The Vanishing of Ethan Carter

[Skybird]

Anyone knowing it, having played it? I picke dit up for 11 Euros at Steam yesterday, and spend the past hour playing it, in the middle of the night, in a dark room, lonely, isolated...

Visually, an eye-opener, hands down the most beautifully drawn world I have ever seen in any game.

Mood and atmosphere: intense would be an understatement, I LOVE it. I had shivers from the gothic atmosphere and setting, and goose pimples at times. Not much has happened, and maybe will not happen, I do not know. But the atmosphere, the scenes like from a melancholic Bradburyan description, sounds and music that automatically adapt and is very well done - it all combines into a piece of arts.

Heck, this is mystery of Twin Peaks and atmosphere from Stalker - packed together and put on steroids.

The game mechanisms are simple, and not much things are to be done. The game lives by the thoughts it invokes in the mind of the player, and beside the visual beauty it lives by the mood and atmosphere it visually provokes inside the player'S mind. If you expect hectic action, you look in the wrong place, and if you want to live a virtual life, look somewhere else. The world is beautiful, but allows only minor interaction. So, the ordinary computer gaming routines you will look for in vein. I cannot reiterate this oftehn enough, this game lives by the intense atmosphere, and doe snot need superficial shock effects. I wealked thorugh a forest, and just the soft, mild ayrkenign of light and colkpours was enough to erect the hairs in my neck and on my arms. A strange noise, some animal calling, maybe, had me alarmed like I did not feel like in a movie or computer game since YEARS.

And the rtisk of repeating myself, visually this game sets standards. On the web, there are severla srticles that describe the new tehcnolgies used to create the game world and to texture it. The textures are laser-sharp and give the whole look an almost overwhelming photorealistic impression. I know no game to which I could compare this beauty. Breathtaking.

There are three possible negative points from this otherwise outstanding (so far) gaming experience.

First, fixed saving points. You cannot stop playing when you want to stop, you would lose all progress since the last save game point. UNFORGIVABLE.

Second, I read that one chapter plays long, with little changes, and somewhat repetitive, its the Mine. I have not reache dit yet, so I am yet forming an opinion on that.

And third, the game is relatively short. Top players are said to race through it in 4 hours. Well, for 11 euros, I do not care due to the intense experience I get form this game, and this stunnign beauty. It is like Bradbury, Lovecraft, Poe, Chandler and then some more of the like being thrown all into one story. 11 Euros, that is one movie ticket, almost. The movie last 2 hours, the game I will spend more thna just 4 hours with, fior I play it slowly and enjoy every single second and view in it. Seen that way, the current steam Sale price is okay.

In case you play this, DO NOT RUSH things. Do yourself a favour, and enjoy this. It gave me gentle joyful creeps like I have not had since I was a boy reading some adventure novel. Play it at night, alone, in a dark room. Enjoy it, take your time - and resist the temptation to run a screengrabber: after one hour you will have dozens if not hundreds of shots taken. You are supposed to be a detective with a seventh sense, not some freaking paparazzi !

Biggest game surprise of the year to me. Highly recommended, despite the minor criticism.

P.S. The audience gave this title an extremely warm welcome. Being a small Indy studio only, The Astronauts released very pleasant sales numbers: 60 thousand copies sold in the first month October alone. I think they got my money well-deserved.

[Skybird]

P.S. Resist the temptation to watch one of those many reviews on youtube, or lets-plays. What those many people bbabling and joking and making a show do not realise is that with their crap-talking, with their mere talking alone, the spoil and obliterate the experience.

Don't do this to yourself.

[Skybird]

A piece on the revolutionary graphics system they use - pretty much advanced, I would say. Its called photogrammetry.

http://www.theastronauts.com/2014/03...-ethan-carter/

Watch that slideshow on how "photogrammetry" works, and be amazed.

And some clickable screenshots of high quality:

http://www.theastronauts.com/2013/09...e-screenshots/

I have played another 3 hgours now, logging 4 in total and this night will enter the final third of the game. So that makes an expected total gameplay of around 6 hours for me, playing leaned back and slow. To me I got full return for my money already.

