The Vanishing of Ethan Carter

Mir war das ganze hier deutlich zu ruhig und lahm. Ich mag auch keine Games, die ihre Story zum großen Teil über Notizen erzählen. Was man dem Spiel lassen muss, es sieht echt gut aus für ein Spiel dieses Alters. Das gehörte rein optisch wohl zur absoluten Elite vor 10 Jahren. Leider läuft das Spiel nicht wirklich gut. Es bleibt immer wieder hängen, stottert oder friert ein. Das nervt echt extrem. Die Map ist auch einfach irgendwie zu groß, um die Karte weg zu lassen. Man muss echt viel Backtracken und das wird um so ermüdender, wenn man immer mal wieder die Orientierung verliert. Das Game teleportiert einen ja auch noch durch die Gegend. Es ist einfach ein Walkingsim mit Rätselmechaniken. Die sind auch nicht mal wirklich interessant. Man muss sich die auch alle selber zusammen reimen. Schon mal ein dreistöckiges Haus neu zusammengebaut, was ihr noch nie gesehen habt und an jeder Tür habt Ihr 3 Möglichkeiten?Ach ja und wenn man mehr als 1-2 Mal falsch rät, dann muss man natürlich alles von vorne machen. Nein? Dann gönnt Euch das Spiel und haut mal rein, Spaß sieht für mich auf jeden Fall ganz anders aus ;): Ich musste hier jede Minute gegen das Einschlafen kämpfen, die ich mich zu der Seuselmusik über die Karte geschleppt habe.

Es un juegazo en primera persona con grandes dosis de misterio en dónde la información te la dan con cuentagotas y te invita a explorar y fijarte en cada detalle, hacía mucho que no jugaba un juego así. Además la historia tiene fuerza y te deja muy metido de lleno en ella.

Simulator of solitary walks through beautiful nature

Tied with Oxenfree for my all-time favorite story game. Beautiful and delightfully creepy, with cool puzzles, and essentially a love letter to storytelling. Must-play IMO.

