The Vanishing of Ethan Carter
Give it 4 hours
What the data shows
- In the first 2 hours 1 in 4 reviews are negative (24%); after 5h it's 1 in 17 (6%).
- Fully opens up by hour 5.
- 58% of players who start reach the ending.
- The biggest drop-off is between “Denial” (Solved the death of Chad) and “Anger” (Solved the death of Missy): from 80% to 67% of starters.
- Only 42% of owners have even the first achievement — the rest barely played.
When it gets good
Share of positive reviews by how many hours the reviewer had played when writing the review.
before it gets good opening up fully opened up
Based on all 9,049 Steam reviews in every language. Median playtime in a sample of 299 reviews: 4.6h for positive, 2h for negative. Almost every game is rated lower in the first 2–3 hours: that window includes refunds and quick first impressions. What matters is how deep the dip is and how fast the game recovers.
Where players quit
Share of players who started the game and reached each story milestone. 100% is the most common achievement (41.9% of owners), so people who bought the game and never launched it don't count.
- Started playing 100%
- Sap Survivor's guilt 100%
- Fangs A beast outsmarted 99% −1
- The Wish Wish come true 96% −2
- Depression Solved the death of Travis 88% −9
- Behind the Veil Discovered the magic behind the potions 84% −4
- Denial Solved the death of Chad 80% −3
- Anger Solved the death of Missy Most players quit here 67% −13
- Bargaining Solved the death of Dale 67%
- The Curse of the Sea-Thing The Cursed World 64% −3
- Acceptance Solved the death of Ed 64%
- What happens then? Another story, kid. What else? 58% −5
story milestone ending biggest drop-off
Story milestones were labeled by AI from achievement names and descriptions; mistakes are possible.
All achievements (14)
story milestone ending side
- Sap Survivor's guilt 100%
- Fangs A beast outsmarted 99%
- The Wish Wish come true 96%
- Depression Solved the death of Travis 88%
- Behind the Veil Discovered the magic behind the potions 84%
- Denial Solved the death of Chad 80%
- Anger Solved the death of Missy 67%
- Bargaining Solved the death of Dale 67%
- Home Explored the family house 66%
- The Curse of the Sea-Thing The Cursed World 64%
- Acceptance Solved the death of Ed 64%
- What happens then? Another story, kid. What else? 58%
- The Tunnel Walked towards the light 52%
- Unfinished story Found the sniper rifle 22%