I compare it to a good book I bought and really enjoyed to follow its narration. Tonight, after having done a detective's work to recreate the events of the past in his imagination, I will be richer by one experience.

Some things could have been done better, yes, in complexity, and game mechanisms. However, what ther eis works so well that it more than just makes up for it. And the overall impression is that of a well composed, round package that was put together with care, and quite well.

Will replay it in some months, if only to walk in those woods again.

The studio is formed by 8 people only. They sit in Warsaw.

[Skybird]

Finished it yesterday night, for a totla of around 8 game hours. One can play it is less time, but I wonder what that should be a goal to strive for.

At haltftime, when intiial stunnign surprise of what you actually found yourself in has calmed down, it becomes all a bit more game-like and less the unique experience that it started as. That is no criticism, you just cannot hold the intial moments of being stunned for all the game, until it ends. Still, it always holds its ground, and the gameplay elements by which the playxer interacts with the environment and the story-telling, remain intuitive, and well-embedded, not to break immersion.

The sometimes criticised chapter in the mines, actually are two chapters. The first is okay, the second indeed a bit annoying, you have to run a little maze and slender man is going after you, screaming, if he catches you, you must start the maze new. I did not like that passage to much indeed. But that is the only criticism I could voice about this game.

A very good narration told in a both moving and visually appealing fashion, with some original gameplay elements. Its true what some critic said: this game sticks on your mind for long time after you finished it. More of this, please!


Edit: P.S.

Still sticks on my mind, one day later. One point I have not mentioned: that is the highly original, though tragic, ending of the game's story, and the solution of it all. I do not give any spoilers here, but I promise you that your playing world - within the game - will turn upside down.

A poet's story script. Creativity meets imagination.

[Skybird]

Back to this cold case...

After they had released a remake of the game already last year's autumn in an effort to make the game fit for back-then imminent release on PS4 - on PC named Ethan Carter Redux - , which included the replacement of the game's Unreal3-engine for the more modern Unreal4 engine, and also included many game fixes and changes as well as implementing a new save game-system, they also now have released a VR-update, enabling players to enjoy the most beautifully created game world of Ethan Carter in true 3D.

I envy those who are able to enjoy the experience that way, while I cannot. The visuals must be absolutely stunning, no doubt. If you are searching for games capable to help you justifying to have invested that lots of money into your new VR headset, take Ethan Carter into account. After two years since I played, the game now still is on my mind, and like good vine it has become better, and even more mature than I already thought almost two years ago it was. I hold it now in good, precious memory - like only a very few very good and precious books, and a small handful of good movies I know. In VR-3D, it must be breathtaking.

I stick to it: one of the most adult and beautiful game experiences I ever experienced. One of the very best ever.

[AVGWarhawk]

I have played this game. Visually excellent. Storyline is good. I imaging 3D it would be quite something to play.

[Eichhörnchen]

Interesting... I love games with such an atmospheric environment; I can get it on disc from Ebay but I'd need to determine whether it requires internet activation.

[Skybird]

The game needs Steam even when installing from DVD.

Note that the VR pack is an additional DLC one needs to buy, I should have said that earlier.

The Redux pack however comes for free wioth the original, and is available via Steam under game downloads. One does not need to download and install both original and Redux version, Redux alone is sufficient.

Exact procedure for VR I do not know, I do not have a VR headset.

[Eichhörnchen]

Everything needs Steam these days; I'm a Steam Grumbler, I'm afraid

[AVGWarhawk]

I like Steam. Just a nice platform to download games. Get updates. See upcoming games.

[Skybird]

Plus you never own stuff you "bought". You cannot sell it second hand. You cannot inherit it. You are exposed to a centralised external power that can decide by the press of a button to free you from the burden to have this or that game. And it can force-feed broken updates on you (like Windows 10...), like Fallout players currently once again experience...

I hate Steam. Its just almost impossible to avoid it, if you do not want to quite gaming. I prefer to actually own stuff I paid for, and I like to have the ultimate control on updating (or not).