This game was an interesting one, it was a simple and fun to explore walking simulator, right up until the end when the game gained more depth than I was expecting. Quick note: this game comes with the normal version and redux edition, I played the redux one but the time didn't "count" so I had to idle in the normal version for a short time to be able to write this review. If I am being honest, as I was playing this, the story was not gripping me. It wasn’t really my thing, but I resigned myself to just enjoying the game as a walking simulator as that was what I was in the mood for anyway. I just wanted to relax, walk around kind of braindead, looking at stuff. The investigative element was a welcome addition as this felt quite unique, and I actually found it quite fun combing the map as I went along for the “areas of interest” which had the little investigative parts to them. It’s a pretty simple system, but it felt very detective-esque and I think it’s always fun when games pull that off. The text appearing like thoughts, assessing a scene, and having to deduce its chronology was novel to me. This game only really got interesting to me, and became something I enjoyed at the very end. I can’t say too much as it really is something you need to see for yourself but the game realigns itself in another perspective right towards the end which turned this game from something I was feeling [i]fairly[/i] apathetic about, to something I thought about after it ended and intrigued me enough to look at discussions about this game both in the community hub and on Reddit. It did a really good job of making me think back on the game, and rethink different aspects of it to fit the new perspective. In that sense, it was only after I finished the game that I realised the detail and effort the devs put into this game to create this experience. [spoiler] As an example, I noticed in the train station that there was a clock with one side reading 7:00, pristine, the other was broken and burnt and read around 7:05 which foreshadowed the ending. A completely unnecessary detail to add to the game but something that really added to the feeling after the ending that “the signs were there the whole time”.[/spoiler] The map is “open” to an extent, the way in which I combed through the map did still make it feel fairly linear to me, and I was fortunate enough to have found everything as I went along so that I did not need to backtrack for anything. I like to think though that if I did I wouldn’t have minded, as essentially at a certain point if you missed something you are just kind of told where to go and the map isn’t that big to make it a chore. I enjoyed walking around in this game, the music and scenery is nice so I doubt it would have bothered me. There is a surreal twinge to this game, which I loved as I'm just a fan of surrealism in games. I think it makes for a more intriguing experience to think about why things feel a little “off”. You can have a very surreal experience in this game very early on, but it’s something that is missable. [spoiler] If you try to go back through the tunnel your character initially comes from at the start of the game, it lets you get to the end of the tunnel only to wind up exactly where you started.[/spoiler] This immediately made me question the world around me. Overall, I enjoyed this game more than I was expecting to. I think in the end it is a really interesting story that was portrayed in a unique and thoughtful way. You kind of need to pay attention to the details to get the most out of this game, but I think if you’re up for it, it’s a rewarding experience. I would definitely recommend anyone to try this game for themselves, but especially so if you are someone who enjoys psychology or philosophy in any sense. Even those that enjoy thinking about symbolism and what could represent what, I think would really enjoy this, as it seems like a lot of detail and thought went into this game. I don’t like adding loads of spoilers in reviews, but I do also want to share some thoughts about the game and the ending. I really do believe you should just play it so this part will be spoiler tagged so you can just skip over it if you’d rather not know. [spoiler] Going back to how this game makes you realign, I enjoyed the fact that at the end you’re told by Ethan he’d written a story about everyone. His family clearly did not support his creativity in the way of his writing, and you start to see that the stories that you find around the map can be linked to family members. In this sense if you paid attention during the game you can get a better idea of their characters by looking at them from the perspective of Ethan. For example, the story about the woman who loses her beauty after having her child is likely about his mother. That story ends with the child asking a witch to give her beauty back, which the witch does, but the child disappears. This makes you think that perhaps Ethan feels as though his mother would be happier, and get her “beauty” back, if he was gone. Notes and Interactions in the game suggest that she loses her temper with him, so he may feel that she doesn't actually want him, and resents him. A tragic thought for a child to have about their mother. The game lets you put together ideas and context like that for yourself which I found enjoyable. It was also fun to think about how Ethan’s story tied in with reality, it seems as though Ethan created his last story as he suffocated, “the sleeper” in his story is likely actually referencing himself, and it seemed the possessed family did not want to “wake” the sleeper, as that perhaps meant that Ethan would be brought out of his dream world, and be aware of his reality, before slipping away. Ethan was maybe hoping to stay in his dream world in his last moments. The detective, another character of Ethan’s, wakes him at the end, bringing the realisation to Ethan (and to us) but reassuring him and helping him come to terms with things before he passes. It’s an incredibly sad story realistically but it’s told in a really interesting way.[/spoiler] [quote]For more reviews of games with psychological, philosophical or thought-provoking themes, check out my curator page [url= https://store.steampowered.com/curator/38795895/] Psychology, Philosophy & Thought, [/url] where we review games that explore the mind, get you thinking or make you question.[/quote]

There's a redux version and a VR version. They are all the same, technically better - but the base game isn't for me. It's a walking simulator with simple puzzles and an "emotional story" that's laid on so thick it's almost cringeworthy. And that's not to mention the appalling save system, which seems almost intentionally designed to keep you playing , knowing that you're going to lose progress no matter what you do - unless it's just saved at a storyline transition point. I know I'm in a minority. 4/10 - Great presentation, but ultimately a very slow experience.

Eine unfassbar schöne Grafik, tolle Musik, sehr spannende Story und absolut eine 10/10 meiner Meinung nach. In diesem Spiel muss man sich ganz genau umschauen, also perfekt für alle neugierigen Gamer wie mich, die in jede kleinste Ecke rennen. Es ist ein absolut entspanntes Gameplay - keine stressigen Situationen und doch ein wenig gruselig. Definitiv ein muss!

Good game, cozy, great to finish in 1 sitting, the story was interesting and unique, the narrator was great, visuals were fantastic, the puzzles were kinda iffy, but all in all a great experience packaged into a 4hr estimated runtime.