Vanishing of Ethan Carter

[Ross Scott]

Genre: Adventure

Year released: 2014

Ross's rating: Unrated

Link to game:

https://af.gog.com/game/the_vanishing_of_ethan_carter

Free to play: No

GaaS: No

This is a blog post. To read the original post, please click here »

[Morrinn]

Absolutely gorgeous, right up until you encounter human characters, then it's a quick dip into uncanny valley. Thankfully it's mostly still images and don't detract from the beautiful scenery, which again... Breathtakingly well done. The story is also quite interesting, and leaves you pondering the meaning without spoon feeding it to you or leaving you completely suspended.

There are a handful of puzzles, but none are particularly challenging with the core drive being more about exploration and atmosphere. If you don't like "walking sims", you won't enjoy this one.

Otherwise, it's a strong recommendation from me.

[Bluephilosopher]

This game isn't bad. However you can finish it in less than an hour. I would have to say the worst part is the plot twist that sort of defeats the entire point of both the story and game.

[MadmanEpic]

I'd say this one is worth it on sale. It's easily one of the best looking games I've ever played, and the investigation aspect is fun, but they're right about how short it is.

[quincy3656]

Like others have said, get it on sale and its a fun little hour or two.

[TheMG42]

Right off the bat, this is one of the most beautiful games I've played in quite a while. You can easily get some beautiful desktop wallpapers from this game. I was running this game on the Xbox One and had no issues with the frame rate or graphics quality of the environment, so thumbs up all around here.

 

I wish I could say the same thing about the character models, though. They're decidedly "last-gen" in terms of graphics quality and it creates a rather eerie effect in contrast to the beautiful scenery.

 

Like most other comments on here, yes, the game is quite short. Even if you're achievement hunting, you can finish it in about 2 hours. To me, that's fine. The game still accomplishes what it set out to do anyway.

 

I respect that the game doesn't hold your hand through it all and there's no invasive HUD elements that pull me out of the immersion.

 

I'm not quite sure how to feel about the ending; it left me wondering what the story was about and how it all ties together. Perhaps another play through and/or some more research on the game is needed.

 

Overall, I'd give it a rating of Good/Great.

 

[Rezalon]

Played this just tonight. Bought this game for $3.50 on sale. Not even the visuals are worth the price, nor could they save this game, unfortunately. The views would be great if not for the miserable weather and poor lighting making everything bleak and the colours washed out. And, yeah, the story goes in bad directions which makes me feel like I've completely wasted my time and money on this, I hesitiate to call, game.

[blabberblah]

I had a great time with it for the most part, but the ending was such worthless trash that it ruined the whole thing. 

If you want awesome visuals, play it, but don't expect a good resolution to the story.  It has the most cliched possible ending for a story of this type.

[Samurai Snake]

Amazing wallpaper generator. As a game with a story - disappointing, short and "subversive" in cheap way walking simulator that leaves a bad taste in your mouth. Best played in autumn or summer, for full immersion.