The Astronauts is bringing its upcoming story-driven mystery game The Vanishing of Ethan Carter to PlayStation 4, the studio announced during Sony’s Gamescom press conference.
“The Vanishing of Ethan Carter is a story-driven mystery game that focuses entirely on exploration and discovery, featuring no combat or explosions of any kind,” The Astronauts founder Adrian Chmierlarz said on the PlayStation Blog. “If our game leaves any scars, you won’t be able to see them.”
Players become Paul Prospero, an occult-minded detective who receives a disturbing letter from Ethan Carter. Realizing Carter is in grave danger, Paul arrives at Ethan’s home of Red Creek Valley to find he has vanished in the wake of a brutal murder, which “might not be the only murder to investigate.”
“As I hope you can see from this short description, we’re trying to mix pulp and horror into one cohesive experience,” Chmierlarz said. “And if that makes you suspect we’re making this game inspired by the weird fiction stories and other tales of the macabre from the early 20th century, then you’re on the right track. Writers like Algernon Blackwood, Stefan Grabinski, and of course, the CEO of Cthulhu himself, H.P. Lovecraft have heavily influenced every layer of our narrative and world design.”
Players will explore and interact with the world through first-person perspective gameplay to discover the truth behind Ethan’s disappearance. You’ll conduct the investigation “on your own terms and at your own pace,” and whiile it features “quite a few mental challenges,” it is not quite a puzzle game.
Paradox Interactive and Crackdown 2 developer Ruffian Games are developin Hollowpoint for PlayStation 4, the pair announced at Gamescom. Runemaster, too.