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Sméagol

The Vanishing of Ethan Carter

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Well this is a surprise. I can't find any info directly from the devs themselves, but gaming news sites are reporting this as coming on 15-08. Here's a trailer for the PC Redux version:

Light on gameplay, but I personally recommend this one if you're into a very atmospheric and visually gorgeous first person paranormal detective game.

I'm thinking of picking it up again just to re-experience the story. Though I'll probably wait to see if there are any plans for a physical release.

Edited by Sméagol
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I played this last year on the PC, and can confirm it's a pretty good game. Here are my impressions from back then:

Quote

While [What Remains of Edith Finch] turned out to not be that spooky, this ENG [ - that is, an "Environmental Narrative" game - ] ended up scratching the Horror itch I had. The premise and appeal are way more straightforward to explain: at the behest of a boy called Ethan Carter, a hard-boiled paranormal detective investigates some murders (and other peculiar oddities) in an eerily quiet rural estate in Wisconsin.

Essentially, the game drops you into a valley and then deliberately omits the mechanics involved in solving anything you might come across. It wants you to get immersed in the game's world and unravel its mysteries all by yourself, and does a tremendous job at it. Nothing here feels straightforward, so patience and temperance are advised when delving into this game (even though most players agree that it should only take you around 5 hours or so).

Another selling point is the valley itself. It was based off a real location in Poland (where the developers are from) and reproduced with photogrammetry. You can tell from the central European architecture, the German writing in old monuments, and the fact that everything looks gorgeous, even from a technical standpoint. Heck, even the creepier elements feel like an European Horror story (I considered changing the voices to Polish at one point, but hey, the setting's American, so I kept with the default settings).

Another highly-recommended game. I don't even tend to enjoy Walking Simulators, and suddenly, two fantastic experiences in a row.

So yeah, maybe not the best summer game, but hopefully you'll be itching for some creepy stories in September.

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Cool, have always been interested to check this out so seems like it's another indie gem to add to my Switch backlog

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The devs posted something on their own site. Apparently they handled the port themselves.

http://www.theastronauts.com/2019/08/vanishing-ethan-carter-nintendo-switch/

And they posted this comparison video as well. It looks seriously good. I mean yeah, there are noticable differences, and the game is 5 years old, but still. Looks more than good enough to get the atmosphere across, something I can't say of Mutant Year Zero, which also has a comparison video on that same channel. But I'm not going to elaborate on that here and right now.

I just had a quick look at my playtime, and it's only 5 hours. So not only do I recommend it, you can still pretty easily fit this in between the big games. I'll wait for any news on a potential physical release first like I said.

 

Edited by Sméagol

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