Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture Soundtrack, Jessica Curry, 2015
Coming off the critical and commercial success of Dear Esther, British indie developer The Chinese Room began work on two projects: Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs and Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture. Out of the two games, the latter was no doubt the bigger undertaking, co-produced by industry giant Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation 4. By and large, Rapture took the same gameplay approach as Dear Esther. Gamers are tasked with walking through a deserted village, trying to piece together what happened to those who once inhabited this piece of idyllic English country side – no battles, perils or game over screens in sight. Not surprisingly, the limited interactivity within Rapture’s world wasn’t to the liking of everybody. All in all though, reviews were positive, with critics particularly pointing out the game’s strong narrative, placing Rapture on several year-end lists.
Rapture did reap several awards as well, including for its music. As with previous The Chinese Room titles, Jessica Curry provided the game’s soundtrack – deservedly taking home a BAFTA and two Game Audio Network Guild Awards for her efforts. Curry was involved with Rapture throughout the entirety of its three-year development period, both as composer and director of the project. It’s no surprise then that the music’s shape and function within the game was carefully considered. With the game’s design strongly influenced by the peculiarly British sci-fi sub-genre of the “cosy catastrophe”, Curry’s music was bound to follow suit.