The Vanishing of Ethan Carter PC (2014)


These days it isn't very often I sit for hours on end just playing one game, I am either too busy and have other things I need to get on with or the game just doesn't grip me enough and I move onto something else for a bit. That certainly wasn't the case with The Vanishing of Ethan Carter though as this game grabbed my attention and I was determined to stay at my PC until I rolled the credits. 

I bought this game after a few recommendation from people over on Twitter and to be honest I didn't have high hopes due to the narrative game style being one I often play especially when it has a spooky aspect around it because anyone who knows me knows I don't enjoy anything remotely scary but this wasn't bad at all, there was the odd jump scare and one opponent you faced that could easily make you jump but other than that the game was easy enough to get through without it creeping me out too much. 

The sounds and graphics definitely help create the mysterious atmosphere surrounding the game, the music was perfect and fit really well whilst the graphics helped elaborate on the idea that something strange had happened such as the fog on the hills and the darkness of the forest all whilst making it seem real and not over exaggerated. The graphics were certainly a lot better than I expected especially as I played the game on my PC which is something I haven't done in a long time. There were a few times where the game seemed to lag and the game crashed once for a brief moment but other than that it played really well which took me by surprise a bit as my computer seems to have slowed down a bit lately. To start the game there was a bit of a load time but again I believe this was down to my PC and not the game, but once you got going in the game any load times definitely got better. 

Although the game was being played on my PC I did still use my Xbox controller as I really aren't used to using keyboard and mouse as I don't play on PC nearly as much as I should especially with the size of my Steam backlog. With the controller the controls did feel sensitive at times as when I was looking to inspect items I seemed to go too far and totally miss the marker. Although it was sensitive I managed to power on through and it actually seemed to get better as the game went on but maybe that was just me getting used to it, it didn't take away from the game at all in fact it probably helped as I moved around a bit quicker than normal. 

At the start of the game I will admit I wasn't really enjoying it as I honestly didn't have a clue what I was doing or what I was meant to do. I ended up googling a walk through guide to get me going on the right track and give me some pointers as I really do believe if  I didn't use this I would have just quit the game and never returned to it. But thanks to referring to this I finally understood what I needed to do and ended up actually really starting to enjoy my play through. Once I got the hang of what I was meant to do the game seemed to get a bit easier as well as becoming more enjoyable. 


There were a few points when I got a bit stressed out with game though such as when you come up against your only opponent of the game, this got frustrating after a lot of failed attempts so I ended up passing the controller to Liam to get me out of that section of the game. The puzzles in the game are also fun and keep you focused but don't challenge you too much which is what I liked in this game. They were the correct level of difficulty for all abilities and it works well for the game in my opinion as it doesn't over complicated things and helps keep the flow of the game. Even though there are a few puzzles there was just the right amount as the game didn't get boring seen as each puzzle was something different. 

At certain parts of the game when you had to sit and watch cut scenes to help you understand the plot of the game a bit better they were done perfectly for me, they told you what you needed to know and then you moved on. There was no sitting around for ages and getting distracted, I was happy to sit and watch them and take in the information as I knew it would be 1 or 2 minutes maximum. 

This game took me around about 4 hours to finish and that was with me picking up 11 achievements along the way. As I said earlier I don't normally sit and complete a game in one day but this game had me hooked which is a testament to itself, not many games have had me playing like this in a while it is normally a quick hour or two then onto the next thing. I think I am going to enjoy more narrative games in the future so if you can recommend any you think I may like please let me know and I will give them a try. 

Publisher : The Astronauts
Developer : The Astronauts
Available On : PC, PS4, Xbox, Nintendo Switch  

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