I already regret it buying it for pc, should had wait to play it on ps4, i have to dumb down the antializing to almost nothing and even then sometimes the game dont start, i dont have that beautiful graphics of yours, lol
I already regret it buying it for pc, should had wait to play it on ps4, i have to dumb down the antializing to almost nothing and even then sometimes the game dont start, i dont have that beautiful graphics of yours, lol
On the plus side, it stays in your Steam library forever, and you can have the beautiful experience of upgrading some day, going back and playing old games, and seeing how pretty they can look.
invert Y now works properly on both mouse and gamepad
- can configure arrows keys now as well
- odd line under the black bars removed in modes other than pure 16:9
- players can no longer fall into the elevator shaft
- XXXX no longer attacks during the gate sequence
- story page after the XXXX no longer appears post-section
- checkpoint loads improvements
- checkpoint now auto-saves every time we read a story page or see the murder
- players can no longer inspect items in the total darkness
- various small streaming and lighting improvements
- sniper rifle no scope damage tweaked from 3 to over 9000
- other minor fixes
The graphical style also reminds me a bit of Call of Juarez: Gunslinger. That's another short, polished, fun game, but hugely shooting-oriented instead of exploration-oriented of course.
The graphical style also reminds me a bit of Call of Juarez: Gunslinger. That's another short, polished, fun game, but hugely shooting-oriented instead of exploration-oriented of course.
I beat The Vanishing of Ethan Carter. Here are some scattered impressions.
After a bit of aimless wandering at the start I didn't get stuck even once, which is a positive. It was like the game was always saying "hey, have fun checking this place out", and after I was done with each section I connected what I found and moved on to the next. It wasn't unfair at any point and didn't treat me like an idiot either. Presentation and design were on point.
Very satisfying exploration here. There's no hanholding (like it vehemently proclaims at the start), so you need to explore to discover what's going on. Plus, the atmosphere is rad, the game looks gorgeous, the soundtrack is great and there's a run button.
(Very light gameplay spoilers in the next paragraph.)
I wouldn't say the act of investigating is very deep though. I can see people disagreeing with me on this, but Ethan Carter isn't that structurally different from Gone Home as far as what the game asks of you. This is not a jab against the game, I liked Gone Home. Ethan Carter is more elaborate, there are puzzles and short cutscenes, and the maps are on a bigger scale, but after you understand what the gameplay boils down to and you have the layout of the whole region in your head it's smooth sailing. You're still basically looking for the interactable elements to make the plot advance and understand what happened, and even though you have to do things in a certain order at each area it's always lenient. The puzzles have "aha moments" and there are a couple of sections that may be head scratchers, but most of it gets pretty clear after you saw all the necessary components (which are never too far from each other), especially if you are acquainted with adventure games. But yeah, this was my personal experience and YMMV.
Took me 5 hours. I don't know how long it's taking other people, but I did restart once because of a bug that happened in my playthrough that would supposedly break some puzzles, and I wanted to be on the safe side (this bug was patched today but I had already faced it). Anyway, I definitely got my money's worth. I'm glad I pre-ordered because the bonuses are nice and the soundtrack is pretty cool, with extra mixes and endless loop versions.
So here I am, agonizing over the decision on whether to buy Steam version (which I prefer) for 19 euros, or GOG version for 15 euros, only to realize that thanks to Enhanced Steam the Steam itself is telling me that Nuuvem have the Steam version for 12 euros.
red crosses are ones you *have* done. I thought they were ones you hadn't done. Went back and redid the traps - I'd found them all but I hadn't read the note.
Well, I kind thought I was loosing my mind when I was chasing
the goddamn Astronaut.
Kinda disappointed that's not a thing in the game, could have been super interesting.
I dunno why but I somehow that "Astronaut in a forrest" thing really gets me. I remember Puzzle Agent having the same thing and it was genuinely unnerving for me
Man, don't even joke about that. I want a new Stalker game so bad.
I don't know what it is but games from East Europe really seem to fascinate me. This, Metro, Cryostasis, Pathologic, Stalker and Witcher are all among my favourite games or games I wish I played.
I finally got a chance to check out the "making of" pdf that was included as a pre-order bonus. Tons of pictures of them collecting photographs to use as source material, and lots of references to a process called Photoscan.
