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Have you played... The Vanishing of Ethan Carter?

Grim peaks.

Have You Played?is an endless stream of game retrospectives. One a day, every day, perhaps for all time.

Watching walking simulators evolve from the waffling emptiness of Dear Esther into remarkable narrative adventures like Firewatch and What Remains of Edith Finch has been one of my favourite spectator sports as a games journalist. The Vanishing of Ethan Carter is one of the better stepping stones on this long and winding road. It has players assume the role of psychic detective Paul Prospero, who arrives in the gorgeous Red Creek Valley on the trail of a missing boy.

As with so many of these games, the environment design is stunning, a blend of verdant forests and decaying architecture slowly being reclaimed by nature. Your relaxing woodland walk is interspersed with moments of mystery and eerie pseudo-horror. Prospero is able to visualise human memories imprinted on the world, which forms one of the game's central mechanics. Meanwhile, there are multiple set stories to discover, each with a unique puzzle attached to it, such as a dilapidated house whose interior turns into a disorientating maze.

Ethan Carter is one of the few games to be inspired by Twin Peaks in a way that doesn't simply involve referencing it incessantly. It strikes that tonal balance between luxuriating in a quaint pastoral idyll, then yanking you from your reverie with something dark and inexplicable. I hated the ending, and would have preferred the developers to play their story straight rather than opting for a rather hackneyed twist, but the journey itself is an enjoyable mix of relaxing walkabout and haunting storytelling.

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Rick Lane avatar
Rick Lane: Rick snuck into his dad's office to play Doom when he was six and has been obsessed with PC gaming ever since. A freelance journalist since 2008, he's contributed to RPS since 2014. He loves shooters, survival games, and anything to do with VR. If you ask him about immersive sims, expect to be there for a while.
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In this article

Dear Esther

PS4, Xbox One, PC

Firewatch

PS4, Xbox One, PC, Mac, Nintendo Switch

See 3 more

The Vanishing Of Ethan Carter

PS4, Xbox One, PC

Walking Simulator

Video Game

What Remains of Edith Finch

iOS, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PC, Nintendo Switch

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