With The Vanishing of Ethan Carter, The Astronauts – a team comprised of People Can Fly (Bulletstorm, Painkiller) veterans – aim to evolve immersive storytelling in games.

You are Paul Prospero, a detective with the supernatural ability to visualize scenes of lethal crimes. You’re investigating the kidnapping of a young boy, hoping to save him before it’s too late.

You receive a disturbing letter from Ethan Carter and realize that the boy is in grave danger. You arrive in Ethan’s home of Red Creek Valley and discover that things are even worse than you imagined.

Ethan has vanished in the wake of a brutal murder. You must figure out what’s happened to the missing boy. Your investigation leads to a beautiful mountain area, where you discover the severely mutilated body of one of the kidnappers.

Using both paranormal skill and modern detective tools, you discover the mystery behind a trail of corpses in the valley as well as the roots of an ancient force ruling the area and the fate of the kidnapped boy.

This developer believes that video games are a largely untapped medium for storytelling. The Vanishing of Ethan Carter tells a multi-layered story while keeping the player completely immersed and constantly engaged, with the unique sense of presence that only video games can offer.

The Vanishing of Ethan Carter is “weird fiction” horror, meaning focus is on atmosphere, mood, and the essential humanity of the characters. It tells a story for adult players that mixes a beautiful world with the haunting and macabre. It’s less about pure terror and more about clammy unease. The emphasis is on exploration and discovery. There is no combat.

The game is currently in development for PC on the latest version of the industry-leading Unreal Engine 3. Release of the game on next-gen platforms is a possibility.