Everybody's Gone to the Rapture Reviews
It's a shame that Everybody's Gone to the Rapture falls for the trap of slowing players down to force engagement because it does the exact opposite. There's plenty to latch onto here, but the slow movement speed and technical problems distract from the otherwise moving story.
It's not hard to see why this won a number of BAFTA awards… it is one of those examples that comes about from time to time of gaming being art. A true visual novel that draws you in and leaves you wanting more. Fantastic voice acting and musical score really just provide icing on the cake here. Very worthwhile!
Everybody's Gone to the Rapture is a wonderfully poignant, moving sci-fi journey. A fully realized world, excellent writing, superb voice acting, beautiful music, and a compelling, intriguing mystery are more than worth a few technical difficulties and some subpar mechanics. If you have any interest in narrative driven adventure games, you're sure to find a new favorite here.
Games are at their best when they subvert expectations, or challenge longstanding norms. While Everybody's Gone to the Rapture mostly accomplishes this by questioning traditional videogame storylines, it stumbles, and falls back on the very thing it's critiquing. That, however, doesn't detract from the overall worth of the human experiences that underpin it.
What Everybody's Gone to the Rapture accomplishes with the well-worn post-apocalyptic genre is remarkable.
It's not a perfect game – There are some cheesy, overly melodramatic scenes that border on Soap Opera-esque levels of ridiculousness and the resolution will most certainly be unsatisfying for some – But it's almost a perfect experience.
Everybody's Gone To The Rapture really tried to be something more powerful than a video game. It tried to be art. However, instead of becoming a Mona Lisa, it felt as though the paint was still awaiting its first brush stroke. It never quite got there, but if it ever achieved that first stroke, it was bound to be brilliant.
A landmark for writing, held back by minimalism
An unforgettable experience, Rapture deserves to be played by anyone with a fondness for stories.
Everybody's Gone to the Rapture's take on interactive fiction is admirable, even in its struggle to manage personal discovery alongside narrative composition. I love its calamitous tranquility, I identify with the plights of its characters, and I'm enamored with its confident storytelling, but its reluctance to disclose its disposition adversely affects its capability. Everybody's Gone to the Rapture is at the front of the line, although I can't help but wonder if it could have started its own path.
Everybody's Gone to the Rapture feels trapped by its medium, forced into one of a handful of approved genres because that's what is expected of videogames. The Chinese Room knows how to create vibrant worlds, and fills Rapture's with a number of believable characters. If they trusted fully in these characters and their lives, or the audience's willingness to be fascinated by them without a sci-fi hook, Rapture would have been stronger for it. Anybody interested in games as a storytelling medium should play it, even if its light is reined back in right on the verge of transcendence.
Nice as it can be to look around the world of Everbody's Gone To The Rapture, its story is dead, empty, and filled with redundant notions of player engagement.
While it has its problems, Everybody's Gone to the Rapture is a memorable, emotional ride through post-apocalyptic England, rife with mystery, intrigue, and a sense of the unknown.
[I]f you're the patient sort who likes to slowly explore every nook, or who craves a gaming experience that's less exciting and more thoughtful, Everybody's Gone to the Rapture might be the light in the dark you've been looking for.
[I]f you're looking for an interesting method of storytelling full of drama, then you will want to check out Everybody's Gone To The Rapture. This is a video game as a piece of literature. Some may call it art, but I like to think gaming has evolved beyond such a contemporary definition. The Chinese Room had a story to tell, and they have done so in such a unique fashion that I eagerly await their next adventure.
Like The Chinese Room's previous work, Everybody's Gone to the Rapture will no doubt prove an acquired taste, but the game is bolstered by strong, character-driven writing and a desire to experiment with boundaries no other developer, indie or established, is willing to engage.
An engaging story, gorgeous environment and well-written characters can't distract from the fact that Everybody's Gone To The Rapture's gameplay is buggy and lethargic.
Everybody's Gone to the Rapture has an original and engaging story to tell over its roughly 5 hours of play time. If you enjoy narrative-driven games it could be worth a look, but it's not a huge step forward for the genre.
Stunning production values and superb graphics and music collide in a fascinating work of interactive science fiction. Some many be put off by the lack of real interactivity and the slow pace of the gameplay, but more will find the story as interesting and resonant as the way it's told. Is it a game? Who cares? It's a stunning experience, whatever you want to call it.
As with Dear Esther before it, it offers up an admirable and atmospheric experience that simply isn't all that much fun to play.