Vanishing of Ethan Carter Review

The Vanishing of Ethan Carter works in so many ways it is uncanny. Last year It was released on the Steam platform and I did not have the chance to leap into it then, which now looking back on it I am annoyed at myself now more then ever. Many elements of science fiction, 18th century horror, as well as your supernatural aspects all flow into this game. The Vanishing of Ethan Carter is a first-person story-driven mystery game that focuses entirely on exploration and discovery. You play the game as Paul Prospero, an occult-minded detective who receives a disturbing letter from Ethan Carter. Realizing the boy is in grave danger, Paul arrives at Ethan’s home of Red Creek Valley, where things turn out to be even worse than he imagined. Ethan has vanished in the wake of a brutal murder, which Paul quickly discerns might not be the only local murder worth looking into.

Puzzles play a role in Vanishing of Ethan Carter. Which overly excited me. Growing up I mused on about games like The 7th Guest. Even MYST. So Vanishing of Ethan Carter put a smile on my face. One of the first puzzles I noticed was a house called “The House of portals” You find a piece of paper describing a pact. So after placing down the paper you then solve which order the rooms go. At first left me confused until I realized the concept. Which was very clever. From that paper alone I received the plot of why this house was there. Other then just backdrop. You can recount elements of ghostly scenes within touching objects or even reviving spirits to discover what happened to cause many gruesome scenes. These alone are some of the rad elements to this game I really liked quite a bit. Then you toss in the puzzles for good measure. Such as a maze, some slider puzzle, and a few more things I will leave it up to you to discover if you decide to get the game.

There is no real combat to this game (which I have no problem with). The movement in this game a bit awkward for that anyway to merit it. Only time I would get “killed” was during the maze part. Which I assumed the dead guy was just there to interact with. Which I found out he was more hungry then talkative. Next time I will note to bring a sandwich before adventuring into a damp dark cave. I enjoyed the fact I could go at the game in my own pace, soaking in all of the story-driven elements of the game. The game itself is a bit on the short side, lasting roughly 3 hours or so if you sit there without cheating by looking online for solutions. One of the few things that were some what of a let down is how easy most of the areas were within the game. IF they do decide do another game, they need to make the puzzles a bit more challenging. Start off easing the player, then drop them on their backsides to figure out elements on their own. Pace plays a bit role into most games, and this game has a great idea going. At one point in the game I think I got to the end before I finished the rest of the game. So it said “na bro go finish that crap before you are completed”. So then I was able to backtrack through portals unlocked to me.  I went along doing every other section of the game to see the ending.  Thinking back, I used to play a game on PC, around the Windows 95 era of gaming.  This of course reminded me a bit of Amber: Journeys beyond. Where this game compares is the traveling of being able to see past events, or ghosts relay events prior to solve puzzles, or just find out events.

The controls are pretty good on the PS4 version of the game. You use R2 to run, and X or the cross button to interact with objects. You are given pretty large locations to explore. Paths to trek, and even houses to search for clues/puzzles. The game itself is almost seamless. You will feel the hiccups when you go across areas that are new. Making the game load it all in. This does not take very long, if not even past a mil-second. These are not anything to me personally that toke away from the experience. But it could for those who are hardcore into that sort of thing, I guess.

In Closing:

• The Vanishing of Ethan Carter is a compelling game, with strong story telling in its very own corner. It does suffer from some way too simple to solve puzzles. On the other end, you do have detective aspects that are your basic fetch and match. This meaning find a item place it into a spot then solve the scene.

• Vanishing of Ethan Carter is a beautiful game. With that however, sometimes you will suffer from light hip-ups in frame rates during load times moving from one spot to the other.

• The atmosphere is magical. Giving you chilling and great depth into the world you are exploring.

Overall we highly recommend picking up this game for the PS4, or PC if your rig can handle it. That is if you do not mind paying twenty bucks plus some tax depending on your neck of the woods for a three to four hour experience.

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