The Vanishing of Ethan Carter by developers The Astronauts is a marvelous game in almost every way imaginable. It truly is the sort of game that only comes around made a handful of times during ones lifetime. That being the case, this review is a diffident one to write without giving away any of the games excellent narrative. And that’s just it, the game places all its weight squarely with its narrative and how it weaves what at first seems like a convoluted story of death, demons, and childlike wonder, into something that makes perfect sense and hits you right in the solar plexus, like some proverbial battering ram.
You play as Paul Prospero, a sort of paranormal investigator who seems right at home in the spaces between reality and madness. What makes Paul special is his ability to perceive events as they happened in the past by piecing together elements of said event in the correct flow of time by the evidence left. More often than not these reenactments bring us closer to the macabre evil that has possessed a family within the small village of Red Creek Valley and the vanishing of the youngest member of said family Ethan Carter.
At its core The Vanishing of Ethan Carter is an adventure game, but unlike most games of its kind (or most games today period) the focus is on the narrative, much in the same way MYST was in the early days of CD technology. The game itself feels like MYST in a great many ways too. As Prospero, you will be dropped into Red Creek without so much as a tutorial to explain anything that is going on. You will hear brief narration from your character at certain intervals akin to classic noir films of the early black and white days of cinema, but other than that you are left with more questions than answers.
You quickly get the sense that Prospero is retelling events that have already unfolded in his life, as if dictating them for some future novel. It’s this writers mentality, coupled with his supernatural abilities that draw him to Red Creek in search of Ethan Carter as the two share some sort of bond that goes deeper than you as the player can understand. Your goal is to find out what happened to Ethan and what is causing the evil that has encompassed the village, but as you will quickly learn, not everything is as it seems with Red Creek Valley, or the Carter family.
Much like MYST, you will be able to freely explore the village of Red Creek Valley and some of its surrounding structures on your quest to find the missing boy. There is no set way to accomplish your task and you will no doubt find yourself backtracking many times to make sense of scattered clues, or sometimes just to enjoy the games beautiful scenery and wonder musical score.
Where the game differs from MYST and other classic adventure games is in its puzzles. Rarely will you encounter something that you can’t figure out without some out there type thinking. You will not find anything as obtuse as you would in traditional adventure games, (I’m looking at you MYST… And every single Sierra game ever made) instead you’ll notice that every obstacle you may encounter has a logical answer.
Touching back on the sound again, it should be noted that audio wasn’t just some afterthought with the developers. Audio cues will tip you off to whether you are on the right path, or is there is danger ahead. The voice acting from the cast of characters is also pretty good for a game like time without a massive budget. The Vanishing of Ethan Carter takes a very minimalist approach with its gameplay and relies heavily on the story and sound to draw you in.
While the game gives you no help or onscreen hud of anything kind, it still manages to deliver an engaging experience nonetheless. When you are required to interact with the world, or use your extra perceptive sense, the game will bring up words near objects for you. These are done in a handwritten font and give the illusion that you are questioning your options as opposed to the game telling you to do something that is required of you. It’s an effective way of leading the player in the proper direction without feeling like the game is shuffling you along. It’s also appreciated that even with the first-person perspective you won’t be cut of from any of the world you have already visited.
There is a segment in particular that I actively avoided completing because is frightened me so much when I first encountered it. I have played a number of horror games before, but there was something about this situation that really had me on edge thanks in part to how the narrative was playing out up until, and after, that point. For a game where you are completely defenseless and death is rare, and without punishment, to manage to scare a player is an impressive feat.
Graphically, The Vanishing of Ethan Carter is fantastic, running on the Unreal engine. Each area of the village has its own unique style and flows seamlessly into one another without any distraction. An immense amount of work has gone into creating the world alongside the strong narrative.
All this being said the game isn’t perfect. You’ll run into the occasional bug here and there as well as some clipping issues and texture pop it. While these things do happen, your mileage with them may differ. I found myself once spawned inside a mine cart that I hadn’t moved after a cutscene finished playing out. Nothing so bad as requiring me to load a save (there aren’t any traditional saves, only specific segment where the game saves for you), but still there. It must be noted that the developers have been releasing patches even on a day after release to fix small glitches, so it’s safe to assume that many of the things I encounter will be fixed in the near future.
The Vanishing of Ethan Carter isn’t a long game by any means. Clearly the limitations of a small development team weighed heavily, but what The Astronauts have managed to craft is something truly special. There is no multiplayer here, no tricks or gimmicks, no season pass of any kind to be forced on us. What you are left with is a game that you will only need to play once, quite possibly in a single sitting as I did (the game clocks in at about 4-6 hours depending on your pace), but one that will last with you longer than most AAA games can ever hope too. This isn;t a game created by a comettie, or a focus group, instead it’s made for a distinct audience and because of that it works incredibly well. It’s yet to be seen how we will remember The Vanishing of Ethan Carter in a few years time, but what I do know is that I will recommend it without any hesitation when people ask me about some of my favorite games of this year.
Here is to hoping that what The Astronauts have planned next builds on the fantastic thing they have done with The Vanishing of Ethan Carter.
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