The Worst Of 2015: Everybody’s Gone To The Rapture

Pixelgate.co.uk writes:

''Much like every year within the video game industry, 2015 had a lot of bad to go with it’s good. With a number of publishers adopting much more abusive business practices, 2015 became more a year of frustration and concern more than anything else. From games releasing in barely working states, to games with barely any content, it’s a worrying sign for time ahead. This is the worst of 2015.''

[DarkOcelet]

"Everybody’s Gone To The Rapture is 2015′s most boring and self indulgent release."

Are you sure you have played, say The Devil's Third?

Story based games are not for everyone in the end, i remember someone giving Life is Strange a 2/10 which is seriously ridiculous because the game is actually pretty damn good.

But then again, there are those who are looking for gameplay.

I think gameplay is extremely important to a game but as i grew older, that wasn't enough for me, story and soundtrack became important to me as much as gameplay.

And i play games that could have both or either. If a game has an excellent story with a crap gameplay, i will love it. If a game has an excellent gameplay with a crap story then i will love it too.

The only rule i have is that a game must have one of those. Thats it.

[PixelGateUk]

Devil's Third had a really really odd release in the UK. stores all had different release dates, i never saw a single copy in physical retail. There was no marketing at all, i never even received a press release about the game, despite being on their PR's mailing list.

The game literally just slithered out, and by that time i had too much on to play it. So no, though i do plan to buy it after x-mas.

The difference between Life is Strange and Rapture is things happen in Life is Strange. Rapture is the same tone from start to finish, you just listen to meh voice acting and looking at nice visuals. It's essentially a radio drama...just not a very good one.

If Rapture had a good story, or even a decent atmosphere (like Chinese Room's past works) then that would be fine. All Rapture has going for it is the music and visuals...and that's it. The plot is (if you can call it that) is awful bad soap opera levels and even then it's bits of plot.

I get people enjoy these kinda things, and that's fine, but for me it was the most boring video game experience i've ever had...and i played Elder scrolls online when it first came out!

[uth11]

For me games like Life is Strange are great, but walking simulators are awful.

I think the difference is Life is Strange gives you characters to care about. In the typical walking simulator, you are alone. You have to discover what happened, you aren't usually given a reason to care about what happened, and unless you like wandering aimlessly looking at scenery hoping to find snippets of something, it will get old fast!

[ScaReCrow90]

Careful.
One thing I've learned about these forums. Dont speak negatively about PlayStation exclusives.

Constructive crticisim on a game can't occur in these forums.

[Stogz]

@scarecrow90 dude youre an xbox fanboy thats just as bad as the worst PlayStation fanboys, don't act like youre better at all...

[OhMyGandhi]

Wait. So, just because you don't know exactly what happened at every second means that you can't care about the characters and their dreams/goals/desires?

To me, I disagree with that one hundred percent (respectively, of course) I understand that "walking simulators" have an insanely negative stigma attached to them, and that's too bad.

It's as if walking simulators are taking over the world, and there can't be more then one genre of videogame.

Play a horror based "walking simulator" like "Layers of Fear" and tell me that you can't care about the characters.

Also, keep in mind that there is a very fine line between the classical lucasarts adventure games of yesteryear, a game like "The Vanishing of Ethan Carter", which is also considered to be a "walking simulator".

[uth11]

I loved the old lucasarts adventures, but could not get into Ethan Carter. There's a huge difference there. Lucas arts games have interesting characters, humor. Games like Ethan Carter just drop you into a world no other characters or even any indication about what you are so posed to do.

I suppose with enough patience, you can dig and find a good story there. But in reality with so many other games to play, games like Ethan Carter don't avreason why I should invest the time.

[Ocsta]

@scarecrow90 Yay verily, only Xbox owning elite such as yourself are capable of civilised discussion...

[d0x360]

I played devils third and while the story is stupid and the graphics aren't great the gameplay itself is fun. I have no idea why its reviewing so poorly but I grabbed it off the eshop and had a lot of fun with it. Itagaki might have been right when he said the bad reviews were a result of bad players.

[uth11]

This game is actually a great example of its genre.

The problem is the genre is either love it or hate it.

