HappyFunland Review (Meta Quest 3 & PlayStation VR2)

Having witnessed the highs, lows, and eventual downfall of a local amusement park in my own neighborhood, I sort of know what it’s like to feel compelled to chalk up a game that depicts one in the wake of its natural, albeit somewhat depressing state of decay. For the record, I have participated in my share of urban exploration projects in past years, and I have seen a questionable volume of derelict parks, asylums, and hotels. With that said, nothing has ever come quite as close to being as psychologically harrowing as a shoddy ghost train in a wooded conservation zone. That, to me, is prime video game material, and something that, in all honesty, I hoped to unravel in Spectral Illusions’ HappyFunland—a VR entry that promised to sign, seal, and deliver a haunting journey through the bare bones of a tainted amusement park directly to my doorstep.

HappyFunland isn’t the longest horror game in the world. Heck, it isn’t really a horror game; it has the odd jump scare and even a few unsettling moments, for sure, but for the most part, it uses hit-and-miss humor to illustrate its appeal and elevate its foundations. For example, a good portion of the adventure sees you waving a golf club around in a typical nine-hole formation, as well as boarding several mine carts and other trams to scoot around the park and unearth its natural surroundings. Simply put, it’s an exploration game, and not, for example, a terrifying spiritual adaptation of, say, Five Nights at Freddy’s or Poppy Playtime. Boohoo.

With all of that said, if you’re looking to plunge into the roots of a creepy amusement park and spend a little time with its dainty animatronics, then be sure to brush up on these pointers before punching your ticket.

In the Wake of Abandonment

The general premise of the game is all rather simple: a complete stranger has instructed you to enter the ruins of a former amusement park, and essentially scrub its quarters clean for any leftover trinkets or pieces of memorabilia. In a typical urban exploration setup, you must breach the outskirts of the resort, and wheedle your way through the boroughs of the park, documenting your findings as you explore old rides, slideshows, and other facilities that were left to rot by the former owners. All in all, this should take the average player anywhere from ninety minutes to two hours to complete, thus making it a relatively short, one-and-done expedition that doesn’t quite overstay its welcome.

As this is a VR experience, of course, players can interact with most of the set pieces and items dotted around the floors and counters of the park. Granted, this isn’t a mandatory practice, but rather, a mere stepping stone that allows you to experiment with some of the game’s mechanics outside of its original set. In other words, you can smash your way through a gift shop and go all “HERE’S JOHNNY” on a pile of plushies with a golf club, but it isn’t necessarily a requirement for progressing deeper into the story. And that’s, you know, fair enough.

Aside from the relatively short campaign, the game also offers quite a handful of collectibles, too. Again, these aren’t required to fulfill your primary objectives, but they do provide a deeper insight into the titular world and its history as a former bastion of joy for its guests. Can’t complain there.

Ticket to Ride

The core gameplay elements in HappyFunland aren’t all that different from The Park or Reveil, in the case that, if you’re not out exploring the nooks and crannies of a derelict amusement park, then you’re working to solve a light puzzle or mini-game in order to uncover a new area or attraction. Primarily, you are aiming to unlock new biomes in the park, and playing short rounds of golf (don’t ask) to uncover new doors and hidden passageways that connect to alternate portions of the map. Between these sections, your only real objective is to locate one of eighty types of collectible—Randy Rodent figurines that, in all honesty, don’t have all that much to do with the storyline, in general. Bottom line is, there isn’t all that much to do, and so, if you did have your sights set on delving into an action-packed joyride — bad news, I’m afraid.

As I mentioned earlier, HappyFunland isn’t a pure and unadulterated horror game. Sure enough, its ambience is on point, and it does deliver a sense of dread along with the occasional jump scare — but that’s about as far as it goes. As it turns out, though, only few of said jump scares actually provide a genuine fright, whereas the vast majority of them tend to fall into predictable patterns and have little to no impact. It was during times like these that, although I wasn’t quite at the point of quivering in my own boots, I still felt the desire to push forward, despite the lack of terror that was coursing through my veins. That must’ve been the setting, though; it’s a bit of a win-win, given the fact that amusement parks are naturally eerie places — especially in the dead of night and when peppered with outdated animatronics.

Humorously Weird

There is one gameplay element that caught me off guard, and that was the combat. No, it wasn’t quite the defining feature of the game, but it did make an effort to reveal itself every once in a while and keep things somewhat fresh. The only issue with all of that, though, was that the physics weren’t quite as polished as I would’ve hoped them to have been. As with any game that adopts the traditional components of a virtual reality headset, the hustle and bustle of the combat encounters often felt flat and uninspired — like having to mindlessly hurl random objects about without any real targets to focus on, for example.

I’ll admit, at no point did I ever feel truly threatened by the animatronics that stalked me, as it was made clear right from the get-go that I could whittle down their existence with a single swipe or two from a good old-fashioned pirate sword. Admittedly, they did send the odd shiver down my spine, but I wouldn’t go as far as to say that they were borderline nightmare material — or anything even remotely similar to what you’d expect of a sadistic entity with a host of sinister motives, for that matter. However, given that said bots were shrouded in a mixture of gloomy aesthetics and a twist of manipulated innocence, I’m willing to let its lack of horror and scare value slide — if only to shed light on some of its positives, of which there are plenty.

Verdict

HappyFunland isn’t on the verge of shaking up the world of horror, that’s for sure. With that said, the game, as a whole, is still worth checking out, doubly so if you’re into the idea of exploring hollow grounds that feature copious amounts of old trinkets and a web of forsaken memories. It is worth pointing out, of course, that this isn’t your typical horror, as such, but rather, a simple walking simulator that relies on pure ambience and thematic storytelling over anything else. And that’s passable, given the fact that it does manage to execute these things surprisingly well, all things considered.

There is one major downfall to all of the above: the jagged controls. Unfortunately, a lot of the camera work does instill some level of motion sickness, which is often commonplace in the world of virtual reality, true. However, due to a lot of the movements having lower frame rates than others, it does cause some minor headaches, particularly during moments that require you to be a bit more hands-on with some of the intricate puzzles and mini-games. The mini golf, for example, isn’t something that you can simply do, but rather, attempt several times before being able to knuckle in on the hole. Due to these segments also being crucial for the formation of the climax, it does dampen the overall thrill of the ride, so to speak.

When all’s said and done, you could certainly do a lot worse than HappyFunland. However, if you’re on the market for a game that pays homage to the likes of Poppy Playtime and other animatronic-centric horrors, then you might want to consider altering your course and finding a new ticket to wager in its stead.