2032: Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture

I’m never quite sure how I feel about so-called “walking simulators” — that subset of first-person games that first appeared with the original Half-Life mod version of Dear Esther, and which has subsequently spawned all manner of variants, including The Vanishing of Ethan Carter, Gone Home, a remake of Dear Esther and The Stanley Parable.

The reason why I say I’m not quite sure how I feel about them is that reflecting on the ones that I’ve played, in some senses I feel like they’re quite an “easy” way for a developer to make a narrative-centric game — “easy” being very much relative, of course, since although walking simulators don’t need things like encounter design and balancing, they do need to worry about world design and pacing, arguably even more so than games with more conventional “mechanics” in place. But despite this, there are times when I experience a walking simulator’s story, and I wonder if a game was the best way for them to tell that story; if all you’re doing is following a path listening to audio logs or reading notes, why not just listen to an audiobook or read a book?

But then I think a bit harder, and I think about the subtle ways in which these games use interactivity to provide a distinct experience from reading a book, watching a movie or even playing a mechanics-focused game with a strong story. Sure, you can attempt to charge straight through to the end and “speedrun” the game, but why would you do something so dumb? These games are made to be explored and savoured like a work of art; some do it better than others, but most have at least some degree of exploration about them.

The most recent one I’ve played — Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture, a new PS4 release from The Chinese Room, creators of Dear Esther — actually does, I think, the best job of creating a surprisingly compelling game out of its stories (because there are several) without resorting to putting in adventure game mechanics or anything like that. (Not that there was anything wrong with Ethan Carter’s investigation sequences, of course, but I can see them killing pacing a bit for people who have trouble figuring that sort of thing out.)

Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture sees you arrive in an idyllic Shropshire village shortly after everyone has apparently disappeared. By following a trail of clues and memories deposited by mysterious glowy light… things around the village, it’s up to you to try and piece together what happened and why. Did the world really end? Well, no, because you’re still in it and it’s still there — but if that’s the case, where did everyone go?

A lot of Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture involves following said glowy orb things around as they lead you to the next area of story, but the game unfolds in a seamless open world that you’re free to wander around and explore at your own leisure. In doing so, you might be able to uncover some mysteries, or more likely you’ll spend some time indulging in what the real joy in these games is: rummaging through someone else’s house.

Gone Home was great for this, and made good use of gamers’ propensity to open every cupboard, drawer, door, window, chest and toilet just in case there’s something hidden inside. By exploring Gone Home’s house, you’d discover a number of different story arcs, most of which were subtly told but came to their own distinct conclusions over the course of the game.

Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture is a little more explicit about its storytelling in that rather than reading notes, you’re witnessing blurry recreations of things that happened between the characters previously, but there’s still some brainwork to do: you don’t necessarily encounter these events in chronological order so you’ll have to figure out what happened when, why and with whom.

There are also lots of more subtle touches around the place. Poke around in people’s houses and you might find boxes of leaflets showing what they were up to, or the books they liked to read. The whole village is immaculately designed and really, genuinely looks and feels like a remote country village in England. It’s a pleasure to explore, and the game generally rewards you for doing so with fragments of stories to find; it’s entirely possible to finish the game without having seen all of the story arcs come to their conclusions, but if that’s the way you choose to play, it’s a valid option.

I’m conscious I’ve been talking very vaguely here, but really, there is no more point to Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture than its story, so I’m hesitant to spoil it while it’s still new. It’s worth experiencing; I don’t regret grabbing it and playing it through in a single sitting (which I would suggest is The Way to Play It — it’s not very long) but, like most walking simulators, I wonder if I’ll ever return to it for any reason other than to show people how gorgeous Cryengine-powered graphics can look. I somehow doubt it, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t a good or worthwhile experience; it was beautifully presented and told its story well despite getting a bit wiffly-waffly “oh, let’s be vague and let people come up with something for themselves” at the end, as these things tend to go.

Worth a look then, if you like that sort of thing. I doubt it’ll make many converts to the walking simulator fold, if you’re the sort of person who is staunchly against them or doesn’t get their appeal, but for those who do enjoy this style of storytelling, The Chinese Room has once again proven that they’re masters of their art.