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[eizarus]

Played it. It was shit. No idea what the hype was about.
Felt like something Tommy Wisseu would direct.

 

[Szadek]

Yeah right I remember actually falling asleep while playing this in the middle of the day

Almost happened to me when I was playing Dear Esther. That was one of the main reasons why I never player Everybody's Gone to the Rapture.
The Chinese Room really needs to step up their game, because other walking simulators are way ahead of them.

 

[onemanasylum]

I didn't like it either. Not sure where the hype came for this game.

 

[Afro]

The Chinese Room really needs to step up their game, because other walking simulators are way ahead of them.

Yeah, the genre has enormous potential.

 

[BigEmil]

I said it so many times it's so bad I regret buying this it's not even a damn game it's a boring interactive movie wannabe your better off watching this on YouTube yet still this 'game' is so boring I can't make it to the end..

 

[Kas]

I loved it, to be honest.

It's a very interesting game, and I love the idea of this light just snatching people out of existance.

Plus, the ending was incredible. Very atmospheric.

 

[Hydrogen Bluebird]

Agree with you OP. Played this for a few hours and didn't enjoy it at all. Such a shitty game.

 

[Psychoward]

I didn't like it either. Not sure where the hype came for this game.

I remember Sony marketed it in one of their E3 conferences.

 

[Ex-Psych]

To think I preorded the game had it as my Playstation theme up until release.

I honestly think the game would have been much more enjoyable if I could RUN. LET ME RUN.

"No its too admire and appreciate the scenery" says the developers

 

[ToonLink]

I played it when it was free on PS+. I put up with the dreary gameplay and slow walk speed because I was hoping it would have an interesting ending. Nope. I thought the voice acting and music were both very well done, the setting was quaint, and there were some emotional moments, but it really wasn't enough to withstand the weight of the rest of the issues the game had going on. In the end I just felt like I had completely wasted my time.

 

[pa22word]

I didn't like it either. Not sure where the hype came for this game.

Like I said in a previous post the best thing I ever could deduce about it was list warz and it looked pretty.

Personally I don't see how you could be that surprised with what it was if you'd played any other game of theirs.

 

[Afro]

Oh, forgot about The Beginner's Guide and Stanley Parable. A couple more excellent walking sim examples.

 

[WilyRook]

I like the concept of it, and the initial set-up was interesting, but the narrative doesn't really go anywhere. If it wasn't for the beautiful music I probably would've stopped playing.

 

[Turin]

Had my eye on it for a bit and with The Vanishing of Ethan Carter instead. I was pleased with that game.

 

[Pontiaction]

I love this game genre -- everything from Gone Home to Firewatch, Ethan Carter to VA11 HALL-A, all great games that I count among my favorite recent experiences. But I too had to put down EGttR. It just felt a bit too abstract and rudderless for me with poor mechanics. I felt like there was an interesting story buried in there, but I couldn't force myself to plow through the boredom of actually playing the game to find it.

I'm not sure I think that highly of The Chinese Room, to be honest. Their contribution to the Amnesia series (among which I lump in Penumbra and SOMA) was the only one I didn't like.

 

[Imur]

You guys did find the run button and understand that its building up speed, slowly, not instantly, right?

There is even an article about it Eurogamer

 

[Bronetta]

I haven't played EGttR yet but based on what I read in the OP, have you played INSIDE? I think you guys would really enjoy your time with that.

 

[Szadek]

Played it. It was shit. No idea what the hype was about.

I didn't like it either. Not sure where the hype came for this game.

It's a very reviewer friendly game.
Game like Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture are nice change of pace for them and it's also short, which is a big deal for them.

 

[Joey Jo-Jo Jr]

I enjoyed this game far more than Gone Home.
The environment was on a completely different scale, a beautiful rural English village vs a completely unremarkable house.
Also, perhaps I am just a bad man by gaf standards, but I found the sci-fi radio drama-esque story of Rapture a whole lot more interesting than Gone Home's sub Dawson's Creek quality tale of angsty teenager lesbian love.

Perhaps as a 31 year old man, I should find tales of teenage lesbian drama totally compelling, but I don't. Same way I don't spend my time watching One Tree Hill/Dawson's Creek/whatever the modern equivalent is. Sorry!

 

[Cert.in.Death]

Spot on OP. It's a story trapped in the wrong medium, or at least it seems that way given how poorly the "game" aspect of the game turned out.

