A HIGHLY DISTURBED ROMP.

I like Amanita Design’s games. There’s always been a kind, albeit weird, atmosphere in their games as if I were playing a point and click adventure of a children’s cartoon. Sure, there were things that could be deemed “scary” in contrast to the games in which they resided, but I don’t think I would say the games were ever not safe for kids.

That isn’t the case for Happy Game.

PLATFORMS: PC, SWITCH
MSRP: $13.13
PRICE I’D PAY: $9.99

Happy Game is a disturbing point and click game that I would not recommend for kids. Graphic violence, disturbing imagery, and things that I definitely could see traumatizing a child.

Happy Game is the story about a little boy escaping his nightmares. It takes place in three artistically varied nightmares and the overall experience took me two and a half hours to do everything (achievements included), so don’t expect anything too engrossing but I think it’s a good time.

I will say that this game isn’t scary. If anyone goes in expecting scary moments, they are going to be highly disappointed. Happy Game is very disturbing, with graphic imagery like slicing cartoon characters apart in high detail. It doesn’t come off as humorous like, say Happy Tree Friends. The design of some of the monstrous beings is visually interesting, but still just off enough. I sort of played the game in disgust at times too. I went through a variety of emotions, but fear was something I never felt.

I don’t want to dive into too much because the game is so short, so I will share something early on that still bothers me and made me want to buy the eerie score from DVA who have previously worked with Amanita. This disturbing looking teddy bear danced with fire to a tune that slightly sounds out of key and it made the hair on my arms stand on end. I can’t exactly explain why, maybe it was the lack of sound effects, maybe it was the music, maybe it was the design itself, but something made me feel extremely uncomfortable and that is where Happy Game succeeds, and this isn’t even one of the violent and bloody segments.

There are some faults though. I think the price is pretty high for what this game is, which is a visually compelling but fairly easy point and click adventure. Even when compared to other games from Amanita, I think Happy Game is asking a bit much. I would pay ten dollars because I like the studio, but for most people I think a sale is when I would recommend it. The other problem was that character movement is done by clicking on the character and dragging him which will accidentally take whatever item he is holding at times. A click to walk or keyboard control system would have been preferred.

I’m not sure whether to recommend Happy Game or not. I think most people will be disappointed with its short play time and easier puzzles. Any fan of Amanita will definitely find joy in this new direction for the studio but will maybe be let down in comparison to past titles’ puzzles. In short, Happy Game is good, people should play it, but wait for a sale.

Review copy of game provided by publisher.