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No new postsThe Vanishing of Ethan Carter
Great, beautiful game!
Atmosphere is perfect
Some screenshots in my gallery
https://www.flickr.com/photos/doktor1/sets/72157648032391552/
First thing’s first: this game is goooooooorgeous if you can run it on the highest settings. They impeccably recreate a huge swatch of countryside which feels like a real, lived in place. You can stand on the edge of a cliff near the beginning of the game and see a small set of houses far off in the distance on the other side of massive river and then run there seamlessly in just a few minutes. It’s a perfectly realized world.
Unfortunately, there’s very, very little to actually do in this world. It’s not an exaggeration to say you can go 20 minutes or more wandering through the landscape without finding a single point of interaction. They put great efforts into making sure it’s not just linear and artificial paths you’re always marching down but that’s at the expense of having to add in tons and tons of filler land; you can trek down what you think is some off-beaten path hoping to find something interesting only to find yourself aimlessly circling around a field of dead trees and rocks which is devoid of anything interactive. As you get further along and begin to learn the lay of the land, you then have to deal with the problem of having to spend minutes backtracking across the expansive area. “Well, I have to go back to the train so that means I have to run down this mountainside path, remember which fork in the road to take, past the houses, across the bridge, take the path around the caved in area…” It gets absolutely exhausting running back and forth, especially when you get stuck and just have to continually comb these areas over looking for the equivalent of hotspots.
The game opens with a message telling you that they won’t be holding your hand at all through the experience which seems to be them basically saying “if you find the game boring or confusing, that’s your problem because we made it to be that way.” I guess I can’t really complain about the game being boring and confusing then. It was an artistic choice.
Actually you dont need backtracking at all,when you inspect an object with “?”
find focus on tag and hold,shows you the direction and place of object then you can follow storyline easily.
“Going on means going far - Going far means returning”
Actually you dont need backtracking at all,when you inspect an object with “?”
find focus on tag and hold,shows you the direction and place of object then you can follow storyline easily.
Thank you! It’s stuff like this which makes me wish they would’ve offered a teensy bit of hand holding.
Thanks, Gabe and Stheo, but nothing I do seems to make any difference. 
Butter my buns and call me a biscuit! - Agent A
Thanks, Gabe and Stheo, but nothing I do seems to make any difference.
What are your computer specs? The game uses Unreal Engine 3, and while it’s getting old now it’s still very demanding compared to an average adventure game. If you are using something like Intel HD graphics it will never run well even on the lowest settings.
Wow, can’t believe the mixed feelings about it:
+ “Loved it. Stunningly beautiful, visual fidelity easily holds its own against any recent AAA title. Combined with the diverse atmospheric soundtrack, this game is the most immersive gaming experience of the decade.
Gameplay is similar to something like ‘Gone Home’, only more creative in its challenges. Some really unique mind bending puzzles here and voice acting is top notch all round.”
- “And here’s my review of it - 4/10, epic screenshot material and not much else. It’s an unabashed walking sim but while Dear Esther understood it was a walking sim and not a game proper, Ethan tries to do some rudimentary puzzles that range from boring to infuriating and feel out of place”
+ “A beautiful, poignant, yet somber game wrapped up in a short but bitterly sweet story.
The game at heart is about exploration, puzzle solving, and a short but memorable storyline. You are free to explore the world however you wish from the start. The goal of finding stories or solving murders as you come across them. How and in what order you do this is entirely up to you as you roam around the landscape. There is absolutely no hand holding in this game and that makes it all the better as you figure it out on your own accord.”
- “It’s pretty nice, but a bit disappointing for a game that pretends not to hold your hand. Like any other game of this type in which you have to do detective work, there’s absolutely no way to actually figure out what happened on a crime scene by yourself.
Sadly this game will last only about four hours, does hold your hand, and has no real replayability value; it’s actually rather generic.
I would call it a walking simulator with exceptional graphics.”
+ “Ignore those that call this a walking simulator, without any gameplay. They clearly missed the warning at the start. This is a game along the lines of Myst, with puzzles often so hidden that you can miss them, despite the abundance of clues. It’s graphically incredible. I stood at various places, slowly panning around the environment just to take it all in. This is how detective games should be.”
- “Nice premise, nice visuals, but the game completely lacks direction or logic. You are supposed to be a living breathing human detective, who sets out to find a missing boy named Ethan (as explained in prequel comic); but:
1. you arrive to the middle of nowhere ON FOOT, through long abandoned train tunnel, which of you go through backwards leads you to the same area as you entered it in
2. you can survive fall from a cliff
I went in expecting strictly atmospheric investigation game with some paranormal, and even if game somewhat started as that, it was rather quickly broken by jump scare undead (zombie?) attack in the mine.
