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Blackberry Joy, commonly shortened to just Blackberry, is special version of Joy created by Sally Boyle. It is central to her story in Act II of We Happy Few.
Overview[]
Blackberry Joy is a stronger and more addictive version of Joy. The key benefit of Blackberry is that it does not impair the user like regular Joy. This makes it ideal for use by Constables, Doctors, and other users who rank highly in their field and need to keep a clear head while working. Blackberry is not available for general consumption and is instead only available for a select group of people.
Appearance[]
Blackberry Joy pills come in the form of a purple gel capsule. After Sally creates a batch, they are stored in a small, branded box, with a blackberry logo on top.
Effects[]
Blackberry, like regular Joy, induces a state of happiness and alters the user's perception. Unlike regular Joy, however, Blackberry allows the user to keep a much clearer head. Blackberry is much stronger than regular Joy, and the withdrawals are much more intense.
Going into Blackberry Joy withdrawal will cause the user to develop extreme cravings for the drug, to the point of becoming violent. This is seen with Spud Murphy, who breaks into Sally's home after running out of the drug, shoves her aside, and ransacks her laboratory in search for more pills. Regular Joy cannot even be taken to ease the withdrawals as it's not strong enough - Sally remarks that once someone goes on Blackberry, regular Joy will just give them cramps. This can be seen in the Night Watch Mode, where if the player uses console commands to give John Constable normal Joy, he will instantly go into Joy withdrawal.
The Night Watch Mode gives a first-hand perspective to Blackberry Joy use and withdrawal. When high on Blackberry, John Constable will perceive the world with a purple-ish tint and will be unfazed by the enemies present or his violence against them. He will also be under the impression that he is simply "subduing" the people he encounters and leaving them for the Joy Doctors to treat, oblivious to the fact that he is assaulting people with lethal outcomes. If John Constable goes into withdrawal, the world will become red and dull, enemies' eyes will glow menacingly, their voices will become distorted, and every time John hits an opponent, they will make a dreadful crunching noise, like that of bones being crushed.
Crafting[]
The recipe for making Blackberry Joy is the following ingredients:
Blackberry Joy requires advanced chemistry equipment in order to combine the materials effectively. Such equipment can be found in Sally's house.
History[]
Blackberry Joy was first synthesised by Sally Boyle, likely sometime in late 1963 - early 1964. Dialogue between Sally and Anton Verloc implies that the two were working on Blackberry together, but Sally left Haworth Labs before it could be completed. Sally took her notes with her, which were crucial to Dr. Verloc's understanding of Blackberry. Consequently, Sally synthesised Blackberry by herself,[1] while Dr. Verloc was unable to do so without her notes. At some stage later, Sally began to sell her Blackberry to a small, exclusive list of clientele, which included the Bobbies; meanwhile, according to Dottie Lloyd-Ramsay, Dr. Verloc spent his time attempting to copy the Blackberry formula for his Coconut Joy.
Events of We Happy Few[]
- "The lads over at the station appear to have developed a rather good taste for your fine cooking, so as to say, If they go hungry, chaos will ensue."
- — A Bobby warning Sally about the consequences of their dwindling supply of Blackberry Joy
Act I[]
Blackberry is briefly mentioned at the end of Act I, during the second-to-last quest , A Malpractice of Doctors. On the third floor of the Wellington Wells Health Institute, a conversation between three Joy Doctors can be heard. One of them mentions that they still have a few months' supply left of Blackberry, and are expecting the 'permanent solution' to be ready before they run out.
Act II[]
The very beginning of Act II finds Sally working on a new batch of Blackberry, with a number of interruptions from some of her clientele. She's first visited by an erratic and unstable Spud Murphy, who is experiencing intense withdrawals. Sally tries to tell Spud to come back later, but he instead breaks into her home in search of more Blackberry. Rather than finding his prize, he instead discovers Gwen Boyle, Sally's daughter. As he held her in utter disbelief, Sally jabbed him with a Knockout Syringe, rendering him unconscious. Sally would then proceed to unceremoniously dump Murphy into a rubbish bin behind her house.
After trying to return to the reaction, Sally gets a visit from a Bobby who takes her to the station for questioning. The Bobbies are just as anxious for their next fix as Spud, albeit with a bit more restraint that is quickly starting to fade. Two Bobbies pressure Sally into explaining why she has been seen around the Village instead of being at home, working on more Blackberry. Sally manages to talk her way out of it, but she knows the Bobbies are low on patience. Upon returning to her lab, she finds it on fire; her reaction had combusted, ruining her lab equipment and all of the Blackberry ingredients.
