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.