Review for The Vanishing of Ethan Carter. Game for PlayStation Network, PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, the video game was released on 25/09/2014 The version for PlayStation 4 came out on 15/07/2015 The version for Xbox One came out on 19/01/2018
These first weeks of January are a panacea for gamers, after the winter season. A few days before giants like Monster Hunter: World and Dragon Ball FighterZ (not to mention Dissidia NT) hit stores, we're experiencing one of those very rare time windows with limited releases, perfect for some indie productions to fire their cartridges. I must have thought so too The Astronauts, a Polish development team that recently launched its Xbox One version of The Vanishing of Ethan Carter, first person adventure title.
Game that lands on XBox almost 4 years after its debut on PC and more than three from that on PlayStation 4, for one of the best known exponents of this new sub-genre of Walking Simulators, “Inaugurated” by Dear Esther back in 2012 (other examples can also be found previously, for example The Graveyard of Tales of Tales): modern adventure games where exploration mixed with very light puzzle components is the essence of the experience.
The Vanishing of Ethan Carter is known as one of the most successful, also thanks to its impressive technical department: will it still be relevant today, at its debut on Xbox One?
X-Files
Paul Prospero is a detective who has seen one more than the devil. Indeed, let's say he came very close to seeing the devil himself, investigating the paranormal for a lifetime. In its decades of experience, each place hides a mystery; every corner of the world, however insignificant or peaceful, hides a dark, evil and ancient background. It is dangerous, very dangerous. As he takes his first steps in Red Creek Valley, his sixth sense suggests that this seemingly harmless bucolic North American fresco has something strange about it. And the sight of the first corpse, with his legs cut off, can only confirm this theory. So Prospero will go in search of the missing Ethan Carter, the boy whose poignant and disturbing letters drew him to this forgotten valley of Wisconsin, trying to find out what really happened.
This that's all we're going to tell you about The Vanishing of Ethan Carter storyline, because really revealing other details would damage the pleasure of discovery, in the four hours it will take you to get to the end of the investigation. Suffice it to say that this is a truly intriguing story, told not by cutscenes or long dialogues, but rather by the surrounding environment and its ravines, something we have already enjoyed in games like Gone Home or Firewatch.
Il sesto senso
In addition to offering a beautiful open world to explore, full of secrets, The Vanishing of Ethan Carter has some of the characteristics of an investigation game, with Paul Prospero who will be able to exploit some apparently supernatural powers derived from his long investigative experience to reconstruct the crime scenes that you will find on your path. In fact, after having found all the clues, you will enter a sort of alternative reality in which to put all the elements of the event in order and in place. Simple, but interactive enough to avoid walking for the duration of the game.
Furthermore, there are also some stealth / horror sections, which will amaze you and seriously test your coronaries. You won't have a hard time bringing The Vanishing of Ethan Carter to an end, but it's nice to have these deviations on the theme and some simple puzzles to increase the variety.
Lots of options for Xbox One X
One of the most important and most publicized reasons for this port was support for Xbox One X, Microsoft's new 4K console. The Astronauts title is Enhanced for Xbox One X and presents a series of options to "play" with resolution and frame-rate, something we would like to see replicated in other productions, of course. In fact, in the settings menu it is possible to change both the resolution and the frame-rate of the game on the fly, with immediate impacts on image quality.
In fact, the fluidity can be set as Unlimited or set at 30 fps. For a game of this kind, 60 fps are certainly not that important, given the decidedly slow rhythms, but the option is mainly there for those who do not like a variable frame rate, fluctuating according to the situation. And resolutions, because the game offers three choices, at least on Xbox One X: 1080p, 1440p and 2160p (aka 4K). At 4K, in fact, it is difficult for the game to reach 60 fps on Xbox One X, which are however guaranteed at either 1080p or even 1440p. It's really super cool to switch between the three definitions in real time, seeing how yes, especially in the draw distance and in the foliage, even on non-4K screens the higher resolution takes the game to really high levels for consoles. You can't really avoid stopping very often to look at the view.
E even the Xbox One S version performs in a more than excellent way, do not worry!
Still a great example of game design today
All right then? Yes, albeit with some minor caveats. The open world structure of the game offers freedom, but it can be difficult to understand in the search for the next goal or place to explore. In a disclaimer after the Start screen, The Vanishing of Ethan Carter declares that he does not want to "hold the hand" of the player and leave him completely alone in his exploration of the valley, but as some of the checkpoints or places are slightly difficult to find and not at all intuitive: you may happen to wander randomly for a few minutes before thinking about where to hit your head. We do not know if in fact it was an artistic and conceptual choice or just a means to increase longevity, but perhaps we are too mischievous.
Furthermore, Free Roam mode, offered exclusively for Xbox One, is quite useless if not coupled with a serious Photo mode. In fact, it's nice to be able to explore the entire - splendid - game setting without any link of history or gory elements, but we would have liked to have an internal system to take our - inevitably you will - photos, rather than having to use the Xbox OS for take screenshots. Thinking about how much time we've lost lately in Assassin's Creed: Origins or Super Mario Odyssey and their Photo Modes, it seems like a missed opportunity.
The Vanishing of Ethan Carter on Xbox One is a story that is worth revisiting even by users of the Microsoft flagship, although over the years the "walking simulators" sub-genre has been filled with excellent alternatives such as Gone Home, Firewatch and Tacoma.
► The Vanishing of Ethan Carter is an Adventure-type game developed and published by The Astronauts for PlayStation Network, PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, the video game was released on 25/09/2014 The version for PlayStation 4 came out on 15/07/2015 The version for Xbox One came out on 19/01/2018
