History VideoGame / EverybodysGoneToTheRapture

''Everybody's Gone to the Rapture'' is a 2015 PostApocalyptic EnvironmentalNarrativeGame developed by Creator/TheChineseRoom (developers of ''VideoGame/DearEsther'' and ''VideoGame/AmnesiaAMachineForPigs'') and released for the UsefulNotes/PlayStation4 (ported to PC in 2016). It focuses on an unknown survivor of an apocalyptic event in a (fictional) small English village in Shropshire, [[SoleSurvivor who appears to be the only person left in the town.]] Using audio logs, tape recorders, and images granted by floating balls of light, the character, and by extension, the player, try to piece together just what happened to the town.

''Everybody's Gone to the Rapture'' is a 2015 PostApocalyptic EnvironmentalNarrativeGame developed by Creator/TheChineseRoom (developers of ''VideoGame/DearEsther'' and ''VideoGame/AmnesiaAMachineForPigs'') and released for the UsefulNotes/PlayStation4 (ported to PC in 2016). It focuses on an unknown survivor of an apocalyptic event in a (fictional) small English village in Shropshire, [[SoleSurvivor who appears to be the only person left in the town.]] Using audio logs, tape recorders, and [[TheLastOfTheseIsNotLikeTheOthers images granted by floating balls of light]], the character, and by extension, the player, try to piece together just what happened to the town.

* JerkAss: Stephen may be well-intentioned in the context of the story, but he's also a huge asshole. He bites people's heads off for no reason, resents nearly everyone, and even though he ''does'' love Kate, he also snaps at her as much as at everyone else, and he blames her entirely for the Pattern's escape. Maybe he inherited it from his mother, [[HolierThanThou Wendy]].

* AccidentalMurder: [[spoiler: After getting caught raiding a warehouse for supplies, Stephen ends up getting into a fight with Sam Baker; for most of the fight, Stephen is on the defensive and just trying to get away before he ends up spreading the Pattern further, only to lose his temper when Sam mentions "your fucking missus" and hit him in the head with a hammer. Cue MyGodWhatHaveIDone response.]]
* AfterTheEnd: Everyone in the village [[spoiler: and possibly the world]] has disappeared. The bulk of the game centers around figuring out why. Take a wild guess.

* BetterToDieThanBeKilled: [[spoiler: Stephen's]] ultimate reaction to The Pattern.

** [[spoiler: It's also implied the Pattern doesn't understand that its actions are killing the people it "infects."]]
** [[spoiler: Near the end, Kate describes it as "a collector of time", and compares it to a butterfly collector. It may see humans as lesser beings, worthy of "collection" but not life. Kate also espouses a philosophy which implies that no one ever really dies, because everyone leaves imprints on the universe. If that's how the Pattern views things, then perhaps it has no qualms about killing because it doesn't even have a concept of "death".]]

* CoolOldGuy: Frank Appleton; a cheerfully irreverent old farmer and part-time handyman, he's one of the friendlier characters in the game. Quite apart from serving as a ParentalSubstitute to [[ReformedCriminal Rhys]], he's also one of the few residents of the village who's willing to accept Kate without reservation. [[spoiler: Towards the end of his chapter, [[StepfordSmiler it's revealed that he's secretly consumed with grief over the loss of his wife]] and [[MyGreatestFailure his failure to be there for her when she died]].]]

%%** [[spoiler: Everyone still alive when the bombs dropped. VX nerve gas was banned in 1993, and for ''excellent'' reason.]]
* DeadlyNosebleed: One of the symptoms of those about to be "Raptured." [[spoiler: One audio log indicates that the same liquid light found in the various phenomenons is found mingled in the blood of the victims.]] [[AmbiguousSituation How deadly it actually is is up for debate.]]

* EverybodysDeadDave: The game kicks off with Kate announcing that she's the only one left in the village, and one or two of the chapters conclude with the principal characters convinced that they are the sole survivors. [[spoiler: By the end of the story, these survivors have also been assimilated by the Pattern.]]
* ExpositionFairy: The balls of light. Activating them shows scenes related to the townsfolk and their doings just before the Rapture. They even seem to be intelligent, seeming to guide you to these moments and places at certain points. [[spoiler: The game heavily implies these are the people the plot of each chapter is centered around.]]
* FalloutShelterFail: During the penultimate chapter, Stephen Appleton is found to have holed up in an underground bomb shelter as he enacts a last-ditch plan to stop the Pattern from spreading outside Yaughton - [[spoiler: an air strike]]. Unfortunately, it doesn't work, and the rest of the world soon goes silent. For a time, Stephen's left hiding in the shelter as he struggles to calculate the full scope of the disaster, trying to reach someone on the CB radio - [[EverybodysDeadDave without success]]... and then he finds out that the shelter does nothing to keep out the Pattern. [[spoiler: He douses himself in petrol and sets himself alight rather than allow the Pattern to assimilate him.]]

* GodzillaThreshold: Stephen convinces the government to [[spoiler: bombard the valley with nerve gas]] in an attempt to stop the Pattern from spreading out of control. [[spoiler:It doesn't work]].
* GoneHorriblyRight: [[spoiler: Kate's attempts to understand and strengthen The Pattern prove successful, and bring about the end of the world.]]

* {{Leitmotif}}: Most of the characters have a musical motif associated with their chapter in the game that plays at the start of their chapters, continues throughout, and plays at the conclusion of their stories. Jeremy the priest has Psalm 13 set to music, Wendy the bird lover has a folk song about birds, Frank the widower has a folk song about a lost love, Lizzie [[spoiler: who is pregnant]] has a lullaby, Kate [[spoiler: and the Pattern]] have Psalm 19.
* LeitmotifUponDeath: [[spoiler: Almost every chapter ends with the principal character of that storyline being absorbed by the Pattern, usually while accompanied either by a snippet of their leitmotif or a complete remix. Lizzie's lullaby is remixed into a stirring orchestral farewell in "I Hope You Find Peace," while Frank's death theme "It's A Beautiful Morning" concludes with the final lyrics to "Carry Me Back To Her Arms: ''"And a-roving I'll go until death comes for me/to carry me back to her arms..."'']]

