Ollie Starkey, protagonist of Act III, is a lot more challenging than the previous two, as he has no experience in Stealth and has trouble fitting in among the locals. After an accident with synthesizing Blackberry Joy, Sally finds that it's gotten far more dangerous for her to live in Wellington Wells, and decides to escape with a very important. Instead, her character is focused on Stealth and Survival. Sally Boyle, protagonist of Act II, is somewhat more challenging than Arthur, mostly because she's not very useful in Combat. Arthur has very little negative aspects to his character, and has knowledge in both Stealth and Combat. He's chased into the Garden District, and has to work his way back to the Parade District to get out of Wellington Wells, as Britannia Bridge is the only bridge that connects to the mainland. He's the typical, unremarkable English everyman, suddenly turned Downer after being reminded of his lost older brother, Percival Hastings, while at work. There are three Acts that all have their own protagonist which the player gets to play as, each of which have a somewhat different play style.ДЄrthur Hastings, protagonist of Act I, is the basic tutorial character that the player spends most of their time as. There are two modes the player can choose, Story Mode, which explains most of the city's history and teaches the player how the game works, and Survival/Sandbox Mode, which focuses on the player surviving and escaping Wellington Wells with the knowledge they've gathered from Story Mode. It's only a matter of time before three certain Downers collectively, though unknowingly, aid each other in revealing the truth to the rest of the Wellie population regarding their dwindling food supply, and has to stop taking their Joy. The Wellies never have to face the truth and come to terms with their past, and the Wastrels are forever stuck where they belong, far away from being able to spread their gloomy mood onto any more Wellies. The bridges have been purposefully built to keep everyone in their place. Wastrels are unable to take Joy even if they wanted to, as it makes them see eyes everywhere, with some even hallucinating their children speaking to them. They live in houses that are barely standing, and fight over the last remaining food, as newly grown vegetables go rotten as soon as it hits the air. All of the inhabitants are former Wellies, now called Wastrels, who are forever stuck in the scraps of their former civilization.

The Garden District is the area where the outcasts try and survive another day. If they find someone who is sad or worried about something in their past, which is typical behaviour of a Downer, they'll quickly be lethally subdued by the authority. The inhabitants are called Wellies, and they do their best to keep the past where it belongs. The historic buildings are covered in colourful stripes, inspirational propaganda posters, and Joy Detectors futuristic technology meant to detect and alarm when someone hasn't taken their Joy. Hamlyn Village is the area where society thrives, having gone to great lengths to conceal their awful past.

Soon afterwards, the citizens began to favour the future and decided to rebuild part of the city to reflect their newfound perspectives, though it didn't take long before they were divided. Four years after the Victory, Joy was created. This caused General Byng to commission a drug that would make the consumer go through drug-induced amnesia in order to forget the past, and because they wouldn't remember their tragic past, they'd instead be happy again. During the Occupation, all citizens of Wellington Wells sent all of their children under the age of 13 to Germany, without knowing what was going to happen to them, or if they'd ever return.Д«ecause of this event, every citizen in Wellington Wells was left feeling great guilt and sorrow over what they had done, getting upset over the mere sight of a child. In 1943, Germany successfully invaded and occupied England during World War II.

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