Google Photoscan+game textures, first hit is this cool article The Astronauts published on Ethan's game blog. If you wondered how they managed to fill the game with such incredible textures, well, there you have it.
I finally got a chance to check out the "making of" pdf that was included as a pre-order bonus. Tons of pictures of them collecting photographs to use as source material, and lots of references to a process called Photoscan.
Google Photoscan+game textures, first hit is this cool article The Astronauts published on Ethan's game blog. If you wondered how they managed to fill the game with such incredible textures, well, there you have it.
The game was in development for approximately two years, right? I can imagine a solid six months or more of that was just trying to get good enough scans of all the objects/scenery.
The extent they were subject to the weather would increase an already staggering workload.
The game was in development for approximately two years, right? I can imagine a solid six months or more of that was just trying to get good enough scans of all the objects/scenery.
The extent they were subject to the weather would increase an already staggering workload.
I know, right? The pdf is like "here's us making the game", and nearly all of it is photoscanning! The proof is in the pudding however as it was clearly time well spent.
So i started it and even on the lowest settings this game is unplayable on my laptop sadly. Will have to wait for the PS4 release then... well, at least i've supported the devs a little.
I played through the game in one sitting (took a short brake to consult this thread since I was stuck) last night. It was as long as I expected, 3 to 4 hours, which I think is a perfect length for a Gone Home-like game if it isn't more mechanical. Kind of like a movie but a bit longer.
I'm not going to say that my expectations were sky-high, but I was anticipating the release. Not really as patriotic duty, more because I loved Bulletstorm and found the things Chmielarz would talk about in interviews, blog posts and on Twitter post-People Can Fly very interesting and true.
Unfortunately, the game was a bit of a disappointment.
I love how beautiful it looks, really. I think the looks go a very long way to estabilishing the atmosphere. The music and ambient sounds are wonderful, too. I liked investigating the murder scenes, especially how most of them subverted my expectations as to what would happen (what I mean is that
for example, in the first scene I was sure the odl guy would be evil and the young guy was trying to save the boy, similarly at the cemetery
).
However, I think the game not holding my hand was great in theory, perhaps not so good in practice. Apparently you can go and see all the vignettes in whatever order you want, but I there obviously is a clear path through them that works best in terms of narrative and atmosphere. But the spaces are big and open and sometimes it's not clear which of two available ways will fit with the rest.
Most importantly, the story wasn't as good as I had hoped. The final message, the one at the heart of it all, was true and sad, but up to that point it wasn't build up well enough. I loved all the creepy vignettes, especially
the one with the witch. She actually asked some smart and unnerving questions!
But a game like this is ALL story. Gone Home might've taken place in one house, but it was DENSE. A ton of letters, notes, some short stories, a lot of voice over and stuff to check out. Ethan Carter has big, beautiful open spaces, but they feel empty in comparison. In Gone Home the story is told not only through the stuff we read and hear, but also through what we see and observe. I don't believe The Vanishing of Ethan Carter achieved that, not to the same degree at least, and it loses in comparison.
All that was about how the story was conveyed, but the problem is also the story itself. To me it felt kind of... standard, normal. Some weird shit happens, sure, but that's it, a paranormal horror-mystery story. Gone Home was much more personal and human.
Overall, I'm glad it came out and I liked it, but it didn't blow my mind at all, not even a little blob. Didn't grab me like Gone Home did, and, hopefully, Firewatch will. I'm curious what the Astronauts do next and will probably play Ether One soon since I'm in the mood for "walking simulators".
Finished it, loved pretty much every second of it, but
the ending was very sad. So were all the "stories" just that? I feel like my interpretation may have a few holes. My initial thought of the ending was this boy was living a traumatic childhood, evidenced by the verbal abuse several of the characters were hurling at him before the fire. Just to be clear, the paranormal aspects were completely a manifestation of Ethan's correct? Also it seems all the adult characters got away scot free which took me by surprise. If that's the correct interpretation I feel like my ass has been hoodwinked. Also could someone explain why there were all those dingy mats in the cellar area where the fire took place? Was everyone sleeping in there? I hope I got it wrong cause I thought the whole "sleeper" plot was pretty damn good and would hate for that whole thing to just be a story/projection of Ethan's.
