Everybody’s Gone To The Rapture was a game I was watching very closely since it was announced.
Narrative driven experiences and first person exploration based games are making quite the comeback as of late and this title is a direct result of that thirst that has thankfully been rediscovered by gamers.
A sleepy little town, one that you’ll instantly fall in love with from its unique scenery to its down home charm is where this fantastic journey begins. At the outset you’re the lone survivor of some unknown event that has wiped out every living sole, save you, from the planet and without any direction or indication as to what and where to go you begin to try to unravel the who, what, when, where, and why.
Throughout the game you’ll explore the countryside and the town, from wide open spaces to quaint little local taverns, and in exploring you’ll discover clues, not only to what may have happened, but also who these people were in their daily lives apart from this mysterious event.
The first time you experience a mysterious orb that almost seems aware not only of you but itself you’ll be instantly intrigued and driven to find out what these things are. These orbs guide you to various locations and as you follow you’ll be treated to echoes of certain people and the interpersonal relationships they were engaged in before and leading up to the strange event.
At first, I was left wondering what all these personal experiences had to do with what caused the Rapture and then I heard a familiar sound! A radio and a series of numbers? What do these mean? Approaching the radio I turned it on and heard the ramblings of a scientist? An experiment at an observatory? It all seemed to be pointing to a scientific explanation as to what happened to these people, this town, the world.
A bit more exploration and I encountered stationary orbs. They weren’t moving or leading me the way the others were. I was prompted to move the controller left and right and these orbs responded in turn until I found the right spot and then a burst of light and another echo of a past life, but this time much more detailed and personal. I was left wondering? What do all of these stories, varied and extremely personal, have to do with what I assumed was a scientific experiment gone wrong?
These experiences are repeated throughout the course of the game and while they are all similar in nature; you’re led by living orbs and prompted by stationary ones, you gather information through radio broadcasts and also ringing telephones scattered throughout the town, the experience is never stale. The detail in the environment is extremely high and the real star is the lighting that not only reacts to everything in the game, but the first time you see an orb kick up dust from the ground as it passes by while also reflecting its light in the windows of the houses scattered throughout the town you’ll feel like these object are truly grounded in these environments.
More and more I was compelled to continue to explore and discover any item of information that would help fill in the blanks in what is an extremely personal story that at times seems completely disjointed and at other times completely interconnected; this is a wonderfully told tale that sits among the best of the narrative driven gaming experiences.
Is it a scientific experiment? Is it truly the spiritual Rapture? Something came down into that observatory and got out into the power lines and spread throughout the town and the world. In the end, like any great film or book, your left to decide for yourself what it was that this scientist discovered. Was it some alien life form trying to make contact? Or did science finally break through into the spiritual world? A place it should have never been. You decide for yourself as this scientist joins with the light in what is a game that is highly recommended for not only narrative driven game fans, but any fan of gaming.