What bothers me is this and similar games will score lots of 8's, 9's, 10's, causing people to go buy it, but not realizing what they are actually buying-- For instance, if you are looking to buy a $20 PS4 exclusive, and you see you can get this, Knack or The Order. Let's say you aren't familiar with "Walking Sims". If you go by review scores, you might conclude Rapture is by far the best game, when in reality many gamers would enjoy Knack or Order much more.

But on the other hand, this genre has its fans, and the games deserve high scores when done well. So I don't know what the answer is.. labels saying "Warning! Walking Simulator"? :)

[Aloy-Boyfriend]

"What bothers me is this and similar games will score lots of 8's, 9's, 10's, causing people to go buy it, but not realizing what they are actually buying"

And that is why reviews are for: To inform players about games. You think this genre deserves less than 5/10 so people ignore them? Wouldn't that also be misleading for potential players that may enjoy this genre for a cheap prize? In this time of age there's no excuses to know what you are really getting into before buying. Besides this is an indie game, not an AAA

This is clearly not your type of game. It doesn't mean it shouldn't be everyone's. So how can this genre ne judge? Does it have guns open world? If it doesn't then ok. Let's see what it offers... You walk here and there and immerse yourself in the world. Does it have a good story? Check! Atmosphere? check! Too slow pace? Yes. Coulda be a little faster

Here, have an 8/10
Verdict: Not your yearly COD or typical games you play, but something you might consider investing $15 bucks for its features if you like this genre.

[uth11]

No I'm not saying it deserves a lesser score at all.

More that the review system we have is inadequate

[ScaReCrow90]

Reviews are bad. Scores are bad. Sales are also bad.
There's a misconception on reviews that's too engraved into our minds.

Games should receive reviews but not necessarily scores.

[Kombatologist]

I trust meta user reviews more than critic reviews. A lot of critics don't even complete the game they're reviewing, and they might not even be a fan of the type of game they're reviewing. The downside to user reviews, though, is they're easy to manipulate.

[-Foxtrot]

This is a joke right...the game is a little slow and could really do with a run/sprint button but it's still a lovely game to dive into

Best thing about it is the Soundtrack it's beautiful

[PixelGateUk]

No, not it's not a joke. I truly did not like the game and think it's their worst work by a utter mile.

To be fair i did give credit to the soundtrack.

Not everyone likes Train Simulator either. I'm slagging off people who enjoyed it, i love things people hate too (mostly film wise). I just did not enjoy Rapture at all.

[kraenk12]

So you clearly are a bad reviewer/so called gaming journalist, as you fail to keep a necessary amount of objectivity. Calling this game one of the worst of 2015 is ridiculous.

[Letthewookiewin]

@Pixel - I couldn't finish the game because it was really slow, but with that said I generalize "worst" with a game that is broken, needs to be patched a billion times or is offensive to quality standards, i.e. poor graphics, sound, story, misleading content. The only thing this game is guilty of is not being for everybody.

[PixelGateUk]

@leth

I get what your saying but this was my look back of 2015, and Rapture stuck out as one of the worst video game experiences of the year. It's not even the only game I've covered under worst.

My lack of enjoyment does affect people who liked the game, yet they act like I've literally got the power to ban it haaha.

To me, it's their worst release yet and offers very little bar music and visuals. I don't like Coldplay's music, yet those lot are still doing fine. Don't worry you lot

Also Kraenk, I never claimed to be a journo, and I rarely review things. if you weren't such a salty sod you'd see that by clicking links and seeing past posts. But hey, gotta blindly lash out when people don't agree aye?

[TFJWM]

@PixelGateUk Obviously you don't like the genre but wanted to give the game a try. How it is the worse of the year for you is kinda flawed thou. It is like saying I hate FPS games but I hear good things about Halo 5 so I decide to play it. Nope still don't like FPS so it is now one of my worst games of the year...

[PixelGateUk]

@TJ

I enjoyed Dear Esther and Amnesia: A Machine for pigs so that theory is just wrong.though I am enjoying all this crazy theory crafting to why one person can not enjoy a game. It's a better than any of the Eastender style stories in Rapture that's for sure

[TFJWM]

Oh it's not a matter of liking the game or not. I couldn't finish it myself, the story while interesting wasn't enough to keep me playing, I'd rather read a book. Putting it one of the worst games of the year thou means you need to play more games imo.

