We Happy Few is set in an alternate England that was conquered by the Nazis at the end of World War II, and where one town—Wellington Wells—chose to forget its role in that history by taking a heck of a lot of drugs. The result is a society where everything looks bright and cheery, full of classically English cosiness and mod cool, but underneath there's corruption and decay. It's an unusual atmosphere, one that's embodied in characters masked with painted-on smiles.
Freelance character artist Tito Belgrave is responsible for much of that, and his designs for the tea-sipping citizens called "Wellies" look like something from a particularly surreal episode of The Prisoner. The leering bobbies in their polished-button uniforms and the little old ladies who scream bloody murder if they see through your disguise are more overtly threatening, but everyone in We Happy Few is a bit disconcerting in their own way.
Belgrave previously worked on multiplayer slash-em-up Friday the 13th and puzzle game The Turing Test, both of which had very different aesthetics but were also distinct in their own ways. You can check out some of his character designs for those games below.
We Happy Few is available now. For more of Belgrave's work have a peruse of his website.
