PARANOIA: HAPPINESS IS MANDATORY IS A CLASSIC RPG SET IN AN ORWELLIAN NIGHTMARE
When I first saw the reveal trailer for Paranoia: Happiness is Mandatory, I made the assumption that it was some sort of management simulator, similar to Prison Architect or a comedic version of Observation. Thankfully, I was incredibly wrong.
Unaware that developer Black Shamrock had secured the rights to the tabletop RPG of the same name, I was excited to learn that Paranoia: Happiness is Mandatory is a compelling mix of classic isometric RPGs and tactical combat sims set in a hilariously absurd Orwellian nightmare.
The world of Paranoia is a far-future automated habitat known as Alpha Complex, where everyone is Happy™. Happiness™, in this scenario, means thoroughly medicated and pacified by the various agents of the very good and kind, and definitely not-at-all evil supreme overlord of your little world, Friend Computer.
Friend Computer.
Friend Computer keeps the citizens of Alpha Complex Happy™ in a variety of ways, beyond just their perscribed Happy Pills. Friend computer keeps its citizens clean. Friend Computer provides its citizen with purpose, giving them important jobs that keep them Happy™, like cleaning the cleaning robots, or researching new flavors of Classic-flavored Fizzy Beverage. Friend Computer keeps its citizens Happy™ by keeping them safe. Happiness is following the Rules™, like "remain within your color-coded security clearance area" or "refrain from independent thought to avoid being placed on additional watchlists."
Friend Computer is everywhere. Almost. And that's where you come in.
You take on the role of a Troubleshooter: someone whose job is to deal with any problems in Alpha Complex that may require a more personal touch than Friend Computers many drones and servo-arms are able to provide. In our demo, this meant investigating why one of the maintenance bots in a sub-basement level was behaving oddly.
It turned out that a group of Traitors - the designation given to anyone in the Alpha Complex facility that does not follow the rules or remain Happy™ - had sealed off a few rooms in the sub-basement to use as their personal LARP-ing grounds (they'd even reprogrammed security bots to shout "Lightning Bolt!" as they fire their lasers), and it was up to us and our three crew members to clear them out.
Combat in Paranoia is real-time, but you can pause the action whenever you like for as long as you want to give your squad of four commands, sending them to cover, attacking specific enemies or making use of their unique specializations. For example, while your Cleanliness Officer might be able to use disinfecting chemical to deal acid damage, or your Happiness Officer (basically the logical and horrifying extrapolation of Big Pharma and Social Media) could buff your team with psychotropic drugs.
What's interesting is that rather than failing and restarting a mission upon death with a different skill loadout, HiM features a unique take on permadeath. Friend Computer understands that accidents happen, and as such has issued Troubleshooters with a bank of clones that are activated upon a unit's accidental termination (or an intentional one, depending on your actions). What's interesting is that each time you activate a clone, you're able to re-spec your skills and attribute points, effectively creating a new character every time you die. Friend Computer only provides six clones that can be re-spec'd, though, so you'll have to choose wisely if you don't want to get stuck with a skill set you don't want. I'm told, however, that there may be a certain geneticist somewhere in Alpha Complex that could help with that - if you've got funds and are willing to risk the demerits...
Of course, it wouldn't be called "Paranoia" without good reason. While your team members may be under your control during combat and missions, they are very much not your team members. Even though your jobs will take you into areas where Friend Computer's scanners don't work, that doesn't mean your team members won't inform Friend Computer of any misdeeds you commit while on a mission. For example, when we found ourselves at a locked door, our tech expert suggested that I hack a nearby vending machine to gain access to the local network and unlock the door. It was a good idea, so I did - and the little weasel ratted me out as soon as we got back upstairs, which caused my Treason Level (a percent rating system that every citizen has indicating how concerned Friend Computer is with their Happiness™) to increase and change my citizen rating from Questionable to Suspicious.
We didn't see much of Alpha Complex beyond the couple of floors we visited, but the little bit of the world it showed us did a great job playing with this notion of omnipotence and mistrust, and how you have to deal with it. Wherever your character goes, security cameras track your every move - even the Friend Computer icon at the top of the screen (it lets you know when you're in view of its cameras) follows the motion of your mouse cursor with eerie, silent malice.
