3/5 ★ – Fernofai's review of The Vanishing of Ethan Carter.

I think The Vanishing of Ethan Carter best fits into the genre of walking simulators with some narrative puzzle-solving. You play as an investigator who comes to the beautiful Red Creek Valley, where the eponymous boy Ethan Carter - and apparently his entire family - have gone missing. You can explore the open world at your own pace, although it's clearly separated into linearly arranged areas, each focused on uncovering the fate of one family member. The graphics and environment design in the game are stunning, and there are many moments where I paused to gaze at beautiful, memorable views and landmarks. The game features different kinds of puzzles, with one recurring type that has you put a number of events in the correct order. For me, however, that mostly resulted in trial and error or simple common sense - for example, following the path that some characters walked down - rather than actual application of narrative clues. My favorite puzzle was one where you had to memorize a house's layout and then apply that knowledge by moving through the correct doorways in the ruins of another house. The story that slowly unfolds is nothing special, but it's intriguing enough to keep you engaged. One standout element is the unique twist that young Ethan Carter is making up stories himself, which you can discover and interact with at various points in the world. At first, these seem more like optional collectibles - for which they would be impressively extensive - but later in the game, you're required to go back and find them all to finish the story. The game does provide a form of fast travel so you don't have to backtrack entirely, but for me, it was still somewhat irritating and made the stories themselves less special. In the end, you get about four hours of beautiful visuals, a decent narrative, and some enjoyable puzzles that make The Vanishing of Ethan Carter worth playing.