Update! -
http://compulsiongames.com/en/news/7/pax-east-2015-recap Much more detail on the game and gameplay;
"To fill in those of you who couldn’t make it, here’s a proper rundown on the most important question: What is We Happy Few?
The one-liner: WHF is the story of a small group of moderately terrible people, who must survive in a doomed, happiness-obsessed, dystopian society until they are able to get the hell out.
How do I explain this to others? The simplest explanation we found at PAX, although it’s not perfect, is that WHF is “Don’t Starve meets Bioshock”. First person stylized world that is reminiscent of Bioshock, with gameplay elements and replayable nature of Don’t Starve.
The setting: WHF takes place in the town of Wellington Wells, a fictional town in an alternative version of 1960s England, where no one is aware of their impending doom, except you. The Wellies of Wellington Wells are obsessed with happiness; so absolutely convinced that they need to be happy that they go to extreme lengths to keep themselves that way.
Like what? Among other things, everyone in Wellington Wells is high out of their minds on a drug called Joy. Joy is the best drug you’ve ever taken - it makes you happy and content. Life is good on Joy, and everything is just sunshine and rainbows. Except for the side effects, which include memory loss and a slight tendency towards psychosis, but don’t worry because you can’t remember them anyway. As a result, they’ve created a world where anybody that isn’t happy isn’t welcome… and they call those outcasts “Downers”.
Downers? Yes, my dear reader, you guessed it. You are a downer, man. You need to blend in, and you’re not going to find it easy.
The genre: “First Person Urban/Societal Survival Roguelike”.
Are you serious, dude, how the hell is that a genre? Yeah, genres these days are really taking the piss. I’m hoping we’ll get a better explanation when it’s ready, but for now, let us explain what those all mean:
Roguelike: WHF is a highly replayable, procedurally generated world, where you must escape from the world before time runs out, and you only have one life. First person: it’s first person.
Survival: you need to not die before you escape, but the food and water are laced with Joy, so you have to manage your drug levels too.
Urban: procedural city, not a wilderness.
Societal: the survival rules are all about blending in with the inhabitants (we were going to say “social”, but we did not want to imply integration with facebook ;) ).
Can you give me an example? You run around, collecting food and water, trying not to overdose on Joy, trying not to raise the suspicion of the people around you, all the while trying to figure out how the hell you need to escape. Often, they will hit you with a frying pan.
So there’s combat? There sure is.
Will there be story: Yes, and we’re pretty excited about it. We’ve been working on the story in the background since we started, and while it’s pretty ambitious, it’s coming along very nicely. However, we’re keeping it under wraps until release - story is the one part of the game that we want to surprise the community with when it’s ready. In the meantime, we can work with the community on the game itself.
Multiplayer? Not right now. Focusing on the core single player experience first.
Inspirations: Brazil (Terry Gilliam), The Prisoner, A Clockwork Orange, Brave New World, 1984, Doctor Who. Bravo to the internet for getting all of those from our trailer.
Platforms: PC first (Kickstarter/Early Access), consoles later.
Release date: Not confirmed yet. It’ll depend very much on how Kickstarter/Early Access goes. We’re currently in pre-alpha."
So there will be a kickstarter at some point.
Also - scroll down the Pax-east post and there is new screenshots from the game.