The apocalypse, the end of the world as we know it. Destruction, zombies, and creatures, living, dead or strangely deformed are after whomever is left of the human race. Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture has one of the better interpretations of this cataclysmic event and AAA developers and publishers may want to take some pages from its manual.
Developed by The Chinese Room, the indie studio behind Dear Esther and Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs, Everybody's Gone to the Rapture sets you off in the small village of Shropshire, bringing together six lives who were once alive but now are replaced by ethereal lights. These lives are connected to certain landmark locations and are your key to understanding the world around you.
Revealing their influence to the places where they first met, kissed first, and got hurt, to mention a few emotions hurt first, the game tells the story through those places where each corner might hold a story or an interaction for you to experience. The only problem is you are forced to explore the story and its non-linearity (read: lots of backtracking) very slowly, unless you were experimental enough to discover that holding down the R2 button will allow you to walk faster after a few seconds. The devs have since apologized on their official blog for not mentioning this control mechanic , citing play-testing, QA and last minute changes as reasons for their negligence.
The environment is mesmerizing, beautiful, glamorous, and my God, so close to reality and expertly crafted to fall in line with the storytelling. Every gust of wind will tell a whisper, every interaction a magical journey between one or more characters.
It was so hard for me to write anything negative about such an experience of a game, but I had to be objective and slice it to its very fine aspects of game production.
Pros:
- Story telling has once again proven to be an important factor of a successful game.
- The voice acting is amazing and adds depth to the characters.
- The environment is wonderfully applied for the benefit of the storytelling and overall direction of the game.
- Thanks to the game's composer Jessica Curry, the music is a refreshing masterpiece, and it certainly has been a while since I've enjoyed a game's soundtrack as much.
Cons:
- I, like many other of my peers, was forced to persevere with the apparently no-run scenario which ultimately soured my experience a bit. As mentioned in my review, this has been rectified and you indeed can run, but this needs to be mentioned regardless.
- The experience was rather short for such an interesting and deep story line.
This review originally appeared on www.theregion2show.com
David at SQUAD writes: "Over the past few months, I’ve found myself lost in a number of books set in my home-land of the United Kingdom. At first, it was by chance, but then I found myself seeking them out. Then I got some games in a few sales -- Assassins Creed: Syndicate and Vampyr, if you must know -- and realized I’d done it again. This got me thinking: does the video game industry do a good enough job of setting games in a diverse set of locations, and how many games are set in the UK anyway?"
Yep, ZombiU was indeed. A game I actually saw recommended a few times. It's weird that it stuck with so many people.
From Eurogamer: "The Crackdown 3 developer said it had acquired The Chinese Room, the studio behind Everybody's Gone to the Rapture and Dear Esther, from founders Dan Pinchbeck and Jessica Curry."
After the darkness and dormancy of winter life restarts, almost as if the punishing frosts, snows and winds had never happened. The season of spring starts to take hold, colours reappear, foliage regrows and landscapes transform to offer different looks, feels and opportunities for interaction. This can be truly impactful when it manifests in video games.
Some really beautiful spring scenery can make for a really wonderful gameplay experience. Halo always had really great lush Spring-like moments, too, and it changed the game from what could have otherwise been all grey spaceships and such.
Spring is a garbage season because it's a gateway to summer. Fall is where it's at, bitches.
Fall (Autumn) is a garbage season because it's a gateway to cold of winter. Summer is where it's at, bitches. XD
Spring is for lovers. Go wither away with your fragile, dry and dead foilage all alone under a lifeless grey sky. Spring is king, fall is dull.
Horizon continues to still leave me in awe, with how gorgeous it’s world is. Spring scenery always makes me smile lol.
Easily one of the best looking games of the entire generation so far.
I can't wait to give that game a second playthrough when the sequel is announced!
I can't wait for Guerrilla Games to announce a sequel as well. Along with showcasing gameplay.
My mind really can't comprehend how even more impressive the sequel will look. I mean, with the Decima engine being used for Kojima's "Death Stranding" and that games gameplay footage being Real-time and looking the way it does (Mind blown) they'll learn, improve etc... Greater things are sure to come from Guerrilla and their remarkable engine.
With TLOU remastered being cheap on PSN atm I thought it was about time for a second play-through, I forgot how great looking it was - HDR and 60fps only makes it better.
Thanx, helpful. But i was going to pick it up anyways as i love games like gone home and really liked dear esther
Finished this game last week. I am still not sure how I feel having finished it. I enjoyed my time with it, but in the end I felt empty. Not unsatisfied with the game, but like the isolation took grip on me. Have been playing other things since but when I think back on it the feeling returns. Weirdness