The Vanishing of Ethan Carter Review

The indie gaming boom has given rise to a new form of first-person genre, unaffectionately dubbed the "walking simulator". Debates about whether these titles are actually games rage in forums, but the likes of Dear Esther, Gone Home and The Stanley Parable have received success and both critical and a lot of player acclaim. The latest title that can fit into this growing (and hopefully soon to be better labelled) genre is The Vanishing of Ethan Carter from The Astronauts, who are made up of a lot of the people who made Bulletstorm and Painkiller. It's slightly different from either of those two games. It's also going to be one of those pain-in-the-arse reviews where I can't spoil anything and just have to hope you'll take my word that you should play it. Sigh.

I'll keep the story to a minimum, then. You play Paul Prospero, a detective specialising in the supernatural, called to Red Creek Valley because of a little boy named Ethan Carter. Ethan wrote Prospero a letter explaining that his family has been corrupted by a mysterious force that Ethan himself may have unleashed, and begs the detective to help him. You arrive at Red Creek and have to explore the area, examine crime scenes and strange occurrences, and try to find and save Ethan Carter. Already I feel I've said too much. The story is excellent though, and will keep you thinking long after you've finished it.

First steps. Alternatively, try going back the way you came

First off I want to clarify something for any people dreading the idea of another Dear Esther clone - while there is a lot of walking and exploring there is actual gameplay in Ethan Carter, and things to discover other than poetic narration. There are some absolutely amazing surprises in store. You know how Gone Home feels like a haunted house but nothing ever actually happens? Ethan Carter is much the same... except when... well... no, that's saying too much. Let's talk about that gameplay I mentioned instead. Suffice to say though, you'll probably leap out of your chair... or cheer, when some of these things happen.

Basically Ethan Carter is an adventure game with just a few large puzzles to solve instead of loads of little ones. These take two forms: crime scenes and stories. Stories are lots of fun and are really "anything goes", and they usually require exploring the environment and going off the beaten path to find. Once you do they usually require finding things to continue. Crime scenes are a lot more interesting in terms of gameplay, and are slightly reminiscent of Murdered: Soul Suspect. You'll find a murder and basically have to recreate the area so you can psychically see the events, then put them in the correct order to view the whole tragic ordeal. There's always at least one pain-in-the-arse hard to find object that you need but it's always fairly close by. The crime scenes are a lot of fun too.

That's little Ethan on the left

However, there is one absolutely major problem with The Vanishing of Ethan Carter and it's to do with these gameplay moments. I will admit that it's getting better through patches but right now it's still a pain. Basically while you encounter puzzle moments throughout you're never forced to do them to continue. Which normally I approve of, but in their desire not to hold the player's hand The Astronauts fail to clarify that you need to finish these moments to complete the game. Worse, the stories are actually hidden so you might actually miss them. Ethan Carter isn't circular, it's one very long path, and if you reach the very end of the game and are told you've missed something (there's no checklist as you go or anything) you'll have a very long walk back to find it. It is an absolute pain and very, very bad game design, and reaching the end of the game with a smile on your face is dependant on finding and doing everything - otherwise you'll be cursing Ethan's name.

Of course what The Astronauts mostly have advertised so far about the game are the graphics and the environment of Red Creek. Both are amazing. Based on real photos, Red Creek Valley has a grimy, natural, believable quality way better than anything you'll see in other games. It's just stunning to look at. Moreover it feels like you're exploring a real place, and The Astronauts pull just the right tricks to make it a genuinely creepy one. Birds flutter, trees creak, and the music - oh god, the music! Composer Mikolai Stroinski really knocks it out of the park, crafting an atmospheric and (even more impressively) dynamic score that flows perfectly and beautifully through every scene.

Every picture of this game is a work of art

I've already named the biggest flaw, but is there anything else I can pick at? Certainly, two things spring to mind. First off, the save system is bollocks. A game where you explore at your own pace needs to save exactly where you left it upon exiting the game, or better have a manual save system. Not an autosave that only saves at random unpredictable moments. The other niggle is that for a game that values exploration so highly it only occasionally rewards you for doing so. Venture into the wilderness and you'll either find one of the major stories or you'll find nothing at all. Would it have been asking too much to have a few more newspaper clippings scattered around guys? Just a little bit of a reward for our patience?