The Vanishing of Ethan Carter - A Review

The Vanishing of Ethan Carter - Blaugust Day 18

Another game I played recently is The Vanishing of Ethan Carter. I've never played a game like it so it was confusing to me but oh man, the graphics were fantastic! I think I spent more time taking screenshots than playing!

If I had to explain it, I would have to say it's a little bit like the old text adventures where you just had a black screen and text instructions, except in this game, you do have scenery to look at and you physically move around.

I played for about an hour (maybe a bit longer) but both Cold and myself got stuck on a puzzle at the first village. It is a single player game but we fired it up at the same time and were chatting on skype while playing so it was kind of fun.

It's a mystery, horror, detective story that's been brought to life by fantastic graphics. You play as a psychic detective, invited to a small town to investigate the mystery of the missing boy, Ethan Carter. You have to explore the area and pick up clues that will help you solve the mystery which doesn't sound too difficult but there are twists and turns to the story that will keep you guessing.

It doesn't look dark in the graphics but with supernatural and occult overtones to the area, it's definitely a dark story with some blood and gore to it too. To get the full story, you have to complete a series of puzzles. I've read a couple of reviews since trying this game and I think I may have missed the first one all together - perhaps that why I got stuck!

It's estimated as a 3-4 hour game but without even a basic tutorial and no experience of this kind of game, I have to admit, I got a bit bored. Knowing that I may have missed the first puzzle and I have to walk all the back doesn't really make me want to play it again either. I spent so much time just moving around the start area looking for clues that I got bored even before the game really got going.

It definitely got the photographer in me hooked too - I even have the sunrise screenshot as my desktop background. I'd love to visit this area in real life with my camera - I wonder if it was modeled on a real place?

For the few dollars that it cost me though, I'd definitely recommend it if murder mystery puzzles are your thing. The graphics are phenomenal, almost photorealistic and if you like that feeling of unease that H.P. Lovecraft created so well, you may well love this game too.

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