Another fault of the game is that it is essentially walking simulator, with trying to find object you can interact with.
The Vanishing of Ethan Carter had potential, but it went down the drain”
Recently finished: Four Last Things 4/5, Edna & Harvey: The Breakout 5/5, Chains of Satinav 3,95/5, A Vampyre Story 88, Sam Peters 3/5, Broken Sword 1 4,5/5, Broken Sword 2 4,3/5, Broken Sword 3 85, Broken Sword 5 81, Gray Matter 4/5\nCurrently playing: Broken Sword 4, Keepsake (Let\‘s Play), Callahan\‘s Crosstime Saloon (post-Community Playthrough)\nLooking forward to: A Playwright’s Tale
I went in expecting strictly atmospheric investigation game with some paranormal, and even if game somewhat started as that, it was rather quickly broken by jump scare undead (zombie?) attack in the mine.
What’s the point of collecting other players mixed feelings(from other forums) if you dont have own thoughts and give away spoilers,guess you dont play the game yet but want to discuss it in a worst possible way.But use spoiler tags and dont ruin the experience for who’s gonna play or still playing.
“Going on means going far - Going far means returning”
That ending… This will stir up some controversy I think. I’m not exactly angry about it because I enjoyed the ride leading up to it too much, but there is certainly something distinctly dissatisfying about it. Just when you think you’ll finally get to the bottom of things, the game pulls out a Shyamalanesque twist instead, and making sense of the ending requires you to toss out a big part of the preceding plot.
I’m actually quite pleased with the gameplay. While not exactly hard, you do need to think and look around and it really feels like you’re doing something, a far cry from a walking simulator in my book. And I will remember the great puzzle at the “wizard’s house” for a long time.
What I’m really disappointed at is that the promised open nature of the investigation didn’t materialize. There really is just one main path. You can ignore things on it for a while and you need to deviate from it at times to see everything, but you then need to come back to it to advance further. I don’t feel it’s true that you are meant to see the big things in your own order. Especially glaring was that at one point finishing a reconstruction put me on the other side of a locked door, which could only be unlocked from that other side.
The golden age of mathematics - that was not the age of Euclid, it is ours. -Cassius Jackson Keyser
If you are using something like Intel HD graphics it will never run well even on the lowest settings.
Aha. Well, that does it. I’m going to play the game on someone else’s computer.
Butter my buns and call me a biscuit! - Agent A
Game doesn’t cut it for me. I don’t care how gorgeous it looks, it’s as dull as dishwater. Some of the writing is pretty atrocious too.
Makes me want to go replay Murdered Soul Suspect again, a 3D adventure that whilst not brilliant by any mean, actually kept me halfway interested in its story.
1.5 out of 5 for me.
Ouch…that’s a shame.
Recently completed: Game of Thrones (decent), Tales from the borderlands (great!), Life is Strange (great!), Stasis (good), Annas Quest (great!); Broken Age (poor)
One of the best non-linear gaming experience since myst series era and Lovecraft inspired adaptation on interactive media,finally an ag you wont easily forget.
“Going on means going far - Going far means returning”
My mac has Intel Iris graphics, 8gb memory, and 2.8 Ghz processor. I’m running it on the lowest settings but its still very playable 
Runs smooth on those settings and looks alright still. Games through Parallels desktop never run as smooth as they would do on a mac port. I will probably buy the game for PS4 as well at some point.
I’ve been enjoying it so far. Some areas are quite unsettling and i’m not a fan of actually playing horror games. I love horror but i’m too much of a pussy to play them myself. Luckily so far it’s just been creepy… then I got to one particularly scary section and had the biggest jump scare of my life. I turned the game off immediately hahaha If you guys know which section i’m talking about without spoiling, will I need to go back there? Because I don’t want to
I guess the only gripes I have with the game is just not wanting to miss anything important. I’m a big completionist so i’m forever circling areas to make sure i’ve found everything. Also, so far i’ve found no map and it would be so much better if I could just use a map to quickly get from A to B instead of constantly backtracking.
Hopefully I pick up the courage to play again tomorrow after the jump scare lol It’s good! I recommend it.
One of the best non-linear gaming experience since myst series era and Lovecraft inspired adaptation on interactive media,finally an ag you wont easily forget.
hmm..I wasn’t a big fan of Myst. Found the lack direction boring. Do you think I’d be okay with this?
Recently completed: Game of Thrones (decent), Tales from the borderlands (great!), Life is Strange (great!), Stasis (good), Annas Quest (great!); Broken Age (poor)
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