Everybody's Gone To The Rapture Game Review. Most post-apocalyptic settings depict the end of civilization as we know it. Our cities lie in ruin, covered in grey ash and the bones of our fallen. This isn't the case with The Chinese Room's newest title, Everybody's Gone to the Rapture. In a brief 20-minute demo at E3, creative director Dan Pinchbeck talked about the Cold War and the end of times, but the world he invited us into is serene, beautiful, and a snapshot of prosperity for a farm town on the outskirts of London, circa 1984.
Although Pinchbeck never details the character he is controlling in the demo, we find this person standing on a dirt road overlooking a wheat field on the left, and an autumn forest (dense with orange and green leaves) on the right. The world is inviting and calm, and Pinchbeck moves through it slowly, giving us the time to soak in the details created using Cry Engine, such as how a gentle breeze affects the wheat. As he moves forward, a red phone off to his right rings. His character picks up the receiver, but never says anything as the voice details what sounds like a catastrophe. Before we can truly understand what is happening, the call ends, and Pinchbeck continues forward along the road.
Insects, birds, and wildlife scurrying through the foliage are seen, but something in the world seems off; other than the voice on the phone, there are no other human beings. This village looks to be in tip-top shape and fully functional, yet it's been abandoned.
Deeper into the village, we see something that doesn't quite fit into the world – a golden orb is floating over the road, moving somewhat frantically, leaving behind a trail in its wake. The orb seems to be summoning Pinchbeck to follow it. He does just that and is led to a stone bridge, providing safe passage over a creek. The orb darts away and two ghostly figures appear on the bridge. One is female, the other male. We learn they have a daughter, and that the father works too much. They also discuss a coming storm that could cause an electromagnetic disruption. The spirits leave the bridge and
continue down the road, but Pinchbeck doesn't follow them.
Pinchbeck says the narrative is nonlinear, and most players will experience it differently. The particular meeting of the ghosts on the bridge will only happen once, and by not following them he's going to miss out on part of their story. It's up to the player to hunt down the narrative and piece the threads together to find out what happened to the people of the world.
The orb, which Pinchbeck describes as one of five A.I. characters players get to know, leads us to a farmhouse. A car parked outside is filled with supplies, like oxygen masks and rations. From what we can see, the car was loaded up
quickly, and in a panic.
Inside of the house, Pinchbeck barely has time to glance over at the living room before a swirl of particles engulfs his character, giving him a brief glimpse of a wheelchair in a small bedroom. Reality flashes back into frame, and Pinchbeck explores the house. Upstairs he comes across the wheelchair and room. No other clues come from it, other than the possibility of the oxygen tanks possibly being for a sick loved one, and not an airborne toxin as originally believed.
Pinchbeck's last stop in the house is a kitchen. Its countertops are overrun with spoiled foods and supplies. He proceeds out the backdoor and the orb leads him to a giant tree. The crackling of energy and a swirl of particles appears again, this time forcing Pinchbeck to rotate the PlayStation 4 controller to make the swirls align. The screen flashes white and the demo ends.
We didn't see much, yet walked away from Everybody's Gone to the Rapture with dozens of questions pertaining to the game and its fiction. It was the slowest and most uneventful E3 demo I've ever seen, yet one of the most intriguing, thanks to the narrative hooks. It looks like The Chinese Room has a hell of a mystery on its hands.
The only question about the game that Pinchbeck definitively answered is that there are no fail states. “The only fail state for us is the player doesn't care,” he says.
Platform: PlayStation 4
Style: 1-Player Adventure
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
Developer: The Chinese Room/Sony Santa Monica
Release: TBA
