We Happy Few hit with a minor delay so the developer can rearrange part of the story

Downer?

Sometimes you have to take a step back to take two steps forward. We Happy Few, a game that’s almost finally finished, needs just a little more time for developer Compulsion Games to get everything just right.

In a video update today (embedded above), Compulsion announced that We Happy Few is content complete, meaning that all of the narrative and gameplay stuff is done. But, it’s delaying from April 2018 to summer 2018 because the developer isn’t happy with the first few hours of the game.

We Happy Few‘s story takes place over the course of three different characters’ arcs. As Compulsion explains, the studio isn’t happy with how Arthur’s arc plays out (sounds like someone hasn’t been taking their Joy pills). As such, Compulsion is taking a few extra months to rearrange those story moments so that everything moves in a more engaging way.

Simultaneous to this update, Compulsion and publisher Gearbox have made an interesting business decision. Back in August, the Early Access price of We Happy Few was raised from $30 to $51. Compulsion reasoned that this was the expected price of the final game. Fans responded that $51 is too much for an unfinished title.

Now, Compulsion is offering a refund to anyone who bought the game on Steam regardless of how long they’ve played it. Additionally, starting on February 1, there won’t be an option to pre-purchase We Happy Few on Steam until much closer to launch. Compulsion says this decision was made because “We won’t be offering any additional Early Access updates beyond August’s ‘Life in Technicolour,’ [and] we think having this labeled Early Access and charging the price of a larger game caused more confusion than we had hoped.”

Big day for We Happy Few — a delay and a new refund policy. Both in-game and out, Compulsion’s whole routine is trying to keep people happy.

Production Update and Story Teaser [Steam]