 

[Deleted member 30609]

I haven't been to an actual "Sleep No More"-like theatre thing, but the game played to me a lot like what I imagine that's like. The detail of the world was of a high enough resolution that i got a kind of weird satisfaction from rummaging through the lives of the people that lived in the town -- or what was left of them in that frozen snapshot, anyway. It wasn't about the cause and effect of the story so much as it was about -- I dunno -- soaking in a strange hypothetical ("what would a stranger find of me if we all vanished?").

 

[Pyccko]

Shoot man, I loved EGttR. Even platted that thing. Gone Home was definitely better, but I loved the sleepy English village aspect of Rapture and the different ways all the characters dealt with their own extinction. The final monologue was pretty beautiful as well.

I will say that I was bothered on a fundamental level with the idea of some fucking spacelight prick coming and eating everyone on earth and acting like "oh I'm doing this FOR YOU. you don't know it but you really want this." What an asshole.

 

[TheMink]

I haven't played it but laughed out loud at the title anyway 😂

 

[Doctor_Thomas]

I thought it was a beautiful piece.

Oh well, to each their own.

 

[zakujanai]

I enjoyed both this and Gone Home but if the two, this had the better story-telling. I get the criticism, I missed a lot of the stuff in the start of the first area and got frustrated. Once I got into it though, hunting down the scenes and piecing together everyone's final moments was rather chilling.

Also, as someone who lives on the border with Shropshire I could really appreciate the beautiful countryside and at times I was wont to get carried away just seeing where I could explore.

 

[Heckler456]

I really liked the story. I LOVED the music. I really like the performances, as well as the world itself, and the atmosphere. The gameplay itself was an absolute slog though, I'll admit that much. But it didn't really deter me from really liking the game.

I haven't played it but laughed out loud at the title anyway ��

You actually, genuinely laughed out loud at "Everybody's Gone to the Rapture"?

Why?

 

[Footos22]

Edith finch and the vanishing of Ethan carter are prob the best in the genre. EGTTR is a piece of shit compared to them and I stood around doing nothing for mins at a time just to get the platinum. Awful game.

Soundtrack and graphics are top tier though I'll give it that.

 

[tryagainlater]

It's the only walking simulator that I've genuinely loved. The walking speed didn't bother me but I can see why others hate it.

 

[SomePerson]

One of my favorite gaming 'experiences' along with Journey and The Stanley Parable, although I do certainly wish you could walk faster in it and that the run button that does exist in the game wasn't so...obtuse.

 

[watdaeff4]

Hated the game. Powered through it to see if there was a pay-off for the story.

For a game like this, the story has to absolutely nail it and IMO it didn't. Once I was done, deleted it from the HD and never looked back.

 

[Transistor]

I want Sony to make a spin-off called Everybody's Golf in the Rapture

 

[score01]

Enjoyed it enough to platinum it. The walking speed even with run pressed was god awful - but that was the worst thing. Loved the graphics, loved exploring, loved picking up the story and finding out what happened in the village. Maybe getting it for free on psn plus made me more tolerant of it?

 

[Joey Jo-Jo Jr]

Edith finch and the vanishing of Ethan carter are prob the best in the genre. EGTTR is a piece of shit compared to them and I stood around doing nothing for mins at a time just to get the platinum. Awful game.

Soundtrack and graphics are top tier though I'll give it that.

I don't think a game should be judged based on whatever nonsense you had to do to get a "platinum".
Especially considering we are talking about a walking simulator that requires absolutely no skill to complete.

 

[Phamit]

You guys did find the run button and understand that its building up speed, slowly, not instantly, right?

There is even an article about it Eurogamer

I played with pressing R2 the whole time, still slow and annoying as fuck

 

[Filthy Casual]

I liked it, slowly uncovering the story of what went on in that way; it's unique. Very nice looking game too.

 

[Zap Rowsdower]

The Chinese Room are pretentious hacks pretty much.

You should play Edith Finch, OP. Fantastic game.

 

[xuchu]

The walking speed....shudders

 

[Northeastmonk]

I have EGttR in my PSN library. I was putting it off for a rainy day, but I might not touch it now. I did play Gone Home and it was meh. I see why people love it, but it's a lot of audio with "examine" item gameplay elements thrown into the mix. I guess the genre hasn't really gotten me to sing praises about it. Amnesia, I own both, were compelling, but the shocks and scares didn't hook me long enough. Mainly because I'm use to shooters or similar aspects of examining items being part of the game versus being the entire game. I had Dear Easter many years ago, probably around its launch. I'm actually enjoying text based adventures like Zork and Wishbringer.
I find games like this intriguing, but I'm still not compelled to play them. After 20+ years of playing games I don't get overly excited unless the game is compelling enough for the journey. Life is Strange was one game I tried to get into, like Gone Home, but I felt like journalists and other gamers/players enjoyed it far more than I did.