Though I only experienced a small portion Paranoia's world, I was immediately hooked by its witty take on the "robots gone awry" genre, and can't wait to see how my exploits play out depending on my choices. Will I splinter off from the other citizens to join a secret society and overthrow FC? Or will I remain a steadfast and Happy™ agent of Friend Computer's ruthlessly intelligent design? Happiness may be mandatory, but participation is entirely voluntary - and I'll gladly be throwing on my read overalls later this year.
Crooked Bee and Roxor agree about something, just applied to different games (though she could and may very likely hate this one too).
Okay they have melee weapons,
Paranoia is a Tactical RPG With an AI Big Brother Watching Your Every Move
Paranoia: Happiness is Mandatory may be perfectly named. The world of Paranoia is one that, well, induces a lot of paranoia. To be unhappy is also treasonous, so it is pretty mandatory. Paranoia: Happiness is Mandatory brings the pen and paper RPG first released in 1984 to PC in great CRPG style.
If you are unfamiliar with the world of Paranoia, as I was, it’s not exactly the happiest place, even though they really want it to be. Set in a dystopian city run by an AI known as “Friend Computer,” every move of all citizens is under constant watch. The world is created for Friend Computer’s control, and everyone is made to follow the illogical and often contradictory rules Friend Computer creates.
Only those with the Yellow security clearance can be in this area.
Organized by a color coded caste system, those who Friend Computer trusts most have the higher security clearance. That means society isn’t structured by merit or by wealth or by anything other than what Friend Computer thinks of you. So, in another sense Happiness is Mandatory may also refer to the player’s obligation to keep Friend Computer happy, too.
You’ll take on the role of a Troubleshooter, who is tasked with dealing with whatever troubles Friend Computer deems necessary and a threat to its control. Your character and a team of a few others will venture out to deal with those in secret societies, malfunctioning robots, and more.
Trusting your companions is a fool’s game, too. Almost everywhere in Paranoia is under Friend Computer’s surveillance, but there are some places it cant see. Those are likely places you’ll be when doing some Troubleshooting work. As the whole society is a competition for Friend Computer’s affection, you’ll have to watch what you do around your companions. Just because Friend Computer isn’t watching doesn’t mean someone else isn’t for him.
Friend Computer watches your every move and even has a dedicated spot in the top center of the UI to even watch your cursor moving on the screen.
It’s not as though one of your companions may be a plant or spy, they are just really likely to throw you under the bus to advance themselves. Paranoia’s not really a world for making friends, and your very survival will likely depend on some betrayals along the way.
That doesn’t mean you’ll always have to do something that Friend Computer wants, but there are risks. You’ll have a treason level that will go up or down based on your actions. It’s something you’ll need to be careful with, however, as at 100% Friend Computer will ask you to terminate yourself.
Death isn’t the end, though. If you die, don’t worry, there are some clones of you in storage that will be brought up. This will allow you to start fresh with a new character, putting in attributes in skills into something else this time, or tweaking what you had before.
As for combat, Paranoia plays out something like Divinity: Original Sin. It’s not grid- or hex-based, and all gunshots are based on real physics. If something is in the way, the shot won’t hit. And you’re only in cover so much as what is actually covered. If you’re head is poking out and a bullet hits it, well, that’s bad news. You’ll also be able to pause in combat to strategize.
Paranoia‘s combat seems to play as pretty standard CRPG fare, with the developers stating they have put a little more emphasis on things like consumables they expect players to use a lot. There will be abilities, items to craft, and different guns to mess around with as well. And of course plenty of loot to go through once you’ve downed your enemies.
Paranoia has some great dark humor and personality to it in an interesting dystopian world. The setting and writing are all there to make for some great fun, and if you’re a fan of things like Baldur’s Gate or Divinity: Original Sin, this may be worth checking out.
Paranoia: Happiness is Mandatory is due out at the end of 2019 on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.
also it's not fucking turn-based not like that has everything to do with how it plays
E3 2019 Preview | Paranoia: Happiness is Mandatory
During our time at E3, we checked out several Bigben Interactive titles. Some of which were based on tabletop RPGs like Werewolf: The Apocalypse — Earthblood. Another one, interestingly enough, would be Paranoia: Happiness is Mandatory, a game set in a dystopian setting based on a game from 1984. Unlike Werewolf: The Apocalypse — Earthblood, which is an action game, Paranoia is a point and click CRPG. Similar to games like Torment: Tides of Numenera or even Baldur’s Gate, Paranoia is an RPG for those that love a deep narrative.
