The Vanishing of Ethan Carter Redux: Unfinished Stories

Time to Beat: 5 Hours

A 2015 refinement of the 2014 release, The Vanishing of Ethan Carter Redux, is a modified version, which, according developers, The Astronauts, includes a new graphics engine, innumerable tweaks, and some quality of life improvements such as more frequent autosaves and less backtracking. The puzzles and plot are unchanged, so this review can be said to cover the original as well.

In The Vanishing the player controls a private investigator, Paul Prospero (didn't notice the last name during play). Paul is a effective detective because he is a psychic, able to unveil secrets which the mundane world hides from the common eye. He has been receiving increasingly worrying letters from a young boy named Ethan Carter, and eventually travels to Red Creek Valley, Wisconsin (which strongly resembles somewhere in Poland).

First, the game, for all the gushing about its beauty, is spectacular. Even more impressive, is the seamlessness of the setting. Walking the entire terrain, without interruption, may be an hour journey alone, and yet it has no loading screens. In fact, the only difficulty Vanishing suffered in rendering the landscape was after a pause, where it would catch once before resuming its perfect function. But while the trees are a technical marvel (I assume), who wouldn't prefer seeing the real thing; the leaves dancing in the wind or the sun soaring in a clear, cloudless summer sky? In Vanishing, greenery still feels flat, and character models too vaguely rounded for reality. Furthermore, the scenery is stunning but sterile. So much of the constructed world is dead-ends, pointless pathways to nowhere, merely (one assumes) to allow for further backdrop. Vanishing is overflowing with emptiness.

But Vanishing's visuals do shine with some vistas and set pieces. The developers have done wonders with lighting and color, as long as it is distant and doesn't allow for close examination.

While it hasn't received as much recognition, the audio seemed superior. Regardless of the surface upon which Paul strode, the sound generated appeared perfect. The soundtrack and ambient noise performed their function as well.

Vanishing begins with Paul exiting a tunnel into a verdant woodland, and a message for the player “This is a narrative experience that does not hold your hand.” How true this is, in a sense. Right away Paul can walk down the path, but if he doesn't go off and explore he'll miss the first set-piece. These are different than puzzles, which will be explained latter. Set-pieces have limited player interaction, and in this first one, Paul must discover six, somethings (spoilers later). Using his psychic power he examines objects with supernatural detail, leading to further questions. There are roughly five set-pieces, two of which require imagine and interaction, and three involve minimal input. Vanishing, helpfully, highlights interactable objects with bold orange lettering, but one must still move close enough to reveal it. This first location (as long as one doesn't miss it), along with a smaller revelation, delivers a decidedly ominous tone. Accompanied by Paul's internal monologue and a sinister score, one can be certain nothing fabulous is happening in Red Creek.

Exploring further, Paul can see, and eventually enters a mini-abandoned village, which doesn't contain more than seven buildings, though Paul's description and the local railway station seem to imply a larger population.

Since this game is all plot and little puzzle, its all spoilers from here:

At some point (depending on the exploring of the player) Vanishing is bound to reveal itself as a horror game, when Paul stumbles across the first dead body. In one way, this was a relief. Having played fellow “walking simulator” Gone Home I was expecting the fake out the latter performed on all who played it. Early on, this discover of Paul's moves Vanishing in grotesque (and unexpected) direction. Yet, the game eschews gore, and never seems graphic in its violence, but instead embraces the casualness of it (which is just as disturbing).

Vanishing contains five murder scenes, and these are the puzzles. At each, Paul must discover certain disturbed objects and replace them. Then he can activate his psychic powers to conjure scenes leading up to the death. Paul then walks around and orders them. When finally in the correct order, Vanishing plays a few short scenes as the characters move about and discuss their murderous intent. These puzzles are the most interactive aspect of Vanishing, but are still quite simple.

Who are these poor, devilish, possessed inhabitants of Red Creek? Ethan Carter and his family: cunning Grandfather Ed (who loved Ethan beyond all enduring), submissive father Dale (who supported Ethan as best he could manage), hot-headed, “practical” mother Missy (who tolerated her foolish son), redneck uncle Chad (who referred to Ethan in the same way our current POTUS describes women), and vicious, vengeful brother Travis (who despised his younger brother, either out of ignorance or jealousy).

Returning to the warning of Vanishing, that won't hold the player's hand, it is possible to miss even the murder scenes. At the first murder scene, I'd replaced all the objects, but didn't realize one must activate the video. Vanishing offers almost no explanation of its (admittedly simple) mechanics. And for this reason it wasn't until I was at the second murder scene that I checked online and realized what needed to be done. In retrospect, Vanishing signals the completion of a scene with an audio cue, and one activates the scene by clicking on the dead body.

Really, serious spoilers now:

Following the trails of the dead bodies absorbs a great deal of information. Ethan is an aspiring writer, who is not appreciated (and often harassed) by his family. His uncle, brother, and mother view him as the type with his head in the clouds. His father and grandfather, though, appear to value his solitary nature. As Paul travels through woods, old dams, and abandoned mines he observes the spiritual residual of a physical fight among the family. Ethan has begun the process of awakening an ancient evil, the Sleeper. His uncle, mother, and brother are determined to kill him, to prevent him from completely releasing it, while his father and grandfather guard him from them. Eventually Paul arrives at the stronghold of the Sleeper, the house of a supposed sorcerer (dead long ago). In an underground chamber he finds the final murder, and then enters an adjoining chamber. Paul sees Ethan, sleeping on a mattress, and he wakes him up.

In their conversation, Paul apologizes to Ethan for arriving too late. Ethan agrees, and then the perspective changes. The player, now viewing the world from inside Ethan, sees Travis entering the room. Everyone is alive and they have been searching for Ethan who had wandered off to craft his stories alone. But his peace is shattered by their noxious and abominable behavior. Suffering abuse from Travis and Chad, Missy angrily rounds on them, dropping a oil lantern she was carrying. In the ensuing chaos, Ethan retreats to his room, while his family escapes outside. Poisonous fumes leak under the door, while Ethan continues his conversation with Paul. Ethan explains that Paul is just a story, all the murders and scenes were stories, which Paul was investigating. Ethan want's to write more stories, but when Paul consoles him, Ethan says “I can let go?” A final scene shows Ethan unconscious on the floor of his chamber, passes through the smoke filled rooms, and outside where Ethan's family can be seen in an attempt to fight the fire and rescue Ethan.

Vanishing leaves unanswered whether Ethan lives or dies, though it seems to favor death as a conclusion. The real issue is how messed up the plot is revealed to be.

Ethan, abused by family, hides away, and writes a mystery in which they brutally murder each other (except for those who commit suicide). As he is concluding his final story, his family recklessly endangers (and most likely ends) his life. It's both grotesque and absurd that a child would hate his family enough to plot out their gruesome deaths, and conclude just as they accidentally kill him (or, at least it is disturbing that The Astronauts thought this was a story worth telling). One can believe the real world includes abusive families, and children who despise their parents, but I don't understand why one would craft a game with such a theme.

There is quite a bit more one could discuss, the symbolism of crows, sleep, and death (which are all common, or the juxtaposition of the beauty of the environment with the vileness of Ethan's family, but this is it for Ethan Carter.

In conclusion, The Vanishing of Ethan Carter Redux, includes some of the best backgrounds of any game (and excellent audio), but utilizes limited mechanics to deliver an absurd and unengaging ending. Though some aspects of the story along the way, (and it must be said that the set-pieces often provide a more captivating narrative than the murders) are satisfactory, the ending reveals all as contrivance and disparagement.

This everyday author recommends a different adventure.