[PixelGateUk]

@tfj

Reckon you need to spend about 5 seconds looking at our other posts to see how many games I do play. I am one person who runs a 9-5 job and a hobby that takes up 15 hours a week, and in between I continue my games. so yeah, I play bloody plenty of games, as my submission and posts show

[SouthernComfort]

I think kraenk12 has a point here.

[jb227]

@pixelgate brings up a good point...Coldplay is garbage.

Crazy how Brits seem to latch onto music from the states that go criminally underrated here like The Features, a band I've probably seen 2 dozen times now & opened up for that are from close around me and absolutely kill live...from what I understand they've got a good following over there but barely anything here...then you guys turn around & give us Coldplay and Mumford & Sons....thanks a lot. Of course The Beatles & The Stones make up for everything else I suppose.

[TFJWM]

I followed your advice and looked at your submissions...

You say my "theory crafting" was wrong about you not liking the genre yet I see you have an article titled "The Rise Of Walk-Em-Up: A Exercise In Being Pointless?" and explain why you think the whole genre is pretty "worthless" and question if it is even gaming.

Going back to my original point about why its flawed. You can play the best game in a genre you dislike and it can easily be the worse game of the year for you.

So yes if you had played a few more "walk-em ups" this year than Rapture prob wouldn't have been "the worst of 2015"

[ninsigma]

Probably the best soundtrack in a game this year. Musically it was very good but I wasn't a fan of this one tbh. I thought the vanishing of Ethan carter was a much better game than this one. I've no problems with games like this one and I was super excited for it since the reveal but in the end I didn't really like it.

[die_fiend]

Hate to break it to you after this long but R2 is the run/sprint button you're bemoaning a lack of...

This game had a great story and soundtrack. It's not everyone's cup of tea, clearly the reviewer needs guns etc in their games so should stick to annual milking like COD but for people who aren't your 'average Joe' schmuck like mr pixelgate, you'll probably find this to be the 8/10+ game that all the less ill-educated critics found it to be.

[jc12]

So if you don't find this game appealing...you're ill educated? Forgive, but that is an uneducated statement.

[uth11]

I love lots of games that aren't shooters, but that doesn't automatically mean i enjoy walking simukators.

I just don't enjoy that style of storytelling

[PixelGateUk]

Oooo look who got oddly offended. If you weren't so quick to throw insults you'd see most of the games featured on the site aren't shooters. Silly billy

[coolbeans]

A little slow? I've sat through pretentious art films that could be considered that; THIS is slower than molasses even by the standards of a typical walking simulator.

I do agree that it has one of the best soundtracks of the year, but that's one of the few things it has going for it.

[MasterCornholio]

The game isnt bad at all. There are games out there that were much much worse. Like Overlord Fellowship of evil for example.

[feraldrgn]

Not every genre is for everybody you know.

[MaximusPrime_]

I like it, beautiful graphic, nice soundtrack and overall story.
This game is not meant to be designed for everyone to enjoy.

[jc12]

This very statement in and of itself is a conundrum...

[harypotr]

Well written article. Horrendous game.

[killer_goat]

Says the xbox troll. Anyone can see your comment history.

[jc12]

Wholeheartedly agree with the article. The audio/visual presentation was excellent, but everything else was just flat. I didn't care about the characters, you couldn't interact with a thing and the pace was dreadfully slow. It wasn't really a game so much as it was an attempt at an interactive movie.

I stopped playing about 2/3 of the way through.

Oh well, whatcha gonna do? Can't win em all.

[ninsigma]

I spent a while at the start looking for extra things outside of the lights but soon realised there was nothing. Good premise for a game and agree on the visuals and audio but it wasn't for me in the end.

[cfc83]

I couldn't get into the game at all, even though i liked the vanishing of EC. Seemed dull. I'll maybe give it a go some other time.

[ninsigma]

Vanishing of ethen carter was a much better game for me. A lot more interesting imo.

[cfc83]

Yeah. I should have worded myself better. I liked Vanishing. I couldn't get into Rapture much. Seemed boring.

[ninsigma]

I understood :)
Yeah I didn't really care for the characters or anything in rapture. It was really just walk to each light, listen and move on to the next. What I did think was awesome was how each character (the lights you follow in each area) had their own musical theme that matched their personalities. It is very good in terms of the score and visuals but vanishing captures you with its mystery. Especially the part in the mines!

