Paranoia: Happiness is Mandatory - Announced

Paranoia: Happiness is Mandatory is a isometric, real time with pause, science fiction CRPG set to release sometime in 2019.

Paranoia is a CRPG that takes place in humanity's last idyllic refuge, Alpha Complex, which is controlled by Friend Computer. All citizens enjoy a life of joy, cheerfulness and cleanliness. Questioning the benevolence of Friend Computer is an act of treason. Having access to information beyond your security clearance is an act of treason. Refusing to drink your daily dose of Bouncy Bubble Beverage is an act of treason. Treason is punishable by summary execution.

Stay alert! Trust no one!
Traitors are everywhere, plotting to destroy The Computer, Alpha Complex itself, and our precious way of life. Identify them, report them - or eliminate them as the treasonous scum they are. Keep your laser handy!
You lead a team of Troubleshooters with RED security clearance. Your job is to find trouble - and shoot it. Friend Computer monitors your every move, alert for any sign of treason, and will undoubtedly reward you for prompt and heroic action in defence of Alpha Complex - or punish treasonable acts, possibly by assigning you to be used as reactor shielding.

• A retro-futuristic world filled with technologies as wondrous as they are deadly
• Create and lead a team of four Troubleshooters working for Friend Computer
• Choose your specialisations from 16 available skills
• Unique character progression through cloning (if you die, you progress!)
• Tactical combat system with active pause inspired by classic CRPG games
• Original enemies, including malfunctioning robots, aggressive drinks dispensers and defective clones

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More information.

Sounds great, it's high on my to-play list when it releases.

Not clear if it's heavy story driven or diceroll "dungeons" with rincerepeat missions.
Other things listed might be good, but also bad.

One thing can't be negative though - PEGI16. :thumbup: for that.

It's based on a tabletop RPG. How bad can it be? Spoiler - It can be very good if they stick to the pen-and-paper ruleset and implement it well.

"Based on" means nothing. We know how Sword Coast Legends ended.

Speaking of which...
https://www.tuquegames.com/games/game-2

Sword Coast Legends was actually good though. It just didn't deliver certain NWN-expectations. The game itself is good though.

Is it focused on actually helping the evil AI - a sort of dystopian job simulator - or is it about resisting the bugger? Or having the choice?

This project will have quite the challenge on it's hands, if indeed it is styled after the Paranoia paper and pen game of the eighties. I'm intrigued by the tactical combat so I'm hoping they can pull it off!

Ripper said:

Is it focused on actually helping the evil AI - a sort of dystopian job simulator - or is it about resisting the bugger? Or having the choice?

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If it's true to its source, neither. It's about getting ahead and advancing the causes of your secret society while not attracting too much attention to yourself and backstabbing your fellow Troubleshooters, labeling them "traitors", while avoiding being targeted as such yourself. It's like if Orwell or Brazil had a (black) sense of humor.

No idea how well this game will pull it off, but this is very exciting. I love Paranoia. Between this and the Vampire 2 announcement, with Outer Worlds and Cyberpunk 2077 on the horizon, this is suddenly shaping up to be a heck of a next few years for RPGs.

TheRealFluent said:

It's based on a tabletop RPG. How bad can it be? Spoiler - It can be very good if they stick to the pen-and-paper ruleset and implement it well.

Click to expand...

At risk of copyright violation, here is the entire rule set for Paranoia's combat system:

Kill the bastards.

That's it. That's the combat rules. Seriously! (Edit: well, OK, I checked my rule book and there is a bit more but it isn't rules, it's just guidance on how to make it fun.)

Paranoia is *the* game I always point to as being a game that is completely impossible to bring to PC. They can certainly bring the setting to a PC game but the game itself? Not in my lifetime. This is because the rules are mostly made up as you go along!

When your brave Troubleshooter decides to take a pot shot at some commie mutant slime monster, you don't compare the CMSM's armor class to your Troubleshooter's THAC0, taking into account that you've got a +2 against slime. Instead, the GM decides whether it would be most fun if you hit or if you miss and does that. If it could be fun either way, then maybe roll dice. Mostly, though, die rolls are for giving players a false sense of hope before you kill the bastards.

Paranoia went a completely different direction than most RPGs out there: it's improvisational role playing. The rule books and modules are mostly about the setting, who's doing what, and why. (They're also the most fun to read of any game I've ever seen.)

That aside, though, they could definitely make a computer game based on the setting, which is a bit of a science fiction, McCarthy, Orwell mix.

It does look very interesting. This snap shot doesn't give enough information on what the game will be like as far as gameplay IMO, but geez it made me laugh!

Really want to have faith but one of the developers is Cyanide Studio. Based on their track record they usually develop and publish mediocre games. Fingers crossed.

Link - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyanide_(company)

Huge fan of this tabletop RPG back in the 80s. Very interested.

This game's cutscenes are eerily similar to the massively amazing and MustPlay(tm)
ATTACK OF THE EARTHLINGS | Turn Based Alien Assault
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZAB9f1DjoU

Ha, I remember watching someone play that on youtube now you mention it. Haven't heard or remembered of it since. Maybe it was a totalbiscuit WFT IS... video or something. Was it good?

They should have made it UGOIGO.