We Happy Few of his father three weeks before "Contrast" shipped. During this time, he had reflected on his state of life, and came up with ideas for "We Happy Few" in his emotional distress, particularly the idea of a society fixated on drugs and masks. Provost presented this to his creative team, who saw the possibilities of expanding on this. Narrative director Alex Epstein considered the idea similar to "Prozac Nation", and where in current times, there is a prescription drug for every conceivable malady. The title of the game comes from the St Crispin's Day Speech from "Henry V": Narratively, the
We Happy Few to as "Wellies"—wear white "Happy Face" masks as a sign of their continued jollity. Joy is freely dispensed in pill form and is also laced into the city's water supply. To encourage the drug's consumption, the media is tightly controlled and centers on "Uncle" Jack Worthing, a friendly MC whose voice and image widely broadcasts government propaganda over the city's televisions and radios. Unfortunately, some Wellies developed an immunity to Joy—partly as a result of ingesting bad batches of the drug—and subsequently became depressed or insane from remembering the Very Bad Thing; these people were then driven out of Wellington