Finished it, loved pretty much every second of it, but
the ending was very sad. So were all the "stories" just that? I feel like my interpretation may have a few holes. My initial thought of the ending was this boy was living a traumatic childhood, evidenced by the verbal abuse several of the characters were hurling at him before the fire. Just to be clear, the paranormal aspects were completely a manifestation of Ethan's correct? Also it seems all the adult characters got away scot free which took me by surprise. If that's the correct interpretation I feel like my ass has been hoodwinked. Also could someone explain why there were all those dingy mats in the cellar area where the fire took place? Was everyone sleeping in there? I hope I got it wrong cause I thought the whole "sleeper" plot was pretty damn good and would hate for that whole thing to just be a story/projection of Ethan's.
Yeah everything seems to be imagined by the Boy. Even the player who comes to save the boy from the "sleeper". And yeah I think the adults got away (you don't really know, because the story ends with the Death of Ethan - remember the line on the bridge "I knew for sure that this was to be going my last case"). It's often sad in real life. That's what makes the story great. A story of child abuse in the middle of nowhere. So Ethans only safe haven was the old Vandergriff House where he could be alone with his stories. Until it burned it down because of a carelessness and Ethan died.
All in all ... my favourite game so far for 2014. I love these kind of stories and that atmosphere. Something refreshing next to all that pew pew and big epic stuff.
Yeah everything seems to be imagined by the Boy. Even the player who comes to save the boy from the "sleeper". And yeah I think the adults got away (you don't really know, because the story ends with the Death of Ethan - remember the line on the bridge "I knew for sure that this was to be going my last case"). It's often sad in real life. That's what makes the story great. A story of child abuse in the middle of nowhere. So Ethans only safe haven was the old Vandergriff House where he could be alone with his stories. Until it burned it down because of a carelessness and Ethan died.
All in all ... my favourite game so far for 2014. I love these kind of stories and that atmosphere. Something refreshing next to all that pew pew and big epic stuff.
Thanks for confirming my suspicions. Yeah it's really been staying with me since I finished it, something few games' stories manage to do. I really wish we see more games like this emerge, it's probably my favorite kind of game. The walking simulator/taking in nature scenes with a well told story and light puzzles takes me back to the first kind of games that really got me into gaming which were the old school point and click adventure games of the 90s. When I was playing Ethan it completely took me back to that feeling of exploring strange new lands and trying to figure out what happened at this place. I hope this does well for The Astronauts because I wanna see a whole lot more from them. And please more devs experiment with photogrammetry with your games! So damn pretty.
Thanks for confirming my suspicions. Yeah it's really been staying with me since I finished it, something few games' stories manage to do. I really wish we see more games like this emerge, it's probably my favorite kind of game. The walking simulator/taking in nature scenes with a well told story and light puzzles takes me back to the first kind of games that really got me into gaming which were the old school point and click adventure games of the 90s. When I was playing Ethan it completely took me back to that feeling of exploring strange new lands and trying to figure out what happened at this place. I hope this does well for The Astronauts because I wanna see a whole lot more from them. And please more devs experiment with photogrammetry with your games! So damn pretty.
Yeah, although the story didn't quite hit all marks for me I really appreciate that the game focuses on storytelling and creating a creepy atmosphere. It's the one area which for many years I've felt has been underdeveloped in games. Hopefully The Astronauts sell enough of this game to continue experimenting with it.
You need to replicate the correct rooms in the doorways from the larger two-story house after starting the puzzle in the smaller one (closer to the dam/bridge). My short term memory is awful so I just filmed going through the large house with my smartphone camera and referred to that for the correct sequence. You need to pass through all the doorways too to "clear" them. Once you've passed through the last door in the house (just the last one you've "switched") spin around and you should see the secret room in the doorway you just came through.
I want to buy this but I'm not sure how well my PC will run it. My PC consists of:
i5 750
GTX 460
4 GB ram
It's a bit dated, but it seems it mostly exceeds the minimum requirements on the steam page. Anyone have a clue what general settings I'll be able to hit and keep the game at a playable frame rate?
Did you read the note on the table just by the entrance? That should activate a puzzle which you need to solve to access the hidden room.
Yeah, although the story didn't quite hit all marks for me I really appreciate that the game focuses on storytelling and creating a creepy atmosphere. It's the one area which for many years I've felt has been underdeveloped in games. Hopefully The Astronauts sell enough of this game to continue experimenting with it.