If you read tech blogs, you can see that all this has become a tremendous problem with Windows 10 enforced updating. Wherever I look - the vast majority of system admins hate it. Especially the amount of overtime they need to work in order to find improvised, time-intensive workaround for the many things broken and things it breaks with every new update.

No, I do not like DRM, and external software and system control one bit.

Steam sounds comfortable. But it is not essential. Not at all. And it has reduced consumers' options and consumers rights. That people celebrate this, just illustrates how mad modern world has become.

[Eichhörnchen]

I agree with all of that, but then I thoroughly enjoy retro gaming, with my large collection of discs which are mine to enjoy any time I like (unless of course there's a power cut) and with no waiting for download or fear of automatic updates

[Skybird]

Originally Posted by Eichhörnchen

I agree with all of that, but then I thoroughly enjoy retro gaming, with my large collection of discs which are mine to enjoy any time I like (unless of course there's a power cut) and with no waiting for download or fear of automatic updates

Enjoy while you can. Sooner or later the hardware generation and OS to run them will no longer be there.

Thats me, always a fountain of optimism and bright outlooks.

[Platapus]

I have been playing this game for over three hours. I give this game a 5/10 which is "meh" in my book. I downloaded the "redux" version.

I was excited about an exploration mystery solving game. These types of games are right up my alley. Since it was only $20.00, it was within my pain threshold for trying a new game.

The following are my impressions. I won't be giving away any spoilers though.

After starting a new game, this being an exploration game, I immediately stepped off the main path. One does not explore until one steps off the path.

My first disappointment was that there was a lack of exploration tools. There is no map and no HUD compass. This makes the systematic exploration that I like to do difficult. Fortunately, or unfortunately, it is not exactly an open world and your ability to explore is rather limited to a wide swath following the main path. Rock formations and cliffs limit your exploration, but there are many terrain dead ends to waste your time exploring and finding nothing.. almost nothing. Other than finding three traps and a mysterious astronaut (the latter I expect is an Easter egg), there was not much to see. After three hours of play I still don't know what those traps were about and frankly lack the interest to travel back to the starting area to find out.

So in the more traditional definition of exploration, this game is rather limited. If exploration is defined as wandering around confused hoping to stumble across an annotation on the screen, then you will be doing a lot of exploration. and a lot of backtracking without the assistance of a map or compass.

The game prides itself on not holding your hand which is refreshing, but in going to the other extreme, it quickly turns frustrating.

The game consists of a series of puzzles that all follow the same pattern.

1. Find clues
2. Rebuild the "crime" scene or "fix" as the game calls it
3. Logically reconstruct the proper order of 5-6 tableau depicting the crime scene.

Which is great except for some notable gaps in the game design.

1. You don't know what you are looking for until you stumble across some object that as a glowing annotation on it. Because the player is totally in the dark about the overall plot, it is a walk around until you trip over something.

2. Your character is some sort of psychic. when examining some of the glowing annotations, words or symbols (?) appear multiple times in front of you in a swirling pattern. It took me far too long to accidentally discover that if you move your viewpoint around the dispersion of the words changes. In the computer version of "getting warmer" the objective is to change your viewpoint until all the words merge into one word and then you are instructed to left click and hold. I did not get any documentation when downloading this from Steam nor did the game give any instructions, but I wasted a lot of time wondering what to do with the swirling words.

There are some YouTube walk-throughs, that probably demonstrated this but I did not want to spoil the exploration aspect.

I assume that the concept of the game is that you start out confused and the more of these puzzle stages you solve the more information you will learn. If so, they are not doing it well. To me the game is more frustrating than challenging. Most of the time I found myself wandering around completely lost geographically and plot wise.

One of the downsides of being an explorer is that you run the real risk of finding the next area before completing the puzzles in the current area. There is no indication that you have cleared a specific area other than the assumption that there is only one puzzle set per area.

It is very hard to program puzzles that are challenging but not frustrating. This is what makes this type of game hard to program. The puzzles are not too bad but what is lacking are the transitions. Something that tells you that you are done with this area and that you need to proceed down the path to the next area.

