y style setting and what I've seen of the story seems like just the thing that could get me to play one of these survival, procedural, crafting games.

Does anybody plan to (/already have) buy this?

The atmosphere this game is trying to set up looks fantastic, I just hope it isn't ruined by me punching garbage cans for aluminum or something like that.

I'm very interested to watch some of this game on You Tube or whatever, because what we saw at E3 isn't really something that could be a game. My guess is that this will end up being quite disappointing, but I'd like to be wrong about that.

@spaceinsomniac: That's my worry too, It seems like they made the most interesting trailer possible but one that doesn't represent the actual game. That and Brad (I think) on the podcast saying there's a noticeable difference in quality between the hand built story environments and the generated environments is disheartening too.

@wolf_blitzer85: Exactly I've never really liked these kind of games but a lot of them have you 'surviving' just for the sake of it, if this story is actually good and persists throughout the game it could give the gameplay actual meaning. I wouldn't mind having to scavenge for stuff and craft if it's all lead by a good narrative.

I'm going to wait for the full release.

I downloaded the free version on Xbox One, but probably won't have time to check it out for a few days.

@isomeri: ooooo it's on there already? Guess I know what I'll be doing after work.

This game looks super interesting and kind of like sir, you are being hunted. While I feel like that game didn't come together exactly how I wanted, the concept that you are always on the run and actively being hunted in a video game is a very cool and novel concept. Sure these survival games kind of have that but there is no real basis usually story wise and it mostly focuses on crafting and building shelters rather than actually being on the run.

i'm in the mood nowadays for things more tightly regimented and story-oriented, but i may still check this out. just a bit sad that it initially seemed the heir apparent to bioshock games but is something pretty different.

Will wait for actual release but if it can tell a interesting story through a generated world, I will buy and cheat my way through so I can see the story, survival games aren't my thing

@isomeri: Hmm, didn't realize there was a demo on Xbox. I'll probably check that out before making any decisions about buying.

I am definitely waiting to see how this turns out before I decide whether to buy. I felt that Compulsion Games' last effort, Contrast, was very stylish but a complete nightmare in terms of controls and gameplay.

They say on the store page that most of the story stuff will not appear in early access. That;s the most interesting part for me and what has most people I talk to interested, so wait until full release for that.

This game is to survivaly for my taste ATM you have to sleep every ten minutes etc. I hope there (story mode) is good cause i really like the setting.

@alistercat: That's true, the real hook as far as I'm concerned isn't going to be included yet, though it does seem promising that there is a sandbox mode. I assume that this will let you play through the story while engaging with the survival aspects as much or as little as you want. I can only imagine that a sandbox mode in this game without story would amount to running around doing literally nothing.

The thing that got my attention was that this could be a game that has an interesting story, and an interesting setting, shown by that E3 gameplay trailer, but then when they showed the gameplay of roaming the streets, and talking about how it's prodecurally generated, rogue-like, as well as just the way it looked (which looks like a game not fully done, which is what it is), it was kind of a turn off. Bioshock is one of my favorite games, and the gameplay trailer at E3 gave a tinge of that, and it made me hopeful, though now I'm not so sure.

A survival game with story and world focus sounds way more interesting to me than a Bioshock clone but to each their own.

@artisanbreads: But a Bioshock clone has an incalculably higher potential of having an interesting story and detailed world focus than an open world survival game could ever hope to achieve.

EDIT: What I'm trying to say is that if good story and a fleshed out world is what you're looking for then you're much better off with a Bioshock clone. Can't think of a single "survival" game that has had either of those two elements explored in a half decent manner. Then again most of them continue to be in "early access" so go figure.

The problem with this game stems from the fact that the game's reveal did nothing to show the actual game you'd be playing. This is the current Giant Bomb wiki description of this game:

We Happy Few is a game from Compulsion Games, makers of Contrast. It is a first-person game set in a drug-fuelled, retro-futuristic city in an alternative 1960s England.

That's wrong, and that's a problem. The actual game looks almost nothing like the design of the opening moments, and that is the art direction that the developers used to sell people on their game. There's nothing retro-futuristic about this game at all. That's the first five minutes, and then you're immediately waist deep in rundown slums. It's like selling the original Bioshock as a lighthouse exploration game.

BioShock in retro London with everyone on creepy happy pills looked really cool. Hunger, thirst, and sleep micromanager in an almost post-apocalyptic setting does not.

I don't agree because the work just hasn't been done to bring story to this genre. That's why it's good they're doing this. That genre is cool but it lacks story and world focus and this game is bringing that. There are enough Bioshock games and Bioshock inspired games out there. Of course it's a harder fit to figure out but that's why it is interesting.

Yeah this is also my opinion. I was quite excited when I thought it was going be Bioshock-like but with 1960's Britain and Brave New World for inspirations.

@spaceinsomniac@humanity: My expectation for this game being good ran right off a cliff as soon as I heard it was a procedurally generated rogue-like.

Also, whoever put that description in the Giant Bomb wiki just copied it from the Steam page of the game, so that's what the developers of the game are selling. If you watch the steam trailer where the dude is walking around, it does look a little retro-futuristic, moreso than the gameplay we saw out of E3 made it look.

Unless the later levels actually fit a retro-futuristic aesthetic, that just makes it so much worse.

