The Vanishing of Ethan Carter Unveils First Screens

Andy Chalk

One Flag, One Fleet, One Cat
Nov 12, 2002
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The Vanishing of Ethan Carter Unveils First Screens


The first in-game screens from The Vanishing of Ethan Carter show off a game world that's equal parts lush and horrific.

Coming as it does from former owners and leads of the team that gave the world Painkiller and Bulletstorm, The Vanishing of Ethan Carter is unexpected to say the least. It's a first-person game of exploration and environmental interaction in which you play as Paul Prospero, an "occult detective" investigating the disappearance of a boy named Ethan Carter. Developer The Astronauts describes the game as "weird fiction" horror and says the focus is on "atmosphere, mood and the essential humanity of our characters." It seems they've come a long way from "dicktits."

Today the studio released the first screens from the game, and they look nothing short of spectacular - and yes, creepy too. They're taken from the first few minutes of The Vanishing, and they are actual gameplay screens, not cinematics; the studio says it doesn't plan to use cut scenes in the game.

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The Vanishing of Ethan Carter is currently being developed for the PC and The Astronauts says it hopes to "eventually" bring it to next-gen platforms as well, and while no release date has been set, "it's a question of months, not years." In the meantime, you can get a sense of what's in store by way of this very cool "mini-comic" prequel [http://www.theastronauts.com/comic/].


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obedai

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Mar 19, 2010
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Well obviously it is hard to say anything about it this early on, but color me intrigued. I'm loving this growing trend of developers who focus on story, particularly in bigger-budget 3d games such as this one. Plus I am a big fan of horror, and while this doesn't look like a full-fledged horror game, it certainly seems to be aiming for creepy at the very least.
 

Vigormortis

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Nov 21, 2007
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Those screens do, indeed, look absolutely gorgeous. Incredible level of detail.

However, the shot of the character model leaves a bit to be desired. As utterly impressive as everything else is in the other screens, seeing the one human character among them looking as though he's made of wet plastic and roughly patched together textures is a bit of a let down.

Still, I've thoroughly enjoyed this teams previous efforts. And the concepts and ideas behind this game sound intriguing enough to warrant a watchful eye on it's progress.