Amanita Designs created dreamlike worlds full of colors and likable characters, such as in Samorost and its sequels. However, even the sweetest dream could become a nightmare, and this is exactly what is happening in Happy Game. Because, regardless of its name, there is nothing happy inside this game, only a disturbing, surreal, and violent world full of creepy beings. The game is a linear adventure with abstract and dynamic puzzles, not far from the atmosphere of the Rusty Lake franchise or Fran Bow.
The game tells the story of a kid trapped in a nightmarish dimension, where every happy memory of his childhood is twisted into a new grotesque and disturbing reality. There are no friends in this dark place, only a multitudine of aggressive boogeymen ready to devour, mutilate, or torture the poor child. The kid will travel to different segments of this nightmarish world, all places that should be apparently happy, like a land full of emoji-like smiling creatures or a flower world inhabited by bunnies. However, every place is home to terrifying creatures, a collection of boogeymen that terrifies and devours poor kids unlucky enough to finish in this obscure land.
In the following article, I will analyse some of the most disturbing and creepy creatures that will terrify, or directly try to devour the lonely protagonist.
The Cannibal Obese Rabbit
The rabbit is a ravenous and ferocious creature, a cannibal embodying every possible nightmare. Extremely obese and disturbing, the rabbit is the Apex predator of a colorful circular world full of flowers. The creature lives underground, but can be summoned by ringing a special bell. However, this is rarely a wise choice, since the fat rabbit will start to devour everything that is on its way. When the creature opens its mouth, it reveals gigantic circular jaws full of teeth, providing even more nightmarish qualities to this creature. The obese rabbit will eat everybody without consideration, including other smaller rabbits, without even showing the need of eating, but just the joy of devouring. The rabbit can be tricked, on some occasions, by making it devour other creatures while running away, a terrible deed necessary to survive in this disturbing world. Finally, it will also come the chance of killing the rabbit by strategically preparing guillotines around the circular world. While the blades rip the obese rabbit to death several times, its slashed body will reveal a terrifying truth. In fact, the rabbit is completely hollow inside, an empty sack without any organ, but completely filled till the head with the rotten bodies of the devoured creatures. Happy Game will not make you happy but surely will traumatise you.
The Faceless Tall Man
The tall man in the swamp is a mysterious and cryptic being who is not completely evil or aggressive. The creature is the biggest in the entire game, a colossal and thin abomination wandering through the creepy swamp area. The small protagonist will catch the attention of the giant after grabbing and offering a sort of fish that looks like a human hand coming out of a stone. The thin giant will then lift the main character on the palm of its hand, far above the treetops. The creature will then remove its face, showing only a wall of light beneath it. And suddenly, small tentacles will erupt from the light, like if it was a portal connected to an even more nightmarish realm. The player can remove the tentacles by dragging them, one by one, but at the end of the viscid appendix lies a terrifying secret. Each tentacle is connected with a child body, a corpse completely drained of life, probably being digested inside the hidden lightful realm existing inside the creature. Tentacle after tentacle, child after child, the face of the monster will become only a portal full of light. The small protagonist can now offer the bizarre hand-fish to the creature as a sort of sign of peace. Only then, a painted smiling face will appear on the expressionless giant, and the child will be free to go. But now, the swamp is a graveyard full of the children’s corpses removed together with the tentacles. This gigantic creature is probably an apex predator boogeyman, devouring and storing the bodies of dozens of children. Luckily, at least this is an easy-to-please boogeyman.
The Humanoid Pig
This gigantic humanoid pig is a peaceful being. Extremely creepy and disturbing, but at least not directly harmful. The abomination will just stay there, standing like a grotesque obese monument. The skin has a bizarre texture, like plastic material, especially when the creature is forced to open its wide mouth, looking like glue separating. The creepy surprise comes from another creature living inside this fat and gigantic shell, and probably the true shape of the creature. Between a skeleton and an alien, the one-eyed creature will appear from the darkness inside the wide-opened mouth of the pig. Again, this smaller creature is also not aggressive, and will try to help the kid lost in this nightmarish world.
The Happy Caterpillars
The happy Caterpillars are the main enemies of the happy world, a place full of gigantic smiling emojis, where everything is yellow. There are at least three caterpillars, and all of them are quite mischievous and aggressive. They have multiple arms and are quite keen on using them to hurt other creatures. The caterpillars are the final enemies of the happy world, and the kid needs to defeat them in order to proceed.
The Angry Baby
The giant baby is a grotesque and dumb being, a sort of violent primate with baby tendencies and behavior. Basically, it embodies the unnatural fear of what a gigantic and super strong infant could do. And of course, the outcome is very disturbing, since this creature likes to decapitate whoever is passing by, as if they were ugly toys to broke. And even more, if they have a smiling face, like if this giant and sad baby wants to destroy the happiness of the others, a sort of violent, immature, and mischievous troll.
The Invisible Man
The invisible man is one of the most terrifying and alien beings living in this disturbing land. Everything in its appearance is terrifying. The creature will manifest in a very disturbing way, like a sort of invisible force lifting a poor door in the air from his pawn. Only by making rain where the dog is floating, the player will discover the humanoid shape of the invisible creature. The player can then summon lightning bolts to strike the creature, revealing each time its real appearance. The worse thing? There are many of them, a group of creatures that look like living beneath an empty shell made of humanoid-like skin. Monsters hiding as smiling humans… hidden below the surface. Does it sound fitting to our society?
The Tribesmen
These small creatures are part of a tribe of dangerous and primitive beings. Regardless of their small size, they are extremely aggressive, focusing on attacking in a pack to dismember the weaker creatures. They live in a world of tall grass, like a neverending plantation, which they use to their advantage to hide and suddenly jump on their prey. Moreover, they seem to know when kids from other dimensions could appear in this nightmarish world, and they wait on the threshold, ready to devour like piranhas whoever will appear.
The Giant Doll
In the beginning, the doll is a simple construct necessary to solve a puzzle. Big, fat, and soulless, the doll is the guardian of an important item, hidden inside her head. The player can manipulate her gigantic body, so that the item will fall, by lifting her head and making the body oscillate. But the doll will not like this treatment and, when everything seems solved, she will fall to the ground. After that, the doll will mutate into a more evil version, with the body wrapped in shadow. Angry and terrifying, the doll will start to chase the poor kind. He must run fast to avoid the imposing colossal mass of the doll dashing after him. Nothing in this world is safe, and the disturbing doll will morph from a puzzle to a horror stalker in the only chasing sequence of Happy Game.
To conclude, a video with the complete gameplay for some of these creatures is also available in the Surreal and Creepy Games YouTube channel:
Surreal and Creepy 