Paranoia’s setting, Alpha Complex, is very artificial and unnatural. You work as an troubleshooting engineer under the rule of a defective AI, Friend Computer. To Friend Computer, their rule is law, and breaking those laws can be punishable by “termination”, aka death. Somewhat like We Happy Few, the citizens of Alpha Complex take pills to maintain their happiness. They also are assigned various roles, for example, the player character can only walk in red areas in the beginning. Walking in a yellow area will raise the treason level and can even earn a punishment.
One thing that Paranoia does to immerse the player is that they put Friend Computer’s eye at the top of the screen. It’s here that it will always watch wherever the mouse moves, sort of breaking the fourth wall in this instance. It’s a nice touch to the presentation, which already has a sort of Fallout Vault Boy aesthetic. Players will be able to make dialogue choices to determine how conversations and the story play out, often leading to humorous situations.
Players will eventually meet up with Friend Computer to create a team to go on missions. In our demo, this mission involved going to a facility (where Friend Computer can’t see) to fix a cleaning drone, which ended up needing an escort. It’s here that we get a taste of combat, as there are enemy robotic drones to attack you. Combat is a bit interesting, as players can control all four of their units at once, or each one individually. Units are capable of auto-battle but the player can also direct them to something more specific. One thing that’s useful is to use cover, as debris could be used to increase evasion.
Each character will have set skills, either to use in offensive or defensive situations. If a player should fall in battle, they’ll have extra lives in the form of a clone. It’s pretty common in stories like this, but it’s still a fun explanation nonetheless. It may also be worth letting one of your teammates die, as they could give their loyalty to Friend Computer. It would be too obvious if you make it seem intentional, so this situation needs to be done to make it look like an accident.
In some situations, players will have various obstacles to overcome. Sometimes this will need a specialist on the team, but sometimes the player will need to handle it themselves. In these moments, the player may want to give themselves specs towards various uses. During my demo, I ran into a situation where I needed to hack a security system. Not only would I need a high enough hacking skill, but I would also need keys from a vending machine. It’s also here that one of my teammates could report my actions as treason. Obviously if I can hack things, it wouldn’t be a good thing for Friend Computer.
The hacking minigame itself is fun, having a string of letters moving quickly like a slot machine. The player just has to stop the right letter in the slots with careful timing. It’s not easy at first, but once you know the timing and understand what to do, it’s not too bad. Using the vending machines could also help to gain useful items and equipment. Players will have the option to customize their equipment, just like many RPGs. Being that I was playing in the early stages, it was hard to get an idea of what options there were, but it was likely basic RPG rules with upgrades in stats.
Overall, Paranoia: Happiness is Mandatory is a pretty nice change of pace for the genre. I usually see a lot of apocalyptic and fantasy titles, so having a dystopian setting makes quite a difference. One thing that could be better is the ability to continuously move with the mouse. The control pad or WASD keys work, but it would be a good change for players of other games in the genre. Other than that, fans of the tabletop series and RPGs in general should definitely keep their eyes peeled for this one. Paranoia: Happiness is Mandatory is scheduled to come out later this year for PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4. Are you excited for this release? Let us know in the comments below!
Paranoia: Happiness Is Mandatory preview - retro RPG fun
Dark humour and Red Dwarf-ish charm make this retro-feeling RPG one to watch...
Last month, Den Of Geek flew over to Dublin to try out Paranoia: Happiness Is Mandatory, an upcoming RPG for PC, Xbox One and PS4 that takes its inspiration from a tabletop game from 1984 called Paranoia. The project has been developed in the Irish capital from the snazzy offices of Cyanide and Black Shamrock, with Bigben Interactive due to publish the title in October.
Sitting around a boardroom table with various executives and developers, some of whom even worked on the classic tabletop game, it's obvious that there is no shortage of passion here. People talk with genuine enthusiasm about the original title's dark sense of humour, and its propensity to encourage betrayals between players, and how they've tried to translate that quirky experience into a single-player game for the modern age. (One way they've done this is by making numerous party-members betray you over the course of the game.)
