The Vanishing of Ethan Carter Reviews

The Vanishing of Ethan Carter is ranked in the 79th percentile of games scored on OpenCritic.
8 / 10
Sep 5, 2019

As the credits roll on this brief but powerful experience, you'll realise a lot is left open to interpretation. For some, that's to be expected. For others, it'll be infuriating. Prospero rarely seems to be in a hurry – even when he bloody should be – and as such, his plodding pace is very much a gamer's Marmite; you'll either love it or hate it… but good grief is this a mystery worth solving.

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8 / 10.0
Aug 15, 2019

When a game starts up showing a warning that establishes it isn’t meant to hold your hand I’ll admit my “Ruh Roh Raggy” meter tends to go off the charts...

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Ken McKown
Top Critic
8 / 10.0
Feb 6, 2018

The Vanishing of Ethan Carter is a solid experience that I really enjoyed taking. It could have benefitted from a little more structure and fleshing out the characters a bit more. Still, it is great to finally have the game come to Xbox, and I am happy to have experienced it.

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Ken McKown
Top Critic
8 / 10.0
Feb 6, 2018

The Vanishing of Ethan Carter is a solid experience that I really enjoyed taking. It could have benefitted from a little more structure and fleshing out the characters a bit more.

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7.8 / 10.0
Feb 2, 2018

The Vanishing of Ethan Carter is a great mix of storytelling and adventure, now available with 4K support on Xbox One X. A definite pick if you missed The Astronauts' debut game on either PC or PlayStation 4.

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8.3 / 10.0
Jan 28, 2018

The Vanishing of Ethan Carter is a game for connoisseurs of games that are visually stunning and and relay on an idea rather than gameplay mechanics. It lasts a few hours and lacks replayability, but the story is quite good and worth playing. Just like Gone Home.

Review in Polish | Read full review

Jan 23, 2018

If you're looking for a gorgeous game with a strong story between those heavy-hitters this month, then be sure to check out The Vanishing of Ethan Carter. Aside from its performance issues, the game is in many ways a masterpiece which every Xbox One owner should consider.

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8.5 / 10.0
Jan 23, 2018

I almost feel this goes without saying, but make sure you see this game through to the end.

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Jan 23, 2018

Although it may not be the most action-packed adventure out there, The Vanishing of Ethan Carter is without a doubt a fantastic game.

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7.3 / 10.0
Jan 22, 2018

Opposite feelings in a game that, on the one hand, we find a visual delight and an absorbing story and, on the other, a repetitive gameplay.

Review in Spanish | Read full review

Jan 22, 2018

The Vanishing of Ethan Carter is an early narrative adventure game that outdoes some of its later counterparts in ambition.

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7.5 / 10.0
Jan 20, 2018

An interesting proposal that we've seen twice before it's Xbox release. Although it's one of the most beautiful games that you can find on Xbox One X, but not one of the longest or fastest.

Review in Spanish | Read full review

Jan 19, 2018

Still a fascinating and darkly magical murder mystery, despite its occasionally unclear signposting.

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Jan 18, 2018

If you have the patience for a lot of wandering about and backtracking there's an intriguing story to experience here, but the expertly crafted atmosphere isn't always enough to mask the occasional gameplay frustration, getting in the way of the storytelling.

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7.5 / 10.0
Jan 18, 2018

The Vanishing of Ethan Carter on Xbox One X was a remarkable time with this being a solid narrative driven experience.

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8.5 / 10.0
Jan 17, 2018

The Vanishing of Ethan Carter has been a great way to start off the gaming year for me.

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80 / 100
Jan 15, 2018

It's clear that the developers had a vision when making The Vanishing of Ethan Carter, a solid single-player narrative where the player was given a little direction on how to uncover the game's mysteries.

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Evan Norris
Top Critic
6 / 10.0
Jan 12, 2018

By focusing on the unique story-delivery mechanisms of video games and providing a sufficient level of interactivity, The Vanishing of Ethan Carter side-steps many of the pitfalls associated with narrative-driven adventure games, even as it struggles to escape the sub-genre's orbit.

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8 / 10
Jan 10, 2018

The Vanishing of Ethan Carter's too much focus on story telling might prevent it from offering a true adventure experience, but nevertheless the story, atmosphere and world design is so solid that you'll just love it.

Review in Persian | Read full review

Cubed3
Top Critic
5 / 10
Oct 3, 2015

The Astronauts made an interesting experiment with The Vanishing of Ethan Carter, and while the team's attempt to tell some kind of tragic and emotional story is kind of effective, the overall gameplay, which serves as the grubby middleman that glues the whole tapestry together, is just not the hours wandering around in the Wisconsin woods. This probably would have made for a great novel instead of a video game.

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