Happy Game

Happy Game is a surrealist horror adventure from Amanita Design. A little boy falls into three nightmares while asleep and must find a way out of each one.

Instead of classic fights, you face short puzzle chains, unusual visual ideas and some disturbing scenes with seemingly cheerful characters.

Happy Game was released on Oct 28, 2021 for PC and Nintendo Switch. The native iOS and Android versions followed on Feb 2, 2023.

The game comes from the Czech studio Amanita Design, which is known for Botanicula and CHUCHEL, among others.

Happy Game is available for PC, Nintendo Switch, iOS and Android. The PC version supports Windows and macOS within the same platform version.

On Switch, you can also control the game with the touchscreen. No standalone Switch 2 or Apple Vision version has been released. The iOS app can run on compatible Apple devices without being a native Vision version.

Happy Game follows the logic of a point-and-click adventure. You examine scenes, move objects, combine unusual actions and trigger reactions in the environment.

The puzzles are often staged visually. Characters and objects can change in unexpected ways.

Happy Game requires relatively little hardware. On PC, Steam lists a 2 GHz-class processor and 4 GB RAM, among other things. The storage requirement is around 2 GB.

This graphically demanding adventure does not need a fast internet connection. The focus is on the single-player experience.

The nameless boy goes through three different nightmare sections. In them, childlike imagery meets threatening situations, such as eerie smileys, distorted bodies and puzzling encounters.

The scenes tell their story mainly through animation, images and the player's actions rather than long dialogue.

Bright red, playful characters and hand-drawn backdrops in Happy Game contrast with violent imagery and unsettling pictures. The cheerful title is deliberately misleading.

If you expect a calm puzzle adventure like other Amanita Design games, be prepared for far darker content.

The Czech duo DVA provided the music and sound effects for Happy Game. The sound design accompanies the shifts between a childlike melody, shrill effects and a threatening atmosphere.

The soundtrack and a digital artbook are also available separately on PC. This bundle does not add another playable chapter.

Since Feb 2, 2023, you can also play Happy Game on smartphones and tablets. These versions are offered by Amanita Design itself.

Google Play rates the game as suitable for teens due to violence and blood. An Apple Arcade subscription is not required for the iOS version.

The PC version includes a German-language interface and other language versions. Since many scenes get by without extensive dialogue, the focus is on visual clarity and gestures.

On Nintendo Switch, the game supports the touchscreen in handheld mode as well as the standard controls.