[VR Game Review] The Vanishing of Ethan Carter: Solve sinister mysteries in an idyllic mountain hamlet

When I first tried an Oculus Rift DK2, I was dazzled by the possibilities. All the games I knew of that would be perfect for VR. Upon trying ALien isolation and some other awkwardly adapted titles on it however, my enthusiasm dimmed. I became convinced games need to be built from the ground up with VR in mind to be any good on the platform. The truth lies somewhere in the middle.

The Vanishing of Ethan Carter started out life as a standard PC and console game. It was then adapted to VR as well as ported up from Unreal Engine 3 to Unreal Engine 4. A lot was tweaked: Fixed first person mini-cutscenes for getting into and out of vehicles were nauseating in VR and had to be removed, for example. The whole gamut of comfort options were added too, that sort of thing.

The result is a stunning beast of a game, and a natural fit for this nascent medium. If ever there was a game that badly needed to be in VR, it's this one. I wonder if future generations will look back on these adaptations the way the last generation looks back on the colorization of black and white films?

If so, count me on the side of adaptation. The dev has proven a flat game can be adapted with little muss to become a fantastic VR experience, as good as any title made specifically for VR from day one. Every little tweak is, in my eyes, an objective upgrade.

Having played this before on a monitor but never finished it, the chance to revisit Red Creek Valley as seen through Paul Prospero's own eyes was a bewildering treat. As you can see from the screenshots, it is unbelievably gorgeous. This is some of the best, most convincing natural terrain and foliage I've seen in any game.

I confess, as someone who loves to hike, I've been inching my way through this game to soak in all the incredible sights and sounds. It is of course no substitute, but to bring those kinds of vistas and feelings into a computer game is a seemingly impossible feat which the developer, The Astronauts, has managed with aplomb.

This isn't like Fated, either. There is no hand holding, and you really can freely explore every inch of the town on your own terms. There's not just one path but several, looping back, interconnecting at various points. Just by wandering and poking around I once noticed the opening to a cave that I could just barely fit through. Do you know what was down there?

An entire new section of the game. With its own enemies, puzzles and so on. All that, down an inconspicuous little hole in the ground. The whole game is like this. That does mean there's a lot of wandering around, trying to figure out what to do next. But this is an adventure game. If you don't like that, don't play it.

Gameplay is pretty standard for a first person adventure in that you can collect notes, pick up items to use elsewhere, etc. However there are also sections where you'll find a murder scene. The ghosts, still lingering there, will visually reconstruct what happened if you're able to place the events in the right order on your own.

This is initiated by using Paul's "sense" capability, which opens a portal through which he can see and enter the spirit world. It also manifests as floating text over items through which he intuits the circumstances surrounding that particular item or scene. Paul's knowledge of the supernatural is, after all, why young Ethan summoned him to Red Creek Valley by letter.

It seems the grown ups have been acting strangely. Ever since Ethan found a secret room in a burned down old house, said to belong to a wizard, villagers have been changing one by one. Speaking of a great sleeper who must wake. Of rituals which must be completed. Including one that requires Ethan be sacrificed.

This brings up my only (minor) complaint about the game. The graphics are amazing. The controls are smooth and comfortable. The writing is superb. But the story is just Lovecraft. Not even a specific Lovecraft story, just the generic Cliff's Notes. Giant elder god from the sea, demented villagers who serve it, yada yada.

Everything else about this game is so fresh, I was hoping the mystery I uncovered in Red Creek Valley would be something wholly original. Don't think I don't love me some Lovecraft. Straight across game adaptations of his stories are always welcome. Just kinda phoning it in like this, much less so.

However, that is not enough to subtract from an otherwise stellar experience. If you're like me, the very concept of VR makes you want to explore. To stick yourself into a virtual world that is vast, go-anywhere, and filled with cool stuff to find. If so, this is the game for you.

The Vanishing of Ethan Carter is one of the few AAA games on VR, and even on its own merits as a "flat" game is a must-play. At $30, it's a little bit spendy. But considering its chops, and shining reputation even before VR entered the scene, I strongly recommend you pick it up. I give The Vanishing of Ethan Carter a 9/10.

^{Screenshots credit to Oculus and The Astronauts}