25 years on from the original Paranoia, its core plot points remain: in a closed-off dystopian community known as Alpha Society, the player undertakes missions as a 'troubleshooter' for an unhinged AI overlord called Friend Computer. The game's subtitle, 'happiness is mandatory', is one of the Friend Computer's many grim rules. Your job, basically, is to lead a team of characters through various missions to quell insubordination within this twisted society.
Thrown in somewhere between the shallow end and the deep end, Den Of Geek loads up the fourth level of the game. After choosing a squad of supporting characters and picking up a sizeable rocket launcher from Alpha Complex's trigger-happy R&D department, it's time to get started with the action. And once the level properly begins, we're reminded of a classic line from a Mitchell & Webb sketch: "are we the baddies?"
It certainly feels like we are, as our squad of geared-up troubleshooters is despatched to take out treasonous people that actually seem pretty reasonable. While much of Alpha Complex's citizens remain merrily drugged up and oblivious to their dystopian living situation, the rebels we're battling have realised that Friend Computer is a violent dictator and that life could be better without it.
The gameplay is fun, once you get the hang of it, as you guide your squad through various areas and wipe out all the naysayers that get in their way. You can hack terminals, craft equipment and dish out damage in a variety of ways, from the aforementioned rocket launcher's powerful blasts to wacky mutant abilities like incineration attacks. This particular level builds to a confrontation between our squad an a sentient vending machine, the Vendanator, which is trying to lead a revolution against Friend Computer. Each area is filled with hazards, and most places that provide cover are capable of being destroyed. You've got to be tactical to win the day, and you might find that you lose teammates along the way.
Jumping in at level four, the game felt quite difficult, but that could just be because we skipped the tutorial stage and weren't really sure which attacks and items were the best ones to use. We had time to try level one a little later, and after that everything made a lot more sense. Well... the world still felt utterly barmy, but our objectives and our skills became easier to understand.
What really stands out is the game's sense of humour, with gags (of various levels of darkness) packed into every possible sentence. This combines nicely with the sci-fi setting and the lo-fi feel of the game's retro graphics, with everything blending together into a tongue-in-cheek world that feels like a sibling to the likes of Red Dwarf. Maybe if the Starbug crew ended up in an Orwellian nightmare, it would feel a little like this.
It's hard to get a true sense of a game from one and a bit levels, but it was obvious from our time in Alpha Complex that this is an intriguing world that we'd like to explore more. This new game may not have the sheen of bigger-budget RPG projects, but, in a way, that just adds to its charm. The writing is strong and the gameplay is fun, and that mandatory feeling of happiness may well be easy to achieve when you play the full game.
Paranoia: Happiness Is Mandatory will launch on PC on 3 October, with the console release date not yet confirmed.
Providing a Less Direct Take on Dystopia in Paranoia: Happiness is Mandatory
It’s difficult to get away from the influence of either Brave New World or 1984 when it comes to creating dystopian fiction. While both 20th century novels are considered to be two of the most important novels in the genre, if not in all of literature (and for good reason), the sheer reliance on both novels’ intentions and concerns have descended somewhat into little more than cliche and/or tired tropes with a lot of contemporary media. That’s not to say that Paranoia: Happiness is Mandatory doesn’t itself rely on these same concepts prevalent in both Brave New World and 1984 alike. There’s the color-coded, forceful segregation of individuals into groups a la the former, as there is the looming omnipresence of surveillance, complete with signatory massive screen at the game-hub’s center, much like the latter. But unlike other media like movies and TV, video games can at least stand above the references and influences (no matter how rehashed) in that their very interaction can be an end in of itself, let alone a means. Or at least, it has the potential to.
Even if this is an adaptation of the traditional board game of the same name, the joint efforts of developers Black Shamrock and Cyanide Studio don’t veer too far into one specific direction for its presentation to come off too reliant on such repeated cliches. There’s that bleak, dark-industrial hum of Alpha Complex’s interior, but it’s not a crushingly-oppressive kind of aesthetic. Likewise, the illuminated gleam and somewhat-slick attire of the base similarly avoids over-indulging in that crisp, clean, corporatist “utopian” visage of pre-90’s sci-fi. There’s a pleasant middle-ground here — one caught between faux-sleekness and pungent filthiness — and the likely reason for this balance-act lies in the game’s more central intentions in providing that same brand of quirky CRPG/simulation gameplay that PC players are sure to take to with intrigue.
