PSBlog Feed: We Happy Few Gets a Free PS VR-Exclusive Side Story, Out Today

[Commander Fury]

The world of We Happy Few has proven a true touchstone for a great number of side projects, including this PS VR exclusive. It’s hard not to be inspired by the era, the unique visuals, and the premise of a British town defying acknowledgement of its own history through the use (abuse) of a powerful and dangerous drug known as “Joy.”

The original goal for Uncle Jack Live VR was to provide players with a chance to meet and work with Wellington Wells’ most prominent celebrity figure. Initially, the experience simply involved ways to manipulate a broadcast camera within a standard Uncle Jack episode, but the project evolved from watching Uncle Jack in-studio to actually building a full broadcast with him, featuring dynamic content and multiple outcomes.

We owe the enhancement of the concept to the multi-medium expertise and masterful execution of our partners at Signal Space Lab. By their design, each phase of the broadcast tasks the player with selecting the perfect news article for Uncle Jack to read aloud on-air, ensuring Wellies everywhere stay entertained and remember to “take their Joy.” If you happen to get it wrong, UJ will expertly roll with the punches, spinning the bad news in hilariously positive ways—but you can count on his opinion of you changing as a result. Anger him enough and he’ll outright cancel the broadcast. Make good decisions, and you’ll be his favorite guest producer ever!

But impressing Uncle Jack isn’t your singular concern. There happens to be a Downer Outbreak developing throughout the broadcast center, and it’s up to you to find a way to turn all those frowns upside down (hint: it involves dosing them with a whole lot of Joy!).

Over the course of development on We Happy Few, the team amassed a huge amount of content that we wanted to collect and share with our biggest fans, so we included an “Archive Mode” in Uncle Jack Live VR to do just that. When you’re done playing producer, you can spend some downtime in the media archives where you can explore over 40 Uncle Jack episodes, listen to official We Happy Few soundtrack selections, and watch bonus materials like trailers and animation reels. That’s hours upon hours of content to absorb in a nice cozy virtual space!

Dedicated fans will be happy to know we’ve included plenty of fun We Happy Few Easter eggs within the PS VR experience. You’ll find a number of our favorite assets decorating the spaces, including the “salty dog,” authentic happy masks, a very British phone booth, and a worn-out poster given to us by our good friends at Gearbox Publishing.

We Happy Few: Uncle Jack Live VR is out today and available for free at PlayStation Store. We hope it not only brings you and Uncle Jack a little closer, but also serves as an entertaining introduction to the unique—and often quite insane—world of We Happy Few.

The full We Happy Few game is coming to PS4 and PS4 Pro in just a couple days on August 10. Pre-order now at PlayStation Store and get $10 off plus the exclusive Jolly Brolly weapon at launch!

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