10 Video Game Hallucinations That Melted Your Mind

By Jack Pooley /

3. The Rat "Pinata" - We Happy Few

Compulsion Games

This cult classic survival horror game takes place in an alternate history 1960s dystopia, where citizens are pacified through their addiction to a hallucinogenic drug named Joy, which shields them from the truly ruinous, desolate nature of the world around them.

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The game begins with protagonist Arthur becoming a "Downer" - that is, someone who refuses to take their Joy - as realised by a nauseating opening sequence where his friends invite him to whack a pinata.

Upon doing so, the joyous, colourful vision slips to reveal that Arthur and his pals are in fact beating a large rat to death, after which his friends feast upon the remains, believing them to be sweets from the pinata.

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It perfectly (and revoltingly) lays out the game's central conceit in a way that just about nobody who's ever played it will surely forget.