The Vanishing of Ethan Carter
25 Sep 2014
All releases
15 Aug 2019 - Nintendo Switch
25 Sep 2014 - PC (Microsoft Windows)
15 Jul 2015 - PlayStation 4
19 Jan 2018 - Xbox One
Tags
Time to beat
Main story
Main story + extras
100% completion
In The Vanishing of Ethan Carter, you play as Paul Prospero, an occult detective who receives a disturbing letter from Ethan Carter and realizes that the boy is in grave danger. When Paul arrives in Ethan's home of Red Creek Valley, he realizes things are even worse than he imagined. Ethan has vanished in the wake of a brutal murder, which Paul comes to see might not be the only murder to investigate. Using both regular and supernatural detective skills, Paul must figure out what happened to the missing boy.
In 1973, paranormal investigator Paul Prospero receives a fan letter from 12-year-old Ethan Carter, inspiring him to journey to Ethan's hometown of Red Creek Valley, Wisconsin. Upon arrival, he learns Ethan has gone missing and begins encountering unsettling paranormal phenomena, as well as evidence of recent violence in the tiny mining village.
| Audio | Subtitles | Interface | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Polish | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Czech | ✓ | ✓ | |
| English | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Spanish (Spain) | ✓ | ✓ | |
| German | ✓ | ✓ | |
| French | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Italian | ✓ | ✓ |
Game version: PS4 digital
Trophies: 100% - 14/14
Rating: (6) fine ⚪🟡⚪⚪
Walking simulators are often a total hit or miss for me. This one's sadly of the latter kind. Visually and otherwise artistically it's quite good and the story is intriguing. However, even if it might almost have the necessary potential, it doesn't reach the brilliance of games such as Edith Finch (although it might've inspired them). The gameplay isn't very fun nor engaging enough. There's a few decent puzzles and some exploration, but for the most part the game feels very empty. It's a short game, but I was starting to lose my interest halfway through the story. The ending isn't bad by any means, nor is it quite that memorable either. I can appreciate the mysterious and dark atmosphere, but there are much better story-driven games out there.