4. The Vanishing Of Ethan Carter
This will be a difficult entry for a couple of reasons. First, this game was a gut punch to me, and revisiting it will no doubt reawaken some of those feelings. More importantly, though, I want to be able to write about it without censoring myself, but spoiling this game's plot for someone would be a horrendous thing for me to do, so I've decided to split this entry into two sections. I will write my initial thoughts completely without any plot spoilers (nothing that wouldn't be found in the game's description on Steam, let's say), and then I'll clearly mark where you should stop reading if you haven't played it yet.
And if you haven't played it yet, go do that right now. As of this writing, Steam's Winter Sale is happening, and this game is a whopping $1.99.
The most notable thing about this game is that you are given almost zero exposition or instruction. It really counts on you to do the legwork of exploring and investigating in order to figure out how to proceed. Upon launch, through some self-narration you learn that you are a paranormal investigator named Paul Prospero, and that you've received a disturbing letter from a 12-year-old boy named Ethan Carter. You apparently found it upsetting enough to travel to the small mining town in Wisconsin where Ethan lives to try to help him.
And...that's it. That's all the instruction you get. It's then up to you to walk around this town and begin inspecting the things you find in order to trigger more exposition and explain more of the story. My favorite mechanic in the game occurs a handful of times when you find the scene of an important event, and suddenly various stages of the event appear around the area, and you must walk around numbering them in the order that they must have happened.
This is where you should stop reading if you haven't already played this game. It's a unique experience, and one that you should not spoil for yourself needlessly by reading any further in this entry or elsewhere about the game before playing it. It's finishable in a single day, so pick it up and you'll have something to do on your next day off.
SPOILERS BELOW HERE!
STOP READING NOW!
REALLY, I MEAN IT!
Seriously, go play the game. Don't be that person. It's $1.99.
You've been warned!
It becomes evident very quickly that very bad things have happened in this place. Adding to the unease of being in a strange place and encountering bloody scenes, there seems to be no other people at all in this town. The houses are all rickety and abandoned. The train station is broken down, even though you seemed to arrive by train, as you began the game in a train tunnel at the edge of town.
As you uncover more of the story, it seems Ethan's family believed in a dark being called The Sleeper. They blamed Ethan for awakening it, and decided that sacrificing him would appease it. His grandfather appeared to empathize with Ethan and even helped him fend off an attack from his brother, but ended up turning on him, his final plan seemingly being to sacrifice both of them to destroy the Sleeper.
All of this, however, turns out to have been one big garden path. There is no Sleeper, no cultish family: Just a very lonely boy whose family neglected and emotionally abused him, which he dealt with by writing elaborate stories, including the adventures of a paranormal investigator named Paul Propsero. While hiding in the room of an abandoned house where he went to escape from his family, Ethan became trapped in an accidental fire. The events of the game take place in the moments before his death; he called on you, the player, to comfort him as he died.
There can be beauty in tragedy, and this game finds that sweet spot. I was so shaken by the ending that even thinking about it today gives me chills. It's so painfully, deeply sad, and it makes you wonder how many Ethan Carters there are out there now who are just lonely, misunderstood, different, creative people who are stuck in unwelcoming environments. There is a lesson in empathy there which all us humans would do good to remember and pass along to others.
