The Vanishing of Ethan Carter

The first thing you’ll see when you start playing The Vanishing of Ethan Carter is a warning, of sorts. “This game is a narrative experience that does not hold your hand”. Don’t let this put you off.

You are Paul Prospero, supernatural detective, and you’re looking for the vanished Ethan Carter, a young boy living with his family in Red Creek Valley. And that is about all anyone will really be prepared to tell you about the narrative itself for fear of ruining the experience. You’ll see and hear strange things during the game’s modest play time that are really best experienced cold. Some are spooky, some are weird and there’s one particular bit I found incredibly frustrating, but the game is very much content to let you discover them at your own pace. There’s five or six distinct narrative blocks or sections that become evident once you’ve finished your playthrough, but it’s possible to completely pass several of them by as you explore the valley in which the game is set.

And what a valley. The sense of place the development team have managed to conjure is nothing short of extraordinary. In part, this will be due to the techniques they’ve used in capturing objects, textures and geography from real world counterparts (a fascinating process called photogrammetry). Trees, rocks, bricks, buildings and more will strike you with their visual fidelity. The level of detail is something to behold, but combined with the thoughtful composition of the environments it becomes something special. There’s a natural flow that gently moves you from one section of the valley to the next while still affording you the opportunity to explore. The level of craft on display here is a real pleasure to experience and is probably the most successful element of the game.

While you’re ostensibly a detective, the game is not really about puzzle solving or deduction. As I said, the game is loosely broken up into sections, each of which might contain a puzzle or two, but they’re used to deliver elements of the story and are not especially challenging, bar one. You’ll also be reconstructing some grim and grizzly crime scenes with Paul’s special abilities, but to go into any detail about what these are would ruin the experience.

And that’s about all I can really say about The Vanishing of Ethan Carter. It’s an experience, a memorable one, and it is definitely best to go in blind. That’s also the central problem when it comes to talking about the game. Criticisms, by their nature, would be specific and detailed which would be to the detriment of that first playthrough. Looking back on it now, with some distance, I’m still not sure how I feel about the story it tells which I guess speaks to one of its main strengths: an ambiguity, of sorts. It’s certainly open to interpretation and avoids defining a singular meaning, which might frustrate some but I found perfectly in keeping with the rest of the game. To tell you why would bring us, again, into spoiler territory.

There’s a few obvious criticisms that could be leveled at the game once you’ve finished it, but none that I think significantly detract from the overall experience of playing it. While spoiler conscious, I will say I think most people will find it difficult to really connect with any of the game’s characters. Dialogue is sparse and the nature of the crime scene sections means you might hear a lot of it repeated. The writing and the acting are serviceable but are definitely one of the weakest elements in the game. By the end, I didn’t feel like I’d really come to know or understand much about any of the characters. And as for titular character, well, I just felt sorry for him. Poor, poor Ethan.

Anyway. Buy it, play it, experience the mystery it has to offer. You’ll finish it in an afternoon but I guarantee it’ll be one of the most interesting and enthralling afternoons you’ll have had it quite some time. I’ve said it already but it bears repeating; it’s a fantastic example of craftsmanship in games. Everyone should see it.