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Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture (PS4) 

BY The Chinese Room and SCE Sonta Monica Studio

The reclaiming of the term “walking simulator” is a great example of a community turning something derogatory into something positive. The label, given to games that focus on environmental storytelling like Dear Esther, was meant to deride interactive experiences that lack high scores and point systems. Walking is boring, the joke assumes, and thus any game that merely simulates this mundane activity is not worth anyone’s time. Creators like The Chinese Room not only disprove this conceit, but make you question why we approach everyday miracles like walking, seeing, and hearing so thoughtlessly. Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture doesn’t only make you reconsider what videogames are capable of. It makes you rethink how you go through life, and why the incredible act of existing on this beautiful planet could ever be considered mundane.

Perfect for: English countryside villagers, apocalypse truth watchers, wanderers

Playtime: About 4-6 hours