I did talk to an AI programmer here in town, who worked on Guild Wars 2 and he said that calling it a "walking simulator" is a bad thing. I mentioned the term and he called me out on it, so I have an impression that it's a bad thing to call it that.

I was interested in this, but over time I didn't take the initiative to actually play it.

 

[funkystudent]

Cant say I cared much for Dear Esther either. But that came out long before Gone Home and such so I can kind of understand why it was popular with a particular crowd.

 

[Council Pop]

Funny how it's always progressive/experimental/narrative games which attract this level of bizarre vitriol.

It's literally the least offensive game ever. It's not perfect and I didn't love it, mainly because of the saving system and the whole 'have I missed anything' anxiety that comes with its rather loose structure.

The walking speed issues were not a big deal, everyone is just used to running everywhere in games. The walking speed is a real life walking speed, I didn't think it was particularly weird. It does feel slow when walking down the hill at the start of the game.

I loved the fragmented narrative, I absolutely LOVED the very authentic use of accents (as in, it's set in Shropshire and you have a mixture of Shropshire accents, posh English accents and Welsh accents, which is that area to a tee). I didn't think the overarching story was very good, and the whole sci-fi thing just rang hollow and felt like a concession to video gaminess. It didn't need to be a genre piece in that way.

But lol at the people complaining that they couldn't follow the story. You can really tell which people on here have only ever seen traditionally structured drama. Some of the theatre I see would blow your minds.

But I think that this reaction does prove something- experimental narrative games DO have a future, but only if they can reach way beyond traditional 'gamers' and reach people who consume other art forms (particularly art cinema).

 

[NinjaBoiX]

Yeah, it was absolutely dire, dull pretentious swill. The music is good though and the acting was very impressive.

But yeah, despite all it's other issues (lack of direction, intrigue, excitement, anything approaching actual gameplay) THAT WALKING SPEED should never have got through testing. Like, it just kills the game dead, I've rarely seen such a fundamental flaw in a game slap me straight in the face after 30 seconds.

(The Vanishing of Ethan Carter is far better and has a run button!)

 

[Footos22]

I don't think a game should be judged based on whatever nonsense you had to do to get a "platinum".
Especially considering we are talking about a walking simulator that requires absolutely no skill to complete.

This game requires skill in staying awake.

 

[Atolm]

To me the game was one of the most pretentious if not the most that I've ever played.

 

[Lee Chaolan]

Amazing title. Walking Simulator at its boringest.

 

[MAtgS]

I beat the game and I still don't know who I even am in it.

 

[Charamiwa]

The Chinese Room destroyed any chance of Amnesia becoming a cool horror series with their extremely poor game design. I have next to zero sympathy for them as a result.

 

[Lord Panda]

Great soundtrack.

 

[angelic]

I played and finished it during an entire insomnia finished night. I never knew where to go, and by the end I was totally lost, had to look up the next section quite a few times. Read the plot analysis, did everything I could to like it. I dont like it, it's shit, the story is nothing...it means nothing, nothing happens, the "entity" is nothing, the whole game is just that "fucking nothing" gif...because none of it feels like real events, as you don't see a damn thing.

It's like playing through Halo or something but after all of the events, no waypoints, and you have lead boots on. Absolutely despise the game.

 

[pa22word]

The Chinese Room destroyed any chance of Amnesia becoming a cool horror series with their extremely poor game design. I have next to zero sympathy for them as a result.

I don't think there was much a chance of that anyways though.

Frictional was clearly already working on SOMA by that point, and as far as franchise potential I think Penumbra had much greater chances at that yet Frictional was fine to let that series basically die. I think what happened with Machine for Pigs was just a happy accident type thing where both sides just had nothing else coming for a while and fell in each others lap. I think if it hadn't happened SOMA would have happened all the same anyways only Frictional would have been slightly less moneyed for the revenue MfP licensing gave them.

 

[Gorger]

Hated it. I forced myself through it for the platinum. Put me off walking simulators in general, even though I enjoyed Gone Home and Vanishing of Ethan Carter.