There was one area that takes place in a mine. Since there is no map nor compass, the only way I can explore this is to set up a pattern where I turn the same way at each intersection. In wandering through this mine, I find myself at the end of a very long straight portion. Down I go. I am walking as I don't know what I should be looking for. After walking for far too long, I come to the end of the mine and into an open area.

Should I continue or do I need to go back into the mine and continue exploring? The game gives you no hint. So back into the mine I go and low and behold there is another big area with a combination lock puzzle that is easy but time consuming to solve. Upon solving the puzzle a whole bunch of stuff happens that probably explains a lot but you the player still have no clue what it means. So it is back to the very long straight path and out of the mine.

There you are confronted with another puzzle set following the same pattern as before. Search for clues, restore the scene, put the Tableau in the proper order and you find out pretty much nothing.

At least this time you are directed to go into another building where you are instructed, via annotation that you need to turn this wheel. Why? dunno, and frankly by this time I did not care. This is where I stopped. You can't manually save the game so I assume that the game auto saved at some point. What that point is, may never be found out.

By this point, I really did not care about the overall plot, did not care about Ethan or his family. I decided that my evening would be better spent firing up Civ 5.

I have to confess that I have a preconception about video games. To me they need to be fun and enjoyable. They should not be frustrating and boring.

But when I play a game, I want to have fun and I want enjoyment. If I wanted to work at solving frustrating problems, I would go to work where at least I get paid to solve frustrating problems.

Unfortunately, that was my impression of this game. I spent my time being geographically lost and having to back track many many times. Fortunately, the exploration is so limited that you really can't get that lost. And I was lost concerning the plot. Perhaps there are some people who like the "suddenly plopped down in a circumstance not knowing anything and slowly discovering the plot". I am not one of those people. I don't want my hand held, but I do want to know approximately what I should be doing.

Due to real life, I don't have a lot of time for game playing these days. I am sure I am not the only one in this situation. So when I do get a chance to play a game, I want it to be fun, challenging, and entertaining. Frustration does not equal fun and entertaining.

On the good side however, the graphics are some of the best I have ever seen. Due to the many cliffs, there are ample scenic lookouts that are well worth pausing and looking at the vistas.

The puzzles, themselves are well designed. Once I learned the viewpoint swirly text schema, they were straight forward and logical to solve. The problem was that there were no transitions and no real feeling that you were filling in the holes of the plot. After each puzzle set, there was no real feeling of accomplishment other than solving that specific puzzle set.

For being a game that advertised it self as an exploration game, there was very little what I think of exploring. I am used to games like Oblivion and Skyrim where you can do real exploring off the roads and find stuff. This game is rather linear. Stay on the main path and you will be just fine (I still don't know what those three traps at the start mean).

Being so linear, I feel that the re-playability will be nill. I may power it up again to see where it auto saved. Even if it did not auto save, I would imagine it would take me about 30 minutes to get back to the same point that took me over three hours to get to... and I would still be lost plot wise.

So if you can handle being confused about the plot and you keep in mind that each area has one puzzle set and you learn from me about the swirling words thingy, This would be a good game and well worth the $20.00. If you are like me, however, and don't like confusions and frustrations in your gaming experience, this game will be.. uh.. well...confusing and frustrating.

[Skybird]

Originally Posted by Platapus

I have been playing this game for over three hours.

Did you actually finish it? And understood the ending for sure? When it was released, I had to explain the ending repeateldy to some people in another forum, so I am going with experience when asking you. - Also, I would strongly recommend to NOT rush in this game, but to enjoy it, taking your time. I'm sorry to hear that apparently you did not so much enjoy it.

After starting a new game, this being an exploration game, I immediately stepped off the main path. One does not explore until one steps off the path.

My first disappointment was that there was a lack of exploration tools. There is no map and no HUD compass. This makes the systematic exploration that I like to do difficult. Fortunately, or unfortunately, it is not exactly an open world and your ability to explore is rather limited to a wide swath following the main path. Rock formations and cliffs limit your exploration, but there are many terrain dead ends to waste your time exploring and finding nothing.. almost nothing. Other than finding three traps and a mysterious astronaut (the latter I expect is an Easter egg), there was not much to see. After three hours of play I still don't know what those traps were about and frankly lack the interest to travel back to the starting area to find out.

