Prospero has been summoned to Red Creek Valley by the writings of Ethan Carter, a young boy with a talent for penning stories, and must piece together the circumstances of his disappearance through exploration and puzzle solving. Players are given the reigns of psychic detective “Paul Prospero” – a man with internal monologue, footstep sounds, but no actual feet as far as I could tell – as he wanders Red Creek Valley. As I ambled through TVoEC I couldn’t help but begin to see it as a prime example of how and why this genre manages to split gamers. I guess I prefer the more neutral “first-person exploration” as a genre, but given how widely recognised it is as a phrase I don’t flinch at the aforementioned divisive terminology which is a microcosm of the divide that this style of game causes. The cynical might call it a “walking simulator” leaning heavily on the negative implications of the phrase whilst the more pro-exploration crowd might also refer to it as a “walking simulator” but in a positive light of a group trying to own what was initially a derogatory term. The affectionately acronym-ed TVoEC ( Pronounced too-voh-eck) jumped out at me x steam sales ago for being a first-person exploration game with some puzzle elements, a supernatural vibe, and seemingly coupled with some healthy reviews & recommendations. I’m not sure if subliminally I was inspired by Steam’s latest “event” which is bizarrely focused on getting gamers to acknowledge their growing backlog of… well, whatever has been picked up for a bargain in the past 200 Steam sales yet never played… but I finally decided to fire up “The Vanishing of Ethan Carter”… then some hours later I finished it. Also, for completeness, I played the Redux version of the game which has a few gameplay tweaks, slightly enhanced graphics, and loading optimisation. I’ve tried to avoid major plot spoilers, but there’s a chance that there are some minor spoilers lurking in the text below.
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