Like its obvious inspirations – Twin Peaks, mystery fiction – there’s also pleasure to be derived from knowing the answers but seeing all the callbacks and foreshadowing you missed. As such it enables the player to get lost in the world and the details. Playing it again, however, means you know where you’re going and what you’re doing. Which means finding a single, crucial rock in a forest, or a secret entrance somewhere (which is much better signposted in this version), was as tough as it would be in reality. But it soon went too far, with the game’s impressive visuals actually making some puzzles harder – there are no outlines around objects here, no arrow showing you where to go. To begin with this was somewhat refreshing, especially in a world of hand-holding and checkpointing and follow the man-ing. An early game warning (boast?) that it won’t hold your hand rings true for the duration – it’s possible to miss entire story chunks along the way, including the very first puzzle, which you’ll skip if you don’t turn immediately right after arriving in town. If you played it when it launched on PC (or read the reviews) you’ll no doubt be aware how frustrating it could be. Besides: far more interesting than Ethan Carter’s technical achievements (and struggles) is that it’s a much more enjoyable experience the second time around. It never seems to dip to unplayable levels, but instead there’s a more persistent judder that can be quite off-putting, especially for a game filled with wow moments and sweeping vistas. Technically, however, it’s not quite as close: visually Carter looks just as impressive as before, but struggles to maintain a consistent frame rate. In terms of the narrative, if you’ve played it on PC, you know what you’re getting. You do this by encountering grisly crime scenes, amassing clues, and using your reverse-Dead Zone powers to ‘touch’ bodies and piece together what happened. (It doesn’t have a multiplayer mode or anything.) Well, it’s the same content-wise, at least: you’re still Paul Prospero, gruff-voiced bad-dialogue seen-it-all-before man, sent into Red Creek Valley to rescue this kid who’s been writing to you.
A critical darling following its release last year on PC, The Astronauts’ tale of a supernatural detective attempting to find out what’s happened to the eponymous boy is essentially the same experience on PS4.
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