I live in Shropshire & if you're interested in the setting I can give you some background (and nitpicking!)

[chimera]

Hi! I was born and raised in Shropshire & never thought I'd see my home county in a game. I got a kick out of seeing The Chinese Room's representation of it, some things they did really well, others were a little more lol :D

For anyone wondering if Yaughton is a real place - it's not. There is a village called Yorton north of the country town Shrewsbury which matches a few of the characteristics, but Yaughton is more of an amalgamation of components that are typical of Shropshire villages. The geography as seen in the map doesn't represent any real place, and whilst we do have railways - none of them are electrified, even 30 years later in 2016 ;)

Some of the things that are real ....
Phone boxes - even with the advent of mobile phones, these are still around and do sometimes get used. The ones seen in the game are a classic design, there are still rather a lot of them about although they are getting rarer

Post boxes - these are pretty accurate! I can tell you now that the end of the world probably happened at the weekend, because all the postboxes list the next collection day as Monday. The only thing missing is the Royal crest - you can tell how old a postbox is because the reigning monarch's initials/monogram will be on the front - so 'E II R' for Elizabeth the second, or any postbox installed since the 50s

The pubs .... yes - these are fairly representative of country pubs, but the parasols are rather optimistic ;)

The houses - yes, there are a lot of thatched cottages in Shropshire, they really are pretty. The more modern houses can be from a variety of different eras, the game is fairly representative

The church - the most recognisable thing about the church is the Lychgate, that's the kind of porch thing near the road. It's very common and was used as a resting place for pallbearers. A lot of them are also used for placing wreaths from rememberance ceremonies. The church itself is pretty generic, and the graveyard is very typical.

Railway station - yes very. Only thing out of place is the electrification, and I'm fairly certain all the lines are double track. Another thing of note, the de-railed carriages are labelled 'Western Rail' however 1984 is before the railways were privatised, so they should have been labelled British Rail. The signal box is extremely well done, very typical of the Victorian hand operated signals that we still have today (there's one about 200m from where I'm typing this!)

Colloquialisms - I spotted two ... 'Ow bist', which is 'how are you?' although it could also be 'how bist mon?' or 'a bist?'
The other was a local saying, although used in slightly the wrong context - 'There are dead birds all around the Wrekin'. The Wrekin is a large hill and landmark in north / central Shropshire. 'All around the Wrekin' is either used as a toast 'All friends around the Wrekin' or as an expression along the lines of 'going around the houses' eg. you went all round The Wrekin to get to so and so's house

Less real are the accents - it sounds a bit Archers, ie. West Country. We don't all talk like farmers here ;) Stephen's accent is probably most representative, and you'll probably find a large share of west midlands / gentle brummy accents :)

So lastly, if Yaughton was real, where would it be?

There are a few clues in the game which point towards one location or the other .....
The church is in the diocese of Stiperstones. The Stiperstones is a real place, south of Shrewsbury and there is a village of the same name with a great pub. It's not a diocese though (it does have some awesome legends attached - The Devil's Chair & Wild Edric)

The railway station timetable shows trains to Shrewsbury and Wrexham, which would place it in the northwest of the county as that's where that rail line is.

There is an observatory in Knighton (extreme southwest) and another (I think) around Pontesbury (midwest). Overall the geography points to the Shropshire hills, but I can't really narrow it down (the clues are contradictory!)

So in short, west of the county - but a toss up as to where exactly ;)

I don't know who reads these things, but if anyone has questions about Shropshire or the game I'd be happy to answer :)

[DeJaVuRick]

Finished the game on PS4, loved it. Im from Devon so I was loving the fact its set in England.
Anyway my question, is there anything new added to the pc release? like a making of or something or is it a straight port?

Thanks for ya time

[a victim of stars #legdebt]

I love reading the detailed breakdowns of how close Rapture's reconstruction of the isle's aesthetics land, especially when both TCR and local fans take pride in how much it gets right. PC Gamer's slightly tongue-in-cheek review of the accuracy of The Stars at Night is also worth a read, for anyone interested in these sorts of looks at digital captures of things distinctly grounded in reality.

If at all possible, would you be able to take some pictures of some of the trademarks of the area? Having some visual aid to go alongside your analysis could help paint a more vivid picture for those of us who've never been around Shropshire!

Also, if Misterfooks is reading, I'd love to see a post up on the official blog giving details and media, similar to the effects posts done last year.

[TROOPER181st]

Fascinating thank you !

[Doppy37]

Developer Dan Pinchbeck mentions in Ask Us Anything, part 3![www.thechineseroom.co.uk] that

"Yaughton is somewhere between Shrewsbury and Telford within a stone’s throw of the Wrekin. So it’s probably around the Rushton, Donnington area. Although obviously it’s pretty loose."

[chimera]

@DeJaVuRick - haven't played the PS4 version so couldn't tell you

@AvictimOfStars - I can give you some streetview links
Hare & Hounds in Withington[www.google.co.uk]
The church at Clive[www.google.co.uk]
The very pretty village of Upton Magna[www.google.co.uk]
Badger - another lovely village with a (rather large) duckpond[www.google.co.uk]

@Doppy 37 - that's interesting, not where I would have thought, but the opening of Wendy's story does look a lot like the wooded slopes of The Wrekin

[Hoppingdeth]

I live in a fairly small village in Buckinghamshire and the attention to detail in Rapture is great. Really loved the game. More please!!

[Narco Reus]

I live in Shrewsbury, in the middle of bloody nowhere.

It's lovely, isn't it?

[chimera]

Oh snap! I'm Shrewsbury too :)

[Adventure Annie]

This is a great background to this part of England! Thank you for taking the time. I really enjoyed "walking" around this area and wish I could do it in real life. I'm a "yank" from the Pacific NW.

[chimera]

引用自 Adventure Annie：

This is a great background to this part of England! Thank you for taking the time. I really enjoyed "walking" around this area and wish I could do it in real life. I'm a "yank" from the Pacific NW.

Hi - it's my pleasure & great to hear from you 😊 Shropshire is a truly magical place!
If you ever find yourself in this part of the world, please do give me a shout 👍

[THE VERY REVEREND MISTER BONK]

So Shropshire hasn't really been invaded by aliens? That's a let down.

[chimera]

@Mister Bonk - no aliens, just a lot of tourists this time of year 😄

[THE VERY REVEREND MISTER BONK]

引用自 chimera：

@Mister Bonk - no aliens, just a lot of tourists this time of year 😄

How can you tell the difference?

[chimera]

@Mister Bonk - fair point ........

[THE VERY REVEREND MISTER BONK]

引用自 chimera：

@Mister Bonk - fair point ........

The Archers are all pod people.