OK, Yes, I Am Interested In This Horror Adventure Game

We’ve known for a little while that The Astronauts, a studio made up of former members of Bulletstorm and Painkiller studio People Can Fly, was moving beyond their action pedigree to make their new game very different. Now we’ve gotten a fresh taste of what it’ll be, and I have to say, I’m intrigued.

The game will be called The Vanishing of Ethan Carter, and The Astronauts describe it as “a weird fiction horror game” for PC. They revealed it a while back along with this teaser trailer:

… which didn’t tell us much about the game.

Today, they’ve released this very cool prequel mini-comic, and while it’s as mysterious as all get out, it’s got me all kinds of interested in Ethan Carter.

Sure, it’s a hoary setup. But I still dig the whole thing, partly because it’s such a dramatic change for the guys making the game and partly because I’m a sucker for this kind of mysterious, King-influenced mystery shit.

I’ve also always thought a lot of Adrian Chmielarz — one third of The Astronauts and the man behind Bulletstorm — and the fact that he wants to do such an extreme about-face, to ditch the big-budget scene and get creative, is good news. He’s always struck me to be a man who makes games with a great deal of conviction, and if he wants to turn that conviction onto a non-AAA-shooter game, I’m all for it. I’m looking forward to learning more.