2019: Walkthrough by: Louis Koot
If you have found this walkthrough via google search or via another site then you have probably not visited my site.
A lot more very detailed game walkthroughs can be found on my site at: www.pcgameswalkthroughs.nl
NB: The Text that I have written on the Screenshots is in the Dutch language. Those screenshots come from my original Dutch walkthrough. I do not have this game anymore so I can't make new screenshots for this English version of the walkthrough, and I haven't got the energy to write also English text on every single one of these screenshots. So you will have to make do with them.....
Moving around, Saving and Inventory
The Vanishing of Ethan Carter is a horror adventure game. You move through the game via the WSAD keys of your keyboard or via the arrow keys. For the rest, use your mouse. You can not save yourself because the game has an auto-save function. You must therefore continue playing until a Save Point has been reached and unfortunately those Save Points are far away from each other. The Auto- saves always happen when a puzzle is solved. When you reach a save point, the message "Saving Scene" appears in the upper right corner of the screen. Once you see this message, you know that the game has been saved and you can leave the game to continue playing from that point onwards. . If you quit the game between 2 save points, you will loose your progress from the last save point.
The game has no Inventory ....When you find an item that you need to use elsewhere in the game, then left click to store the item in Paul's pocket. You can not open an inventory yourself. Paul can only carry one item with him and at the moment that you have to use that item it is automatically taken out of its pocket.
You play as Paul Prospero and you are a "detective" with the supernatural ability to visualize scenes of murders. Your help is usually asked when the police do not want to help and the priests do not want to believe that there are supernatural powers at work. You have received a letter from one Ethan Carter, a boy of about 12 years old. Ethan tells in his letter about things that a boy of his age should not really have to see. So you travel to Red Creek Valley to find Ethan Carter, but to do this you first have to figure out what horrifying things this place is hiding
Chapter 1: Traps in the Forest:
The game starts in a railway tunnel. Listen to Paul Prospero as he walks through the tunnel ........
When Paul reaches the end of the tunnel, your screen fills with "fire" and then we are in a forest. As mentioned in the introduction Paul Prospero has supernatural abilities and you should use that to find out what is happening in the forest, and in Red Creek Valley, with that kid Ethan Carter. Take a few steps forward on the rails. To the right a forest path goes into the forest, between the trees.... Do not take that right path because we will first investigate the forest on the left side of the rail
Continue to the telegraph pole and turn left ..... You look into the forest. Straight ahead is a low bush between 2 trees. Walk to that bush ..... the bush has blue flower buds.
Behind the bush you see a few large boulders. Walk on to those boulders, At the left boulder is a shrub with purple flowers .....Get ready for a fright ..... Walk between the two boulders further ahead and ......in the grass Trap 1 will go open. Paul must use his supernatural ability to reconstruct who, or what, has stepped into this trap .......
The game "tells" you what to do ..... Walk through to the trap ..... The "Sense" word then turns orange ....... press and hold down the left mouse button and........Paul gets a vision from the past ...... In the segment you see a field with bones and skulls ........ The vision is not complete yet. Paul has to find 4 more traps in the forest to make the vision complete.
Release your left mouse button .... the "portal" disappears. Further on you see a few boulders lying next to the trees.
Walk on to those boulders and then continue to the next trees and ......
Trap 2 pops up in the tall grass. Make sure that "Sense" turns orange.
Then press your left mouse button again and keep it pressed again and ...... the 2nd part of the vision appears.
Let go of your mouse button to make the vision disappear again. Walk past trap 2 through the dense bushes back to the rail and then follow the rail 2 steps further to the left.
The rail is then blocked by rocks. Turn right ... You are now looking at the forest on the right side of the rail and you see a bush and further on rocks. Walk to the bush and ....
Trap 3 is revealing itself. Press and hold your left mouse button again on the trap and .... the vision is extended again with an other part
Release your mouse button and walk back to the rail and follow the rail back to just before the tunnel.
Turn left and follow the forest path between the trees and
When you walk between the two trees, Trap 4 will become visible.....Well ... you know the drill now ....
Press and hold left button to get the vision bigger again. Release mouse button to make the vision disappear again. Climb, behind Trap 4, up the rocks
You end up on the other side of the rocks. Walk a little further, until you just stand before the front tree, then turn right and .... you will see Trap 5 in the grass ...
Shuffle towards trap 5 and it then pops up. Press your left mouse button again on the yellow "Sense" word and ......... the vision is now complete and ....
..... Paul is now in the vision .... the environment has changed ... You have been teleported to a clearing in the forest and are staring at the trunk of a tree. The field around the tree is covered with skulls and bones. There is a note lying at the tree. Move closer to the note .... "Read" will then turn orange
Press your left mouse button to pick up the note. You see the note in close-up and the game tells you what you can do with it.
You can turn the note around to also read the other side. By pressing your spacebar you can read the text better.