Again my question, just for the sake of completeness - have you finsihed and indeed "solved" the game? That is important. The story can and should not be measured by means of other, ordinary games like this. The style of the gameplay is explained by what the story indeed is.

So in the more traditional definition of exploration, this game is rather limited. If exploration is defined as wandering around confused hoping to stumble across an annotation on the screen, then you will be doing a lot of exploration. and a lot of backtracking without the assistance of a map or compass.

The game prides itself on not holding your hand which is refreshing, but in going to the other extreme, it quickly turns frustrating.

"You know what ghosts are? They are sad, evicted things. Memories without homes."

1. You don't know what you are looking for until you stumble across some object that as a glowing annotation on it. Because the player is totally in the dark about the overall plot, it is a walk around until you trip over something.

Which sooner or later happens, necessarily - due to the limited walking area that you complained about.

2. Your character is some sort of psychic. when examining some of the glowing annotations, words or symbols (?) appear multiple times in front of you in a swirling pattern. It took me far too long to accidentally discover that if you move your viewpoint around the dispersion of the words changes. In the computer version of "getting warmer" the objective is to change your viewpoint until all the words merge into one word and then you are instructed to left click and hold. I did not get any documentation when downloading this from Steam nor did the game give any instructions, but I wasted a lot of time wondering what to do with the swirling words.

That is odd, since I did not find it difficult to find out. Yes, I needed to move the mouse around, but then i quickly saw that the dance of the words changed - and led me to what matters.

I assume that the concept of the game is that you start out confused and the more of these puzzle stages you solve the more information you will learn. If so, they are not doing it well. To me the game is more frustrating than challenging. Most of the time I found myself wandering around completely lost geographically and plot wise.

The plot turns upside down in the end. And it is in no way meant to compare to the gameplay usually found in games like this.

One of the downsides of being an explorer is that you run the real risk of finding the next area before completing the puzzles in the current area. There is no indication that you have cleared a specific area other than the assumption that there is only one puzzle set per area.

The puzzles signal their completeness by the parts of the visionary picture falling together and forming one complete scene. Then you know that you are done here, because the reslting little scedne else does not get played. This scene leads to the next destination.
But it may do so not by holding up a sign with an arrow on it.

There was one area that takes place in a mine. Since there is no map nor compass, the only way I can explore this is to set up a pattern where I turn the same way at each intersection. In wandering through this mine, I find myself at the end of a very long straight portion. Down I go. I am walking as I don't know what I should be looking for. After walking for far too long, I come to the end of the mine and into an open area.

Should I continue or do I need to go back into the mine and continue exploring? The game gives you no hint. So back into the mine I go and low and behold there is another big area with a combination lock puzzle that is easy but time consuming to solve. Upon solving the puzzle a whole bunch of stuff happens that probably explains a lot but you the player still have no clue what it means. So it is back to the very long straight path and out of the mine.

The mine chapter indeed is the weakest part of the game, and has collected quite some critical comments, me also does not like it that much, scarejumps and all that. However, it is do-able.

The game opens with telling oyu that it does not take you by your hand, a manual indeed is not needed, really, and it is not different in the mine. Thre story is complex becasue there is a very drmaatic twist in it in the end, but if you dive into it for sure, live it like you live the scenes described in a novel you read, then it opens aup and reveals itself to you. It works. But I think that maybe you simply were a wriong audience for this game. That is not meant to be perosnal against you - I just mean it as what it is. Some people like the way the driving is in rF2. I think its awfully bad in what the demos offer. So it goes. Different strokes for different folks.

There you are confronted with another puzzle set following the same pattern as before. Search for clues, restore the scene, put the Tableau in the proper order and you find out pretty much nothing.

That is not true this way, but can be only understood maybe if one knows the whole story. That boy Ethan had an imagination very much alive...

At least this time you are directed to go into another building where you are instructed, via annotation that you need to turn this wheel. Why? dunno, and frankly by this time I did not care. This is where I stopped. You can't manually save the game so I assume that the game auto saved at some point. What that point is, may never be found out.

