The Vanishing of Ethan Carter Review

The Vanishing of Ethan Carter is an interesting lesson in videogame structure. Which is something we take for granted purely because developers are, by this point in the industry’s growth, comfortable with how to provide a decent structure for their game. Ethan Carter toys with traditional pacing and structure, making the player think in different ways. Honestly, it’s not the most successful venture from start-up indie dev The Astronauts, but it certainly makes an impact and left me thinking long after the relatively short playtime. This is an experiment, not only in structure, but the overall methods of delivering narrative in a videogame.

Really though, it’s the game’s visuals that make it something worth picking up initially. This is simply one of the most beautiful games I’ve ever seen. The Unreal Engine 3 is put to the test in its final days to deliver a landscape, titled Red Valley Creek, that doesn’t really have an equal in this industry. There’s a tangible vibrancy to the place, something that makes it all hauntingly realistic. Lighting merges expertly with animation to create a feeling of life that’s unlike anything I’ve seen up to this point. It goes to show that technical power can always be outdone by technical mastery - whoever is behind the wonderful setting of Ethan Carter should consider their job well done.

It’s a good job too, because despite the title this is very much a game about the setting. The narrative can often feel like nothing more than a reason to explore more of the incredible landscape. Rickety houses, spooky mines, flowing creeks and a blatant, landscape scarring dam all provide points of interest and guide the player’s journey through the game. This is, indeed, a game about exploration, and it is this that leads to Ethan Carter’s unusual structure. “This game is a narrative experience that does not hold your hand” reads a rather odd introductory message from The Astronauts, and while that sentiment stands at odds with the overall nature of a videogame, there is a conscious effort to let the player explore at their own will.

You’re not given any information as to your place in this world other than through titbits of first-person dialogue from the player character Paul Prospero. He’s some sort of famous detective who can enter alternate realities generally based on past events - which, as you can expect, is quite helpful for solving murders. The game centres around his hunt for a missing, but clearly pretty able, young lad called Ethan. You’ll learn that information within the first few minutes of the game, the rest is a real rollercoaster of unusual but functional narrative. I won’t talk about it anymore, as it’s obviously something best enjoyed without outside influence and could honestly be interpreted in different ways.

What’s odd about that story, however, is the way it jars with the gameplay. It can often feel as though they’re two very different experiences. Aside from simply walking around the small open-world admiring the scenery, gameplay revolves around a series of puzzles, many of which are visual puzzles where the player has to place a series of ghostly images in chronological order. Getting the order right rewards the player with the full scene of what happened in that place - usually it’s a murder of some sort. These don’t fit too well in the overall presentation of the game, and stand out as a bit too ‘gamey’. They’re fun though, so I suppose they serve their purpose.

The rest of the puzzles are mostly more inventive and each present something a little different. You’ve got a neat mind-warping puzzle in which you have to map out a house using portals (it makes sense when you’re there), a genuinely creepy puzzle that features the only segment in the game in which you can actually die, as well as some simple but visually stimulating sections that are well worth experiencing. The only issue with these, and with it the issue with the game’s unusual structure, is that you can easily saunter past some of the puzzles without even realising they exist. I did this on two occasions. The devs force you to go back and play them if you haven’t by the end of the game, but this feels horribly out of place. Surely if the game wasn’t going to hold my hand it wouldn’t force me to retrace my steps over and over in order to finish the thing?

The Astronauts team have tried to create a narrative-focused game that also allows complete free-roaming around Red Creek Valley, but those two intentions come into conflict on a few too many occasions. By all accounts, it’s a fun game with a fantastic, mysterious plot and some excellent puzzles, but that contrast between narrative and player influence is an issue throughout. Still, it’s worth playing just to see the game in motion. The incredible setting really enhances the whole experience, and helps to set the spooky, but not actually scary, tone. Few games manage to attain that unsettling feeling - you either get laughingly unscary or outright terror, rarely can you play something that explores the mid-point as successfully as Ethan Carter.

At the mid-price point, three to four hours of gameplay isn’t especially good value for money. It’s sure to be something that’ll scare people away from Ethan Carter, and I’d argue that it’s definitely worth picking up in a sale later down the line. The core elements of the game are all very good: story, visuals and gameplay are top notch, but they don’t combine particularly well. The lofty ideas of player independence are held back by the need to tell a convincing story and the narrative can conversely be held back by the degree of player agency that does exist. The Vanishing of Ethan Carter is an enjoyable short game by all accounts, the sum just isn't quite as good as the parts.