Two years ago, the gaming world saw a trailer for We Happy Few that looked both familiar and new. It was stylistically inspired by Bioshock, but it seemed to emphasize a much more nuanced style of stealth gameplay more like Hitman. After premiering to a hail of interest, the game continued to make waves early in 2015 before quietly settling into a successful Kickstarter and Early Access, but we’ve finally had a chance to see snippets of what the game has evolved into after all that time.

During PAX West, We Happy Few founder Guillaume Provost added details to the game. He explained that the story – which had been absent from the early access – was nearly completed, had evolved massively over the course of testing, and now featured three playable characters.

Gameplay shown during the interview also showcased stealth elements, but those more akin to Deus Ex than Hitman, with Arthur climbing into vents, choking people out from behind, and crouch-stealthing. We weren’t able to tell if the mechanic was still in place to have to play the part of a Wellie – pretending to be happy and drugged – or if that element has been downplayed.

The bad news is that the trailer didn’t look very enticing. Arthur mostly walked around witnessing scripted events and did little in the way of actually moving the story along. We also saw a guard dispatched by giving him a bottle of whiskey, which he swigged and then left the door he had been protecting. We are hoping this is a small moment in the game, as it is a pretty obvious and boring gameplay trope to simply introduce a ‘gate’ and then the player gets a ‘key’ (like whiskey) to get past it.

Provost failed to mention many of the concerns pointed out by early access Steam users as well. The combat has been described as boring, easy, and repetitive to the point where there’s almost no reason to stealth. The game has also been said to be far more like Dayz as a survival simulator focused on getting food and water. Many also said the procedurally generated maps were large and uninteresting.

Provost addressed none of these concerns in his recent interview, nor did he mention the community outrage at the price increase to the early access game going from $19.99 – $51.99. We will have to wait until April 13, 2018 – when the game launches officially – to see if fears have been allayed.