Censors ban We Unhappy Few for ‘offending against the standards of morality’
Australia's notoriously puritanical Classification Board has refused the game classification due to the its portrayal of drug use
WE UNHAPPY FEW has just been banned in Australia by the country's video game classification board.
The Bioshock-inspired game is described be developers as "a game of paranoia and survival, in a drugged-out, dystopian English city in 1964." It centres around Wellington Wells, and a small cadre of "moderately terrible" residents who refuse to continue popping the happy pills and try to escape.
It is this drug that is central to the censors' objections, according to a report seen by Kotaku.
The original just indicated that the game's content dealt with "sex, drug misuse or addiction, crime, cruelty, violence or revolting or abhorrent phenomena" in such a way that it "offended against the standards of morality, decency and propriety."
In the full report the state nannies explain the ban was down to "drug use related to incentives and rewards" -- the same reason that they saw fit to deny Australians access to Fallout 3 and Saints Row IV.
Detailing their objections, the board detailed one scene they came across where residents "beat [a woman] with steel pots and a shovel, until she is implicitly killed" for refusing to take Joy.
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They also explain the drug is responsible for "improving speed and visibility for the player" in-game.
A central mechanic in the game involves Joy; if you opt not to take it, the game does get significantly harder. Characters in game responsible for ensuring all residents take their daily dose of happy pills can detect when you have not, while withdrawl symptoms from it make the player generally easier to spot when attempting to sneak out of the village to freedom.
"A player that takes Joy can reduce gameplay difficulty, therefore receiving an incentive by progressing though the game quickly. Although there are alternative methods to complete the game, gameplay requires the player to take Joy to progress," the censors say.
We Happy Few was first revealed at E3 in 2016 during Microsoft's press conference, and is currently available through Microosft Game Preview and the .
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