There are autosave points indeed. The setting and story explains, you can conclude on the explanation, what the wheel is for.

By this point, I really did not care about the overall plot, did not care about Ethan or his family. I decided that my evening would be better spent firing up Civ 5.

I have to confess that I have a preconception about video games. To me they need to be fun and enjoyable. They should not be frustrating and boring.

But when I play a game, I want to have fun and I want enjoyment. If I wanted to work at solving frustrating problems, I would go to work where at least I get paid to solve frustrating problems.

That is m ost likely the explanation why you do not liem this game, because it is not like any other game. As I said earlier - do not rush through it, do not take its content as the tool to get you from here to there. Its really is more like a petic experince as if reaidng a tocuhing poem, or a novel, and I do not mean action-packe novels. Its the meditation of a movie by Andrej Tarkowski meeting the underlying melancholy of a Ray Bradbury story, it is style elements of Poe and Lovecraft, it is the weirdness of Blair Witch Project and The Sixth Sense. And beleive me, since I played it through and solved and was shalen bgy the story - it all is very logical and straight in the end. You see, usually I hate puzzle games. Not this one.

Unfortunately, that was my impression of this game. I spent my time being geographically lost and having to back track many many times. Fortunately, the exploration is so limited that you really can't get that lost. And I was lost concerning the plot. Perhaps there are some people who like the "suddenly plopped down in a circumstance not knowing anything and slowly discovering the plot". I am not one of those people. I don't want my hand held, but I do want to know approximately what I should be doing.

"You know what ghosts are?" . . .

Due to real life, I don't have a lot of time for game playing these days. I am sure I am not the only one in this situation. So when I do get a chance to play a game, I want it to be fun, challenging, and entertaining. Frustration does not equal fun and entertaining.

I'm sorry you lost time and money, sicne I advertised this game so much, but I must really say that maybe it is not so much becasue the game does nto work in pricnpe,l but becasue it found a player in you whose demands for a game simply did not met it. If you wish, i could resolve the game for you, maybe you see it all a bit different if you know the ending and what it all is about.

On the good side however, the graphics are some of the best I have ever seen. Due to the many cliffs, there are ample scenic lookouts that are well worth pausing and looking at the vistas.

Indeed, this is part of what I said about "take your time", metaphorically breathing the mood and atmosphere.

For being a game that advertised it self as an exploration game, there was very little what I think of exploring. I am used to games like Oblivion and Skyrim where you can do real exploring off the roads and find stuff.

Indeed, it cannot be compared to open sandbox games like Bethesda games (which i also absolutely love). It is a smaller world, and gameplay time is short, if you rush: 4 hours, I enjoyed the experienced and made it in 7-8 hours. Some accept the storyline trading quality for short playtime, others do not. Well, that is taste.

This game is rather linear. Stay on the main path and you will be just fine (I still don't know what those three traps at the start mean).

Its more traps, four or five. And that boy Ethan had a lot of imagination.

Being so linear, I feel that the re-playability will be nill. I may power it up again to see where it auto saved. Even if it did not auto save, I would imagine it would take me about 30 minutes to get back to the same point that took me over three hours to get to... and I would still be lost plot wise.

Replayxability is almost nill, yes. With stories like this, it is like with The Sixth Sense. When you know the point, you see no need to ever watch that movie again, for knowing the point spoils it, the movie does not function anymore. The point in this story of Ethan carter however struck me deep in the heart. And sometimes I still think of it.

So if you can handle being confused about the plot and you keep in mind that each area has one puzzle set and you learn from me about the swirling words thingy, This would be a good game and well worth the $20.00. If you are like me, however, and don't like confusions and frustrations in your gaming experience, this game will be.. uh.. well...confusing and frustrating.

Best advise is you never try to play "Dear Esther". That one got even me turning into a skeleton due to boredom. I like a good story being told - but here it went terribly wrong, imo.

I am curious however about a game that got high praise on PS4, the PC version seems to be technically bogged down a bit, but maybe it got patched meanwhile: "Everybody's gone to the rapture". But I assume that also is not for you.

BTW, there also still is "The Hunter". LOL