Joy Doctor

*"As your doctor, I must warn you: it's not healthy being out after dark."*
— A Joy Doctor's warning to the player, should the latter be spotted by the former during curfew
**Joy Doctors** also known as **Doctors** are antagonists in *We Happy Few*. They work primarily for Anton Verloc and are responsible for supplying Joy in various forms to the population of Wellington Wells.

## Appearance

### *We Happy Few*

Joy Doctors are tall, moustached men that wear black trench coats with a flower in one of their pockets, and have a green Tyrolean hat on their heads.

In addition to this, they wear yellow wellingtons, black gloves and a happy face mask with a wide grin, spectacles, and a small black moustache on top.

### *We All Fall Down* DLC

The Doctors will sport beige trench coats instead of the regular black one.

## Special Doctors

* Harold Ridgwell
* Doctor Hughes
* Doctor Defoe
* Doctor Byron (only mentioned)

## Gameplay

#### **Basics**

Joy Doctors can smell if someone hasn't taken their Joy, which will first make them suspicious. If the player is spotted, they are able to get away if they're quick on their feet. If the player is unable to get away fast enough, they'll get into combat with the Joy Doctor, who'll either handle the player themselves, or blow a bobby whistle for more assistance.

Joy Doctor's primary weapon is the Bone Saw, a large mechanical chainsaw-like contraption with a circular saw blade that can drain a huge chunk of the player's health if they're not careful. If the player is too far away, Joy Doctors may resort to throwing Smoke Bombs that'll slow the player down. Sometimes, Joy Doctors will fight with their bare fists.

If a Joy Doctor joins into combat the player is already in, it's possible they'll use a special healing tool that'll either heal or revive dead/unconscious NPCs.

#### **Strategy**

Joy Doctors cannot block whilst wielding their Bone Saw, meaning they're vulnerable to any and all attacks the player has in store. This means the player can wail on a Joy Doctor without worrying about them blocking their attacks. Be aware that they can still shove the player if they're too close.

The player can stop a Joy Doctor from healing/reviving NPCs by hitting them, with or without a weapon.

To bypass Joy Doctors completely, the player can take Joy, Sunshine, or Mojo.

Doctors can be taken down silently through the "Big Game Hunter" skill, although the player needs to be fast or be on Joy or its substitutes mentioned above to avoid being detected prematurely.

## Loot

Killing a Doctor will also destroy their bone saw, which yields two Metal Bits, an Empty Power Cell, one Mechanical Bit, and one Metal Tube.

* Antiseptic Bandage
* Bandage
* Best First Aid Kit
* Bobby Pin
* First Aid Kit
* Healing Balm
* Joy
* Medicated Balm
* Phenocycline Jab
* Smoke Bomb

## Events of *We Happy Few*

#### **Act I**

A Joy Doctor is seen at the very beginning of the game force-feeding Joy to one of Arthur's coworkers. They can later be found roaming in St. George's Holm. Near the end of Act One, they are encountered far more frequently by Arthur in the Parade District, having created a quarantine in the district (primarily in the broadcasting tower to keep people with papers from leaving the city) and have sealed off their hospital from the public.

Arthur discovers upon breaking into the hospital to lift the quarantine that the Doctors have been experimenting on Plague Wastrels, attempting to cure the Plague as well as test their new Joy product, Coconut, which is supposed to be an alternative to Verloc's permanent solution.

It's clear from notes that they have become increasingly insubordinate and disgruntled towards Verloc, and are running their own operations with little influence from him. Arthur then lifts the quarantine but as he is making his way out of the facility, two Doctors ambush him and inject him with an anaesthetic syringe, knocking him out.

When Arthur comes to in a testing room, it is revealed that they injected him with Coconut while he was out, and proceed to subject him to a series of disturbing imagery, which he shouldn't be able to see. He instead sees twisted hallucinations of his brother and it is clear that the test batch isn't working. They then try to release Arthur to his holding cell, but are unable to as the button controlling the door is broken.

The Doctors make several attempts to reboot the power before they end up causing an explosion and killing themselves and knocking out the whole power grid in the hospital, allowing Arthur to escape. Arthur then uses his Frammistat to release all of the patients, who immediately start fighting each other and the remaining Doctors. Arthur then escapes the facility, and sets out to escape the city.

#### **Act II**

Sally only encounters doctors in Maidenholm.

Sally escapes from General Byng, but when she reaches her home, she finds a doctor knocking at her door. She lets him in, while the doctor tells her that there have been reports of a downer in her home. He says that the neighbours heard crying. Sally tries to convince the doctor that there is nothing to worry about.

The doctor is unconvinced, and refuses to leave. When he hears Gwen, whereupon Sally injects him with her knockout syringe from behind in the right side of his neck. The doctor attempts to defend himself and grabs hold of Sally, but eventually succumbs to the effects of knockout. That night, Sally escapes Wellington Wells with Gwen, using the carrycot.

#### **Act III**

Ollie encounters doctors in Maidenholm, St. George's Holm, and the Parade.

## Trivia

* In the game files, the Doctor is referred as "Inquisitor".
	+ Interestingly, there used to be an item or weapon called "The Inquisitor". It's unknown what it did.
* There is an unused type of Doctor who appears in the launch trailer. This type of Joy Doctor is seen using a 15th-century plague gas mask.
	+ It's possible that Joy Doctors were meant to patrol the streets alongside the Bobbies, who also wears Gas Masks during the night due to the Toxic Fog. Though it's likely that the idea was scrapped, with Peepers patrolling alongside the Bobbies instead.
* The hats that the Joy Doctors are wearing appear to be a form of German traditional hats (Trachtenhüte) even sporting a "Gamsbart," a tuft of chamois hair which is commonly worn as a traditional hat decoration in Bavaria and Austria.
* During the night, the player can overhear nearby Doctors pointing out that it's unhealthy to be out after curfew, depending on how close they are to the Doctor. If the player is close to the Doctors, they will simply advise the player to “return home”. Despite the implications of the statement itself, the statement is ironically correct, as being sleep deprived for 72 hours straight or more can result in psychological episodes and/or in some cases, death.
* During the quest Biological Hazard, after the player helps clean out the waste, Thomas Cream will point out that "the Joy Doctors don't seem to know how to help people" and that "they just give everyone Joy" instead of finding a proper way to cure people". Contrary to this, it is hinted in various instances that they have had some degree of formal medical training.
* One of the symtoms that Joy causes is a sudden change in the user's body odour, a possible side effect for some medications in real life as well. This change might be so subtle that while regular people don't notice it, the Joy Doctors might have been specially trained to sniff out the difference between "Joyous" and "Non-Joyous" body odours. However, there is very little evidence to this theory, as the reason for why they can sniff out the player is never elaborated.

## Gallery

### Other

Render of the Joy Doctor.Joy Doctors in the We All Fall Down DLC.
### Promotional Pieces

A Doctor poster.Arthur and a Joy Doctor.Arthur attacked by a Joy Doctor.
### Gifs

A Doctor's Bone Saw animation.A Doctor using the revival animation.
### Concept Art

By Sarah Hamilton. (Art Book)By Sarah Hamilton. (Art Book)By Sarah Hamilton. (Art Book)Joy Doctor portrait.Joy Doctor model by Tito Belgrave.Joy Doctor and their unused plague mask by Pierre Henri Paitre.Concept art of the plague mask.