Games limited to one specific genre are quickly becoming a thing of the past, mainly due to the size and scope of most game designers in the 21^st Century. Genres are constantly being transcended and barriers forced through as games become bigger and more ambitious, and this isn’t specific to the AAA titles. So when I’m asked if I want to play a First-Person Horror Adventure Story-Driven Narrative Experience, my immediate thought used to be ‘Run, that sounds like a complete mess’ but now I find myself more intrigued to see just how that would actually work. And let’s be honest, some people just need to hear the words ‘Narrative Experience’ and flee to the nearest multiplayer-only FPS. But The Vanishing of Ethan Carter offers a lot more than just a simple walk in the park and stumble across a dead body, though there is plenty of that also.

In the game, you are thrust into the shoes of Paul Prospero, a paranormal PI who, after reading a letter from the eponymous child Ethan Carter, decides to take on one last case in Ethan’s home town before retiring; think of the main character as like Sam and Dean from Supernatural mixed with Murtagh from Lethal Weapon. The first thing you see after hitting the Start New Game option is a statement pop up saying ‘This game is a narrative experience that does not hold your hand’ and it really cannot be summed up any better than that. After a brief cutscene where Paul explains how he got to Red Creek Valley whilst walking along abandoned train tracks, the rest is up to you, and aside from fallen trees, cliff edges or rock formations all acting as barriers to the world, you are completely left to your own devices.

As you wander round Red Creek, a wonderful, haunting soundtrack is accompanying you. It can be almost passive in its sound, but will crescendo to ratchet the heart rate up when necessary. Paul will also keep you on your toes with musings about himself and the history of Red Creek, usually after a puzzle has been completed and you continue on to the next set-piece. It is here that you begin to see the cracks in the game though, because you can simply bypass these puzzles if you are in a hurry, or if you are finding them too tricky. You won’t be able to get to the final conclusion though if you skip them, and walking back from any you may have missed may get a bit tedious after a while. Completing the puzzles however, and you are given a bit more back-story about Paul, or about the Carter family themselves. The voiceovers from the rest of the family feel a bit wooden at times and considering what some of the family are doing at that time during these flashbacks, there never seems to be any urgency in their voice. This does detract from the immersion because it is quite clear the lines being spoken are read from a sheet in front of them, not least when brother Travis is speaking.

The puzzles themselves are also a bit hit-and-miss. Some, like the abandoned house are really quite clever and you get a genuine internal fist-pump moment when you finally figure it out. Others, like the numerous ‘crime scenes’ that you can solve are simply comprised of putting objects in the correct location to trigger the cutscene. The cutscene though, comes at you in the wrong order, and you need to then cut and paste the smaller scenes into the right order. This part of the puzzle is far more exciting.

As with any game tagged with the word horror, it is worth knowing beforehand if it is going to actually scare you or not. For the enthusiasts out there, you will feel the game coming up short, the horror in the game is very sporadic with only one noteworthy instance, and that came in the form of a jump scare, which is often described as a cheap way to generate scares. It doesn’t feel out of place in the grand context of the game though, as in a way, you’ve been expecting it throughout the journey to that point so when it does arrive, it makes sense and isn’t necessarily a cheap trick. Just don’t forget your big boy pants when you venture down into the mine, ok?

That’s really as much forewarning as you should get with a game like this. Story-wise, the less you know the better, and I think the title gives you as much information as you need to know about what the overall plot is going to be. But you also get out of it what you put into it. You can take your time with it, admire the impressive vistas of the valley and river below as you walk along the bridges, and let it bring you into its world. Pop your headphones in and this really is a game that can absorb you, as you watch the mystery unfold around you and you begin the put the pieces together why you were brought here. This can last between 5-6 hours but it doesn’t feel short in that sense. The summers evening setting gives the impression that everything is happening in real-time so it doesn’t feel rushed. The ending was a nice little twist, but it resulted in me asking more questions than it answered. I was disappointed by the sudden onslaught of swear words at the end though. This is a game that may have its fair share of depicted and suggested violence, but it had done perfectly well without too much profanity until the very last scene, where even a homophobic slur was used. It just felt highly out of place as opposed to me saying all swear words are unnecessary.

The Vanishing of Ethan Carter is certainly an interesting concept; it isn’t your typical game that requires skill or twitch reflexes to be considered good at it. It’s the gaming equivalent of a Sunday after a heavy Saturday night: lazy, relaxed, gentle (if you aren’t hungover). It’s a murder-mystery at its core but the stories told throughout are all widely different, from sci-fi discoveries right through to what goes bump in the night. The varied storytelling though certainly isn’t for everyone, and coupled with the fairly average script and voice acting, can leave you hoping for a bit more of everything. It doesn’t leave you with the emotional gut-punch that narrative driven games have become expected to do, the story just fizzles out at the end. That aside, it does entice you to finish the story and leaves you guessing until the very end, it just needs a bit of polish to neaten all the elements up.