One of Sony's planned PS4 indie darlings has already hit PC and is out to play right now. The Vanishing of Ethan Carter has been billed as an open adventure, letting you solve several murders and slowly uncover the mystery of how a small boy called Ethan Carter disappeared in an abandoned town.
I'll start with my impressions of the games visuals first. The game uses the Unreal Engine and frankly uses it incredibly well. There's a wonderful sense of place to the locations and they're beautifully lit. The game, so far, channels a tranquil scene even when you uncover a body. The main factor that probably works against the game world is that so far, despite hwo some previews and reviews make it out to be, the game is very linear. Some areas open up a little bit for you to mooch around but you're very much on a single path in terms of your journey. An example would be a section where you've crossed a dam and there is a three way fork in the road. You can go anyway you want but one fork leads to a dead end, the second eventually loops back on itself and the third is the main path.
Audio is very nice too, it fits the tone of the game well though is very understated. As you're in a set environment and nothing is actively happening there's not much for it to do except set the scene. Music drifts in and out whilst some sound effects set the scene with wind, water etc.
Controls are simple too. On a controller the left trigger zooms in the view, right trigger is for run, B crouches and A is the action button for looking at objects. That's your lot with the exception of being able to open a portal at key points to see more detail though I've yet to see much use for it. Effectively, despite the hints of a murder mystery aspect that seems similar to Murdered: Soul Suspect, the experience of playing it so far is easily closest to that of playing Dear Esther. If you hit a brick wall in enjoying that title you're unlikely to get along with this. Currently, I'm in a looped area so it remains to be seen if the game adds anything to its arsenal or remains effectively part of the walking simulator genre.
Journey Begins
Entering Town
Daaaam
I'll start with my impressions of the games visuals first. The game uses the Unreal Engine and frankly uses it incredibly well. There's a wonderful sense of place to the locations and they're beautifully lit. The game, so far, channels a tranquil scene even when you uncover a body. The main factor that probably works against the game world is that so far, despite hwo some previews and reviews make it out to be, the game is very linear. Some areas open up a little bit for you to mooch around but you're very much on a single path in terms of your journey. An example would be a section where you've crossed a dam and there is a three way fork in the road. You can go anyway you want but one fork leads to a dead end, the second eventually loops back on itself and the third is the main path.
Audio is very nice too, it fits the tone of the game well though is very understated. As you're in a set environment and nothing is actively happening there's not much for it to do except set the scene. Music drifts in and out whilst some sound effects set the scene with wind, water etc.
Controls are simple too. On a controller the left trigger zooms in the view, right trigger is for run, B crouches and A is the action button for looking at objects. That's your lot with the exception of being able to open a portal at key points to see more detail though I've yet to see much use for it. Effectively, despite the hints of a murder mystery aspect that seems similar to Murdered: Soul Suspect, the experience of playing it so far is easily closest to that of playing Dear Esther. If you hit a brick wall in enjoying that title you're unlikely to get along with this. Currently, I'm in a looped area so it remains to be seen if the game adds anything to its arsenal or remains effectively part of the walking simulator genre.
Journey Begins
Entering Town
Daaaam
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