Histoplasma Mushroom

## Histoplasma

The **Histoplasma Mushroom** is a consumable drug in *We Happy Few*. It is based on various real-life psychedelic mushrooms, most notably *Psilocybe Semilanceata*.

## Overview

Histoplasma Mushrooms are strong psychoactive mushrooms capable of producing a number of different effects on the user upon ingestion, including: colour enhancement and shifting; visual drifting and hallucinations; auditory distortion and hallucinations; emotion enhancement; and enhanced conceptual thinking. Some users may experience symptoms of psychosis.

When eaten by the player, their view of the world will be distorted with a trippy overlay of mind-bending colours covering all the scenery, with semi-translucent colourful images of mushrooms floating around their head, coupled with psychedelic music playing in the background. In addition, all voices will be distorted, have a slightly lower-pitch, and reverb.

The player character will occasionally say various bizarre things relating to subjects like free will, perception, existence, epistemology, and the nature of reality. The effect lasts for approximately 3 in-game hours and has no negative after-effects. More can be eaten at any time at no risk to the player.

## Locations

Histoplasma Mushrooms only grow in the Garden District, in the following locations:

* Bathtubs
* Behind the Military Camp on Ravensholm, in the bog
* Corpses of Plague Wastrels
* Toilets

A few can be found in the Mystery House, and large number of them can be acquired during Hallucinogenic Salad.

## Crafting

* Strange Alcohol (Act I only).
* Knockout Juice (Act II only)
* Hallucinex (Act II only)
* Hallucinogen

## History

The origin of the Histoplasma Mushroom isn't explicitly confirmed in-game, though the evidence suggests they were created when chemical waste from Haworth Labs came into contact with mushrooms, mutating the spores and creating the Histoplasma Mushroom. Arthur recalls eating 'magic mushrooms' with Sally once when they were teenagers by White Tree Park, so they can't have been Histoplasma Mushrooms at this point in time, meaning it's possible they ate the mushrooms that would later come into contact with the Joy chemicals.

Considering the ever-worsening food shortage in the Garden District, some Wastrels found themselves forced to harvest and eat the mushrooms to avoid starving to death. However, because the mushroom had traces of mutant spores, a Plague began ravaging the Wastrel population of Lud's Holm, and some wastrels who were infected was held quarantined at the WW Health Institute. Though this would not last for very long. According to a Doctor's report, this is not true, however. They claim that the spores have always been present, and that the recent Downer

It would seem as if the mushrooms take different effects on different people, as not everybody who are on Histoplasma have the plague. Some people who ate the shrooms instead got high, creating religious cults. Others went mad from it, as seen in Hallucinogenic Salad.

Those who became infected by the Plague suffer a gradual deterioration and degeneration of all mental and cognitive capabilities, this eventually leads to the victim seeking out and biting anybody who isn't infected, effectively spreading the Plague.

## Trivia

* In older builds of *We Happy Few*, the icon for Histoplasma Mushrooms were used for Rotten Mushrooms, before Histoplasma Mushrooms were implemented.
* The name of the mushrooms comes from the mushroom *Histoplasma Capsulatum*, which is a species of *dimorphic fungi*; fungi that exists on mould and yeast.
	+ In the Alpha stages of *We Happy Few*, when the Histoplasma Mushroom was simply known as Rare Mushrooms, it had its own 'scientific' name, *Amanita wellingtonia*.
	+ *Amanita* is a genus that is responsible for 95% of fatalities resulting from mushroom poisoning. *Wellingtonia* is more than likely a pun name referring to Wellington Wells.
* It appears that Histoplasma Mushrooms would have been used in *Lightbearer* at some point, though they were eventually cut. A description component left in the game files that can be seen with Poedit reads: *"Heals Nick, reduces cooldown between guitar attacks, and increases guitar attack strength."*

## Gallery

Item seen in gameA cluster of Histoplasms growing on a plague victims head
## Old Content

* 17956
* 27755

## Information

### Console Command

RareMushrooms

**Rare Mushrooms**, known today as the **Histoplasma Mushroom**, have been in the game since the Early Access 27755 build.

###  Overview

It existed within the code of *We Happy Few* since the 17956 build, although it had not been fully implemented yet until the 27755 build.

The only way the player could get Histoplasma Mushrooms was through the side quest, Hallucinogenic Salad.

Rare Mushrooms were crafting components that could be used for crafting various drugs. Aside from that, it was also safe to eat.

It took up 1 slot in the player's inventory, and it could be placed in the player's quickslot.

###  Crafting

At the time, Rare Mushrooms were going to be used to craft the following:

* Hallucinogen

###  Trivia

* The in-game model of the Rare Mushrooms is the same as it is today.