[Skankinruby]

This has gotta be one of the stupidest opinion articles I've ever read. This game was brilliant, gorgeous, had amazing music, and it's mysterious storyline kept me utterly intrigued to where I could barely put my controller down. The only thing that is getting old or tired are these pretentious journalists who can't compose an opinion piece worth reading. This is barely a game? There's this game called call of duty that's made just for you, you can strap on a headset and scream vulagarities to strangers in repetitive redundant matchmaking, go nuts 'bro'

[PixelGateUk]

Why do people keep bringing Call of Duty up? There hasn't been a post on the site about Call of Dury in the last year and a half. I don't get you logic?

Or is it just the go the reply due to a sheer lack of creativity?

thanks for reading the title though

P.s
Judging by your other comments on here, all you do is proclaim every post as evil. Merry Xmas and cheer up dude

[fanboysmackdown]

Good review Sean, you nailed it. I tried playing this tripe too and fell asleep.

[PixelGateUk]

In fairness it's not a review, just a reflection on why I didn't enjoy it...though by the reaction you'd think I was telling people not to play it at all lol

[Aloy-Boyfriend]

What do you expect from a $15 game honestly? There are worse games out there with "tons of gameplay" and stuff this game lacks because of its genre. Don't treat indie games as AAAs

[SouthernComfort]

More to the point, don't treat games as lacking gameplay because they don't have the TYPE gameplay games in other genres do.

[FoxyGotGame]

Everybody's Entitled To An Opinion....but, Everybody's Gone To The Rapture is Excellent. So much so, that I had to Platinum it.

Some people don't like these quiet serene narrative lead type of games, fair enough, but don't criticize it just because it's not a all out Balls to the Wall Shooter or Peddle to the Metal Racer /

[Yui_Suzumiya]

Man I friggin love this game. It's in my top 10 of the year. Is this dude high? (I'm not giving as polite of a response that Ocelet).

[dip01]

A walking simulator with lacklustre story and few interactive objects ( The bread and butter of this kind of games ) and performance issues . I can see why one would take it as one of the worst " game".

[LgbtWarrior]

One of the worst articles I've ever read from someone. It's the "these aren't games" argument from ignorance. It's brilliant, beautiful and emotional. Many gamers love a good story and mystery. Juvenile article.

[PistolsAtDawn]

Didn't read the article, but this seriously was a bad game. I was looking forward to it and even pre-ordered the game digitally expecting to like it...despite being super short, I couldn't even bring myself to finish it.

[killer_goat]

There is a lot of xbox fans in here.

[G20WLY]

I've noticed that too. They were all 'disappointed' with the game, and stuff..! lol it's the same old names, spouting the same old 'concern troll' nonsense and not getting moderated, as usual. PixelGateUK flat out insults people above, has a huge disagree to agree ratio, yet nothing is done. They're running wild and have been for weeks. This site has lousy moderation at the moment...I just don't know what's happened. :(

As far as the game, I don't have it yet (time is an issue), but you don't get the amount of praise it got through being a bad game. The only recurring negative was the lack of a run option, which was right there all along (although, I remember one guy said it was still too slow to move).

I'm still getting it, but I expect it will be in a New Year sale, so will wait for a deal. All these killjoys can do one, as I've read positive reviews that I trust over crappy clickbait sites like PixelGate.

[pyroxxx]

Not everything fits everyone,.. but I am pretty sure there were worse games this year

[EazyDuz22]

everyones bored of the rapture

[Scrivlar]

I really didn't get this game at all. Thought it sucked. That's not to say it's not great for someone else, but yeah it was probably my worst game of the year too

[mark_parch]

i wouldn't say its the worst game of 2015 but i certainly wouldn't have it in my top 20

[Agito1987]

In general I love my indi experiences. But this game really lacket meaningful strong content. If you make a game that only tells a story you need to put a greater effort in than only talking ghosts and tapes. For me this was just a boring experience. But the worst? It's at least pretty to look at.

[tulholdren]

I liked the game a lot so glad that the people That made it didn't listen to someone like this author or I never would of got to play this gem.