4/5 ★ – nicholaswilder's review of Everybody's Gone to the Rapture.

After playing through Still Wakes the Deep, The Chinese Room’s latest survival horror adventure game, I was inspired to return to Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture - a game I’ve only played once but one I adore, rank as one of my all time favourites, and the very first game I got the Platinum Trophy for (starting an obsession that now sees me sitting at 100!). Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture is a single player narrative based adventure game set in a remote English village in the 1980s. The games story follows the mysterious disappearance of the towns inhabitants, and the player must explore each of the five regions in order to discover how and why. Each area of the map focuses on a different main character, delivering the narrative through floating orbs of light which lead the player through a series of scenes that retell events leading up to the rapture. Like many “walking simulators,” gameplay is about as bare bones as it gets but it more than makes up for it with the quality of story telling, the casts excellent performances, and stunning visuals that still look impressive today. Even devoid of people, there’s something rather nice and relaxing about an old English countryside setting that I loved exploring, from cottage homes to town pubs, and the like. I only have two real complaints where I felt the experience could’ve been massively improved: 1) the walking speed in this game, even after patches and holding down the trigger, is abysmally slow. To the point where it can hinder your desire to explore; and 2) there’s very few objects in the world that are interact-able. There’s phones and radios that act as audio diaries and help add to the story, but it would’ve been nice to have more items to interact with and read that focus specifically on the characters lives and the history of the town. Overall, Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture is still as creative and engaging as I remember. These type of games aren’t for everyone and I get that, but if you’re looking for something with a great story and fantastic performances, it’s more than worth a shot. For fans of Still Wakes the Deep, Firewatch, and What Remains of Edith Finch.