Video games are no stranger to apocalypses. There have been many set after the world has gone to waste for one reason or another. From the Fallout series and Metro 2033 to The Last of Us, these game worlds treat us to decay and violence. This is why Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture sticks out like a sore thumb.
Not that it being different is a negative. Instead of being set after all the carnage it’s set during the apocalypse. As such, this apocalyptic world is still rich with life and devoid of the kind of violence we expect from the dismantling of wider society. But it’s more than that: it’s a beautiful game, set around a small village in the vibrant green heart of the English countryside, and all of it is there for you to explore.
There are certainly similarities to The Chinese Room’s previous poetic exploration game, Dear Esther, in its setting and focus on first-person wandering than anything else. But Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture is simultaneously larger and more intimate.
For starters, it has you piecing together the experiences of six different characters rather than just one. Secondly, you can interact with and affect the world of Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture, whereas in Dear Esther the focus was much more linear. It’s also about similar but bigger themes than Dear Esther, taking from British apocalyptic science fiction of the 1960s and 1970s – The Day of the Triffids, The Tide Went Out, and The Death of Grass especially.
At the moment, The Chinese Room says that it’s putting on the finishing touches to Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture ahead of its exclusive arrival on PlayStation 4 this summer. The soundtrack has recently been implemented into the game and a specific launch date will soon be announced.
Reflecting this, the team released a new trailer (watch it at the top) that it says gives an updated look at the game, while focusing “a bit more on the tone and story of the game – we’ve got a lot of beautiful world to show you, but we wanted to go small and intimate with this one, be a bit different with it.”
Published: Apr 26, 2015 12:31 pm