The supposed humor and black-comedy antics might not be as prevalent or apparent as you might expect, but Paranoia: Happiness is Mandatory still makes the effort to provide a real-time RPG that employs both tactical cover-based actions and thoughtful decision-making, as players scout out various parts of the base under the supervision of Friend Computer. The gist of the game’s progression is that players take on varying objectives set out by the base’s AI and this often takes on the form of clearing out a set number of rooms and sectors in order to reach a pivotal spot. While it may not entirely be a “fog-of-war” style approach when it comes to moving tactically through the complex, given visibility is limited to the only room you currently reside in, players are required to prepare themselves for any form of encounter that may be lurking in wait past the next door or even around the corner of that very same long-stretch of corridor.
Regardless of whether or not the game will later provide additional challenges that further reduce visibility through some temporary condition or ailment, what stops this approach from feeling perhaps a touch unfair to some comes by way of the temporary shift to turn-based like freezing of time. Action does still play out in real-time — allowing you to swiftly weave in-and-out of cover, without having to compensate or plan multiple steps ahead for the impending enemy “turn”. For those instances where an ambush may occur or an enemy simply ducks out of obstructed view, however, Paranoia still allows you to pause the action at any time and approach stand-alone moves with, hopefully, a more sound tactic. Allowing you to select one or even all your custom team of up to four units — returning swiftly to real-time without it ever feeling like you’re cheating the system. It’s not too self-defeating or too conflicted with the core real-time philosophy here and for those who would rather abide to a “true” experience of real-time encounters, the pause feature can be ignored without so much as a second glance.
It’s welcome too that in the case of sliding through equipped weapons and items, Paranoia doesn’t incorporate any sense of RNG or risk as to using a potentially more lethal-if-risky weapon over something safer if lower on damage output. You may wonder as to the point of even taking weaker items if this is the case, but fortunately the game’s currency and requirements in purchasing such handy tools prior to a mission do mean players will likely seldom find they can so easily glide into a mission without any consideration as to how combat will be approached. The only real risk players have to take note of is in how far they, for example, throw a grenade or how their aiming reticle lines up. And for PC players, this is simply a case of pointing to the required target and moving onto the next command. Paranoia‘s combat, as a result, is swift and relatively simple-enough to manage, particularly when moments can indeed boil down to ducking behind cover.
A large portion of the game time outside of engaging hostiles, however, is spent simply exploring Alpha Complex — potentially seeing how much one can get away with by, for example, stepping into unauthorized regions of a room of corridor, as denoted by color-coded, sectioned-off parts of the interior. NPCs that litter the interior will of course offer brief passages of conversation and opinions pertaining to the premise, but the small, blue-colored — and perhaps insignificance — presence it poses, or lack thereof, would have you believe this is an insignificant element of world-building. That might not entirely be the case, but it’s unclear on whether or not the developers would like to have you take notice of this brief chatter or not.
Even so, the absence of any real on-the-nose tone or immediate lumping the players with many a tired visage of oppression, totalitarianism or the like, is welcome — especially considering the game’s refusal to indulge too heavily in one of the two aesthetic themes it dabbles in, just about finding a happy-medium in-between. The biggest question lies in the game’s underlining premise of having to skirt the line of compliance and going against the system, both in mission (hacking doors, for example) and outside of it, should you decide to explore further the existence of many a faction group tucked away amidst the game’s surroundings. Nice it is to see a piece of dystopian fiction that doesn’t try, so painfully and desperately so, to underscore its “oh-so terrible” scenario, it’ll be curious to see how well its core loop of real-time (with a freeze-frame sprinkling of adaptive decision-making) combat, alongside its simulation-like daily antics, can move beyond the presentation and expand past the initial first couple of hours. Paranoia: Happiness is Mandatory is planned to release across PC and consoles sometime later this year.
Interesting way of preventing attempts at going full goody-goody.