This is the actual game:

It might even be a really good game for fans of the genre, but don't sell me on one thing and give me another.

@spaceinsomniac: @jesus_phish: "Procedurally generated" is like the kiss of death for for me. Any time I see something interesting and then read that it's a bunch of randomly generated corridors spooled from a bunch of repeating art assets I instantly give up on ever wanting to play it. I've said it before but I'm an advocate of perpetuity over one-and-done score runs. I'd rather play a short but sweet hand crafted campaign than get "infinite" hours of enjoyment from procedurally generated rogue likes. Thats just me though, I know people do love their rogue likes.

@artisanbreads:I'd argue we have far more "survival" games than "Bioshock" type games. To each their own of course but you can't possibly believe that a survival focused rogue-like has a chance to bring the same quality of storytelling as a tightly scripted linear experience.

Again, that's why I want devs to try. I don't think linear games are some lock to have a good story anyways (I don't even think Bioshock 1 and 2 are that good in that area and the gameplay is certainly very boilerplate). More open games can have a different feel to their story that works better for me certainly.

EDIT: From that video "Sleep: the poor man's dinner" hahaha.

Sure I completely agree that they should definitely keep trying to make it better. The strongest trait of video games is that they are constantly evolving and getting better. But to go back to what started this conversation in the first place: if you explained the setting of this game and then asked what I would prefer it to be, a bespoke single player experience or a rogue-like survival-crafting type of game, I would feel like the interesting premise would completely go to waste on the latter. You may have not enjoyed the story aspect of Bioshock, but you cannot deny the power of it's incredible environments and atmosphere.

@humanity: I totally get your point but I think atmosphere of course can be done in open games, in fact better than its done in linear games in many cases. I am hugely in favor of any experimentation with story that gets away from pure linearity as well. Games have been overdue to go more non-linear with their storytelling. To me there's no waste. This will be an interesting experiment. I'm not even a big survival game guy at all but I think it looks good.

@artisanbreads: Hey I hope it's gonna be good too, even though I have zero interest in the genre.

@humanity: I'm fine with rogue-likes if the game play is really tight. So Binding of Isaac, Necrodancer, Rogue Legacy are all fine because I don't give a damn about the story that's in them and just like the game play loop. But this game looks like another version of Sir You Are Being Hunted, which did not have a good loop to it at all.

I liked stealing shit in The Elder Scrolls so that kinda looks alright to me. I'm in wait-and-see mode for sure.

For those wondering why the early game is post apocalyptic despite the advertising, I'm pretty sure in an earlier demo they said that you always start on the outskirts, and have to try to get inside the city (for whatever reason) where the aesthetic from the trailers is used.

Still not convinced on the game myself though.

Note: I played my XONE free trial for the game so I only have one hour under my belt

This thing seems to have a lot of systems in place and make no mistake, this game as it stands right now is largely s survival game. Now I've had my fair share of these games and do find some enjoyment out of them so I wasn't immediately turned off my it. The tone is very... Quirky. It certainly has some very horrifying, dark tomes to it, but almost anything coming from a characters mouth is a goody little quip. I didn't entirely expect that but eh it didn't seem good nor bad. There seems to be a lot of crafting and deconstructing objects and like many others mentioned, there is a lot of management between your hunger, thirst, sleepiness and stamina. If managing any of those things turns you off the game is not for you because so far (from my one hour slice) this is a large part of the game.

What did seem bad was the frame rate, at least on the Xbox. I'm not one to whine about 30fps vs 60. If I can get 60 then awesome but if not, you give me a constant 30 and we are good to go. This game does not do that I would say it runs for the most part between the mid or even low 20s. Everything felt so damn choppy and while I could see a very pretty game in there, the performance is entirely distracting.

I also found the random "encounters" to be just that. Very weird and out of place. They didn't seem to reap any major rewards and were usually boring like chasing down a guy just running in circles and subduing him. I did receive one mission that had a bit of Dialogue before it which gives me up they actually will be focusing on sorry here more than most games of this nature. Lastly, i didn't get a big taste of the combat but it seemed merely serviceable.

My current advice for this game is to wait, i can seem glimmers of potential but it's defiantly not ready. And when the time comes that you decide to buy it, I recommend not touching the Xbox version with a 10 foot pole until it is further optimized.

It gets some points in my book for giving you a choice at the beginning of the the game that immediately takes you to the credits. I like when games do stupid things like that.

I remember being similarly disappointed by what this game actually is maybe a year or two ago when it first mentioned. Saw the description and a short video, got excited, watched pre-alpha gameplay, realised what this game actually is, forgot all about it until it's big reappearance this E3.

I know it's Early Access and that the onus is on the buyer to know what they are getting into yadda yadda yadda, but there's still something that's a bit off about releasing a big E3 trailer for a game that seems to promise one thing and then release a product that is so far something completely different, at least in the opening hours.

From the gameplay I have seen, quite a bit of the game involves you being in some shanty-town like set-up which, outside of some artistic flourishes and some vaguely 60s English aesthetics, looks almost exactly like any other dime-a-dozen survival craft-em-'up on the Steam market. Almost none of the main selling points in the Steam description are involved in this portion of gameplay, and unless the game receives a really massive overhaul, I don't see this ever changing.