Everybody's Gone to the Rapture Critic Reviews

Is Everybody's Gone to the Rapture a game, an experimental piece of interactive fiction, or is it perhaps even art? Whatever it is, the experience it delivers is a memorable one. It's gorgeous to look at, fantastic to listen to, and spins an intelligent and somewhat esoteric sci-fi mystery that's truly gripping through to its very end.

It's important to realize that Everybody's Gone To The Rapture isn't exactly a game. Considering that its developers also made the equally non-game-like Dear Esther, this should come as no surprise. Rather, it's essential you think of it as a story that you just happen to be experiencing on your PS4. Otherwise, it will just seem like a walking simulator in a nicely-rendered English country village, and then you're just missing the point — and the beauty — of it all.

An extraordinary piece of work, with things to say about pacing, writing, world-building and the communication of emotion that feel profoundly valuable to the industry...Its sense of purpose is overwhelming.

99 percent of videogames are built on video game conventions we all know well. Everybody's Gone To The Rapture steps outside of the bubble and not only shows that that is possible, but also does it in an excellent way. This title offers gameplay elements that are truly worth exploring. It is more than just unique, it is brilliant and personal.

The Chinese Room has managed to create one of the most insightful, meaningful, and emotional games that we’ve seen in some time, perhaps forever, and bravo to Sony for taking a real punt with something so completely arthouse.

Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture is easily one of the most immersive games I’ve ever played.

Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture’s greatest accomplishment is making you care for its departed characters. Their personal stories give you an incredible glimpse of what life was like in their little corner of the world. They’re not the nicest group of people. They can be selfish, stubborn, and downright stupid. But that’s what makes them feel real and memorable.

An exceptional story, told via one of the most vivid game worlds around.

Everybody’s Gone To The Rapture is brave, it’s challenging, and it’s essential. How The Chinese Room has managed to convey this level of narrative artistry, while simultaneously offering us the freedom to dig through it’s characters’ lives so freely, is beyond me. It has to be experienced to be believed.

Everybody's Gone to the Rapture uses subtle cues to guide you through its world and then gives you the space to digest what you find. It's a wonderful example of what games can achieve narratively while presenting minimal physical engagement and tasking player imagination with the rest.

Everybody's Gone to the Rapture is a masterwork – a gorgeous and subtle experience, which treats you as an adult, without ever indulging in pretence. It cares about its characters enough to give them interesting and meaningful things to say, while also playing host to some truly breathtaking art direction and music.

It won't be for everyone, but for those that love Everybody's Gone to the Rapture, it'll stay in the memory for a very long time indeed.

An unforgettable experience, Rapture deserves to be played by anyone with a fondness for stories.

The Chinese Room goes back to its roots of digital storytelling, in a slow-paced sci-fi story delightfully quiet and deep. Probably less original than Dear Esther, but a wonderful and amazing experience nonetheless.

Everybody's Gone to the Rapture is a story-driven masterpiece. Even though you will be able to finish it within 4-6 hours, it will leave you breathless and blown away.

Give this a try. You may fall in love.

Everybody's Gone to the Rapture immerses the player into a catching mystery that swiftly swings from anxiety to curiosity, while asking to explore a beautiful setting in order to unravel what happened in a small English town where everybody disappeared.

As light on gameplay as it is, Everbody’s Gone to the Rapture is as beautiful as it is thought provoking.

Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture is an interactive work of art.

What Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture accomplishes with the well-worn post-apocalyptic genre is remarkable.