In order to replace the missing ingredients and finish a new batch of Blackbbery, Sally is forced to go to extreme lengths. She first travels to the quarantined island of Ratholm in order to retrieve mercury amalgam from toxic waste water. She then forcibly extracts pituitary fluids from Colonel Thomas Lawrence, as he had been exposed to mustard gas in the war. The Weird Sisters in Lud's Holm help Sally acquire some Digitalax, and she acquires pheromones from butterflies in the abandoned Train Station.
Sally finally had the necessary ingredients to create a fresh batch of Blackberry, much to the anxious Constables' relief. However, the Bobbies immediately make it clear that they will be expecting some more soon, and may not be as forgiving if they have to wait again. Given the perils that Sally had to go through in order to make the newest batch, she accepts the reality that she needs to leave town for the safety of her daughter.
The Night Watch[]
Blackberry Joy is a crucial part of the Night Watch Mode. John Constable must constantly take more Blackberry to maintain the effects; failure to prevent withdrawals will cause the Constable to collapse and the game to end.
Lightbearer[]
Lightbearer provides an insight into the dangers of mixing Blackberry with other drugs. While on his way to retrieve a piano tuner at the Avalon Hotel, Nick Lightbearer passes by a bowl of Blackberry Joy and decides to take one of the "party favours". The mixture of his special pills, Strawberry Joy, and Blackberry causes him to go through an extreme drug trip involving the elevator. What follows is a nasty hallucinated ordeal where Nick travels through distorted corridors full of mirrors and floating masked faces, while hearing creepy music and whispering.
Blackberry Users[]
The user-base of Blackberry is relatively small compared to that of regular Joy. The following list has been adapted from Sally's list of clientele, with some changes.
Bobbies[]
Listed as being Sally's top priority. The Bobbies make up most of the user-base of Blackberry, and thus they are frequently in great demand of it.
Joy Doctors[]
Not actually on Sally's clientele list, but they are known to have a stash of Blackberry. It's likely that they don't use as much as the Bobbies do, since there are a lot fewer Doctors. It's unclear exactly where they got this Blackberry from, as they certainly can't synthesise it themselves.
'#9'[]
It’s unclear as to who ‘#9’ refers to. Sally’s list says, “leave package in call box.”
Spud Murphy[]
What Spud does for work is unknown, so it's unclear why he would need Blackberry.
Gemma Olsen[]
Gemma was a reporter for The Hamlyn “O” Courant, who was investigating the state of Wellington Wells, and later Haworth Labs. She likely used Blackberry so that she could investigate at full mental capacity while maintaining her cover as a Joy-user. She later started taking Sunshine instead.
Margaret Oliphant[]
Margaret was the Editor-in-Chief of the Hamlyn "O" Courant. Margaret was well aware of the problems in Wellington Wells, and was the one that tasked Gemma Olsen to begin her investigations. Her actions could suggest that she stopped taking Joy altogether at some stage; prior to this, Blackberry presumably helped her in the same way that it helped Gemma.
Mr. Kite[]
Referred to as "the celebrated mr. k" on Sally's list. Mr. Kite is known to have helped Downers escape Wellington Wells, and likely used Blackberry to be able to effectively aid people while maintaining his cover.
James Watt[]
James "Jimmy" Watt was the Chief Engineer of Scargill Mines, meaning he was in charge of the Motilene mining operation under the Parade. Due to his usage of Blackberry, James became aware that a lot of his workforce regularly forgot to show up for work, and the ones that did were notably less sharp than he was.
'The Mad Haberdasher'[]
Possibly refers to the owner of the haberdashery encountered in We All Fall Down. Why they would need Blackberry is unconfirmed, though it could be related to their affiliation with Johnny Bolton.
Penelope Snug[]
Penelope "Penny" was the Supervisor of the Jubilator Maintenance Station. Similar to James Watt, Penelope's use of Blackberry gave her the clear-headedness to notice that her staff were becoming less competent after receiving a weaker batch of Joy.
Gallery[]
- ↑ Anton Verloc, during Connect the Dots: "We were so close-- we were so close to cracking the isomeric structure of the new molecule. I suppose you cracked it on your own, after you left, didn’t you? [...] Your blackberry!"