* MadScientist: As strange things start to happen in Yaughton, some of its residents suspect Stephen's become this. [[spoiler: Ironically, as the story progresses we find he's actually a subversion, becoming more rational and desperate in his attempts to contain and kill The Pattern. Played straight with Kate, who when left alone has clearly gone off the deep end in her attempts to strengthen and nurture The Pattern, resulting in her strange and crazy contraptions all over the observatory.]]
* MercyKill: [[spoiler: Eight months prior to the start of the story, Father Jeremy euthanizes Frank's terminally-ill wife Mary with an overdose of morphine. Frank didn't discover the truth until six weeks later - and has nothing but gratitude for Jeremy, especially given that Frank is still wracked with guilt over his failure to be there for Mary in her final moments. By sharp contrast, Wendy has nothing but contempt for Jeremy when she discovers the truth.]]

* MyBelovedSmother: [[spoiler: Wendy, who badgers her son and his high school ex into cheating on their spouses.]]
* MyGreatestFailure: [[spoiler: Frank Appleton has never forgiven himself for not being there when his wife died; as he later accounts, she specifically asked him to face the end with her, but Frank's fear got the better of him and [[DrowningMySorrows he went down to the pub instead]]. This eventually becomes a major factor in his decision to [[DrivenToSuicide wait for the bombs to fall]] rather than save himself.]]

* NothingIsScarier: You're only given bits and pieces of the whole story, leaving your imagination to do the rest. Some entries in the ApocalypticLog imply that things got pretty terrible in the days leading up to the Rapture, and certain findings (like [[spoiler: ''an unexploded VX gas missile'' in the river]], or puddles of blood and bloody tissues from the villagers' [[DeadlyNosebleed nosebleeds]]) seem to verify this idea, but you're never given anything concrete.

* OhCrap: Every new revelation for Stephen comes across as one of these. [[spoiler: "It's in the phones! GET OFF THE PHONES!"]]
** Frank gets a big one of these when [[spoiler: he overhears Stephen getting Clive to order an airstrike on the village.]]

* OutsideContextProblem: [[spoiler: 'The Pattern.' Although its intentions (if it indeed has any) are mostly a complete mystery, Kate and Stephen point out it defies both known physics and human understanding from the outset.]] it all ends as well as you might expect.

* ShipperOnDeck: [[spoiler: Wendy for Stephen and Lizzie.]]

* StiffUpperLip: At first the residents of Yaughton react quite calmly to the army quarantining the village, seemingly more put out at the inconvenience than how dire the situation must actually be to warrant it. [[spoiler: Played straight with the doctor's calm and sardonic tape message, where he concludes he is dying, and it's certainly not from the flu.]]

* WhamLine: [[spoiler: "It doesn't understand it's hurting us."]]

* IdyllicEnglishVillage: The game is set in the peaceful town of Yaughton (located in the county of Shropshire in the West Midlands). However, it's become a little more peaceful than usual as the entire population has inexplicably vanished, leaving the player to explore the abandoned town and uncover the story behind this mass disappearance. As such, the usual picturesque staples of the country town are here played for DaylightHorror as the [[ApocalypseHow apocalyptic circumstances]] of the story gradually become apparent.

** [[spoiler: Everyone still alive when the bombs dropped. VX nerve gas was banned in 1993, and for ''excellent'' reason.]]
* DaylightHorror: Our story starts on a splendid and fine morning in Shropshire. This often leaves the small indications of a prior, catastrophic and biblical end of days all the more unnerving.

* AnachronicOrder: The dialogues are uncovered in whatever order you explore them. However, given that the chapters themselves are in anachronic order, it is actually impossible to get them in proper chronological order. Averted with the radio recordings, which are played chronologically no matter which order you activate the,

** [[spoiler:Stephen, who was hiding in a bunker during the airstrike, lights himself on fire when he realizes that the Pattern has already escaped the valley.]]

%% * EverybodysDeadDave: One way of interpreting the "Rapture."

* {{Leitmotif}}: Most of the characters have a musical motif associated with their chapter in the game that plays at the start and the end of their areas. Jeremy the priest has Psalm 13 set to music, Wendy the bird lover has a folk song about birds, Frank the widower has a folk song about a lost love, Lizzie [[spoiler: who is pregnant]] has a lullaby, Kate [[spoiler: and the Pattern]] have Psalm 19.
* LightIsNotGood: While the veracity of this trope varies on how benign or hostile you see them as, things undeniably went to hell for the village soon after the "liquid light" phenomenons started showing up.

* OneWomanWail: Prominently featured on the soundtrack.

* TheMeanBrit: Stephen is British, and often quite mean to those around him.

* AmbiguousSituation: The titular "Rapture," and just how deadly or benign it really is.

** Both Father Jeremy (who returns to the church before being taken by the pattern) and Stephen (who remained inside a bunker before the pattern also reached him) think they are this after the disappearance of everyone else in the village.
* {{Leitmotif}}: Most of the characters have a musical motif associated with their chapter in the game that plays at the start and the end of their areas. Jeremy the priest has Psalm 13 set to music, Wendy the bird lover has a folk song about birds, Frank the widower has a folk song about a lost love, Lizzie [[spoiler: who is pregnant]] has a lullaby, Kate [[spoiler: and the pattern]] have Psalm 19.