Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture Arises Again

If you know anything about The Chinese Room, developers of the story-driven Half-Life 2 mod Dear Esther , it’s that their games have a mysterious atmosphere unlike any other.

it’s that their games have a mysterious atmosphere unlike any other. The same can be said about the development of their upcoming title Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture , a game that’s had so few details given and seen such little footage since it’s 2012 announcement that some thought it on the verge of becoming vaporware. After being shockingly devoid of a presentation during Sony’s E3 conference, The Chinese Room has shown the first (depressingly short) Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture trailer in nearly a year at today’s Horizon indie conference.

The trailer shows a gorgeous, detailed environment (alongside the CryEngine 4 logo); a wheat field and dirt path similar to their well-polished Dear Esther. An abandoned bike and a tipped shopping cat lay barren in the way and, as we move towards a large tree standing tall above the wheat, dancing in the wind, a glowing gold light hovers, floating across the screen as though alive before embracing a similar light emanating from the tree’s trunk.

Whatever all that’s supposed to mean.

Fortunately, while the trailer offers next to nothing, co-director and composer Jessica Curry  has given some new details to the public via the Playstation blogwhile the press get the chance to view the game behind closed doors.

Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture is set in a fictional rural countryside, Yaughton valley, back in June 1984, and it’s a “story about people and how they live with each other” during the impeding end of the world. There’s cited inspirations by English literature in attempt to achieve a combination of the epic and the intimate– real people in extraordinary times.

The game is about exploration and discovery, something The Chinese Room flirted with in Dear Esther ; players will freely roam an open world to meet other characters and find new locations, shaping their own dynamic story and immersing themselves in the game unequivocally.

Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture is anticipated to release on Playstation 4 next year.