You need to replicate the correct rooms in the doorways from the larger two-story house after starting the puzzle in the smaller one (closer to the dam/bridge). My short term memory is awful so I just filmed going through the large house with my smartphone camera and referred to that for the correct sequence. You need to pass through all the doorways too to "clear" them. Once you've passed through the last door in the house (just the last one you've "switched") spin around and you should see the secret room in the doorway you just came through.
I just tested it for 20min ... Wow just Wow. This game makes your Jaw drop. Runs perfectly at 60fps with 4xMSAA/16xAF on highest settings and is a looker. I have a GTX 770 (and lol it uses 800mb VRAM ... little stab at the Mordor Thread Panic). Easily the best looking Environments in a Game to date. I hope for some SGSSAA Bits soon.
And the atmosphere. Looking forward to playing it later.
Man, I'm disappointed. I really expected more from this game after reading a lot about how this game was trying new things to push forward narrative in video games.
I played through the game in one sitting (took a short brake to consult this thread since I was stuck) last night. It was as long as I expected, 3 to 4 hours, which I think is a perfect length for a Gone Home-like game if it isn't more mechanical. Kind of like a movie but a bit longer.
I'm not going to say that my expectations were sky-high, but I was anticipating the release. Not really as patriotic duty, more because I loved Bulletstorm and found the things Chmielarz would talk about in interviews, blog posts and on Twitter post-People Can Fly very interesting and true.
Unfortunately, the game was a bit of a disappointment.
I love how beautiful it looks, really. I think the looks go a very long way to estabilishing the atmosphere. The music and ambient sounds are wonderful, too. I liked investigating the murder scenes, especially how most of them subverted my expectations as to what would happen (what I mean is that
for example, in the first scene I was sure the odl guy would be evil and the young guy was trying to save the boy, similarly at the cemetery
).
However, I think the game not holding my hand was great in theory, perhaps not so good in practice. Apparently you can go and see all the vignettes in whatever order you want, but I there obviously is a clear path through them that works best in terms of narrative and atmosphere. But the spaces are big and open and sometimes it's not clear which of two available ways will fit with the rest.
Most importantly, the story wasn't as good as I had hoped. The final message, the one at the heart of it all, was true and sad, but up to that point it wasn't build up well enough. I loved all the creepy vignettes, especially
the one with the witch. She actually asked some smart and unnerving questions!
But a game like this hangs is ALL story. Gone Home might've taken place in one house, but it was DENSE. A ton of letters, notes, some short stories, a lot of voice over and stuff to check out. Ethan Carter has big, beautiful open spaces, but they feel empty in comparison. In Gone Home the story is told not only through the stuff we read and hear, but also through what we see and observe. I don't believe The Vanishing of Ethan Carter achieved that, not to the same degree at least, and it loses in comparison.
All that was about how the story was conveyed, but the problem is also the story itself. To me it felt kind of... standard, normal. Some weird shit happens, sure, but that's it, a paranormal horror-mystery story. Gone Home was much more personal and human.[/B]
Overall, I'm glad it came out and I liked it, but it didn't blow my mind at all, not even a little blob. Didn't grab me like Gone Home did, and, hopefully, Firewatch will. I'm curious what the Astronauts do next and will probably play Ether One soon since I'm in the mood for "walking simulators".
Gone Home was very memorable due to the excruciating detail they put into the environment but beyond that it didn't do much for me. The voice acting of the main character killed it for me, and I just didn't connect with her issues. Atmosphere was top notch though. I loved Ethan Carter, thought the paranormal aspects were damn creepy, and the ending had me feeling sadder than most anything I've played. I do think more exposition would have been good but that didn't detract that much from the overall experience.
I'm finding the game interesting but the most off putting thing for me is the frame rate / stutter. The game runs at 60fps most of the time just can't stand it when suddenly drops, I guess I'm a bit anal about such things. Playing on gtx titan with i7 4770k on 1080p AA set to off, everything else on high vsync on.
I'm finding the game interesting but the most off putting thing for me is the frame rate / stutter. The game runs at 60fps most of the time just can't stand it when suddenly drops, I guess I'm a bit anal about such things. Playing on gtx titan with i7 4770k on 1080p AA set to off, everything else on high vsync on.
