groze: I'd rather pay $60 for their game if they removed all that's subpar about it and left only what's good: the art design and the story. So, I'd rather pay $60 for a walking sim version of We Happy Few, than for whatever mess it is trying to be.
rjbuffchix: Comments like this exemplify what I mean, as I am the opposite I generally see more value in tons of ambition even if the potential is not fully realized. I can't speak on the frequent comparison of No Man's Sky, as it never held interest for me. But the "tons of ambition but plenty of imperfection" approach is what I always loved about "AA"-gaming. It is sorely missed in the gaming world. And, despite how others may feel, I do not consider most indie games to be on the same level as "AA"-gaming, which is why I support the ones that I feel are.
Along these lines, I feel that GOG benefits from bigger-scale games like this. There are already enough walking simulators here, to say nothing of other stores. Can anyone honestly claim that indie gaming world needs more walking simulators? An alternative, dystopian Bioshock-like game, though? Yes please! A rich, story-driven strategy game brimming with possibility, like Phantom Doctrine? Yes please! I found Death's Gambit worthy of purchase too, but I still maintain we would benefit from having bigger-scale games (not necessarily meaning what is considered "AAA" these days, though).
The thing is: the only two good things about We Happy Few are the art and the story. Everything else is either passable, mediocre, or downright bad. You're not buying ambition, you're buying a game. If most of the game works badly, remove it, leave only what's good about it, at least you'll end up with a good game. And if Compulsion removed all that's dragging the game down, they'd be left with a walking simulator. A pretty good one, at that, too.
And, yes, I love indie and "AA" games, too, for mostly the same reasons as you: they're willing to innovate and try new things, within a certain scope. But indie and "AA" titles don't sell for AAA prices and offer a promise of a DLC on top of that.
You want alternative distopian Bioshock? Go play Bioshock, then. We Happy Few is NOTHING like Bioshock, I don't understand where people got that idea from. Bioshock is not a carbon copy of The Prisoner TV series with some George Orwell thrown in for good measure. Bioshock's combat may not be the best ever, but it's definitely better than the one in We Happy Few. Bioshock's levels aren't put together at random, making you run miles and miles and miles through barren, empty terrain just to go fetch something for a quest, then making you go all the way back -- oh, and if you go through a populated area? Tough luck, you'll have to walk, or a Bobby might suspect you're off your Joy and suddenly THE WHOLE TOWN is after you and know exactly where you are. So much for ambition, when you can't execute what myriads of other games did so well before.
Also: for someone who seems to be so pro-innovation, you sure are biased against walking sims, which are some of the most ambitious games in recent memory. Not in terms of gameplay, I agree, but they're some of the most artistic, philosophical, psychological and literary experiences video games have ever given us. I, for one, welcome MORE walking sims on both GOG and the video game market as a whole. Let indie studios make their walking sims, customers will get to decide which ones are good or bad. Either way, no walking sim will ever sell for AAA price + DLC, and all that Compulsion added to We Happy Few was just that, buddy: more walking sim parts hidden beneath awful mechanics that Pathologic, The Long Dark, Dying Light, Dishonored, Thief, F.E.A.R., Hitman, etc all did way better, years and years before.