By pressing your right mouse button you can zoom in even further .... Oh well ... the game explains it fine. Read the "Juice" text
When you have read the text then left click to put the note back against the tree .... You hear Ethan and his grandfather Ed .......
Ethan is in a place where he really does not want to be and he has written down the story for his grandfather Ed, but Grandpa does not want to read the story now.
Turn around .... You can see the remains of a campfire and the game now announces that you have reached an Auto-Save point. You can now close the game to continue playing from here. In the ashes of the campfire is another piece of a charred newspaper that burned here is lit.
Pick up the piece of charred newspaper from the ashes and read the 2 articles. You can rotate the piece of newspaper and read the 2 texts via your space bar. One article tells about a house in which 1 person died and the 2nd article tells us that the "Vandegriff Heirs did not receive any answers during a public hearing "
Left click to place the piece of newspaper back in the ashes.
Turn back to the tree and now go left of the tree back into the forest and then follow the long forest path back to the rail.
The forest path takes you back to the railroad track but you are now on the other side of the rock barrier and at the Railway Bridge over the reservoir.
Well ...... walk over the railway bridge to the other side .... With your Shift key pressed you can run but you always have to "adjust" your direction with your walking keys.
On the other side of the bridge you will come to:
Chapter 2: The Railcar:
Find the Crank:
Walk against the "nose" of the railcar .... On the bumper you see blood traces and a rod where a crank must be placed .....
"Inspect" appears on the bumper of the railcar, so left click and ...
You are now investigating the bumper and you see the thoughts of Paul about this object .... Now all kinds of words appear ... these words are a reflection of Paul's thoughts ..... Every time Paul sees an object up close you see in white words, what he thinks and what conclusions he draws ... When only 1 word remains in white then Paul's conclusion has become an established fact .........
The word "Crank" appears here several times and all those "Crank" words go spinning around each other .... You have to make sure that all white "Crank" words coincide to 1 word and then become orange .. While the "Crank" words rotate, turn to the right and walk towards the right handrail of the bridge and ..... on the shelves of the bridge all white "Crank" words will be combined into 1 word and that word become orange.......
Left click the orange "Crank" word and ..... in a vision you see where the Crank of the railcar can be found ...... down at the lake ......
Ok .... we have to find that Crank to start the Railcar. Walk forward along the right side of the railcar ..... Do not step (Enter) into the railcar because you must find the Crank first. Beyond the railcar you come to a railroad crossing .... Keep walking on the rail and follow the rail further .....
Past the trees you come to a Rope, which is on the rail ...... next to the rail is a square boulder. "Inspect" the rope ....
you see Paul's thoughts on the rope and the rope gets the name tag "Rope"
Walk on and .... a little further there's is a bloody mess on the rail because ..... there is a severed leg on the rail. "Inspect" the leg and it then gets the name tag "Severed Leg". The blood trail goes from the rail to the right but do not follow the blood trail yet ... Continue on the rail.
A few steps past the severed leg you see a tree stump in the tall grass, left of the rail. Walk to the tree stump and then look to the left of the stump ....
There is a round rock in the grass, next to the tree stump. "Inspect" the rock and then left click to store the rock in Paul's pocket
Return to the rail and continue on the rail. Another few steps past the tree stump there is a red petrol canister next to the rail and in the rail is a place where the grass is flattened. You get "Inspect" on the jerry can and on that grass spot. "Inspect" the jerry can and the grass spot between the rail. Paul's conclusion is that the Railcar has been here. The jerry can and the spot in the rail receive a name tag
Walk further along the rail .... The rail is then blocked by rocks .... Just before the rock barrier you see, on the left, a pile of rocks ..
.in front of the rock boulders is a wooden sign in the grass. Walk to that pile of rocks
Make sure you are as close as possible to the rock boulders ..... There is a pool of mud between the boulders and in the mud there is a hole ... Click "Inspect" and then "Rock fix" and ....
Paul automatically places the round rock, you picked up earlier, in the hole and you hear a sound.
You have activated the Reconstruction Puzzle, but to really "start" the puzzle you have to bring the Railcar to the red jerry can.
Now walk back to the severed leg and then follow the blood trail to the left, over the path that goes down to the lake. ..... At the top of the path you come to the corpse
It is only half a dead body because it misses the lower part. One of the severed legs of this corpse is on the rail tracks.
"Inspect" the corpse .... The corpse also gets a name tag
You can then touch the corpse via "Touch" but you will receive a message that there is no vision available yet.
The path meanders further down to the lake and at the lake is the Crank, as you have seen in the vision at the Railcar. So follow the path down to the lake
When you are almost down you can cut off the last bend by going down the slope to the lake.
Walk to the shore of the lake and, between the boulders, you will find the Crank.
"Inspect" the Crank and left click to store the Crank in Paul's pocket
Ok .... climb back up to half of the way through the ramp and then continue to the rail. Walk back over the rail track to the railway bridge and the Railcar
Drive with the Railcar to the red Jerry can:
Walk to the front of the railcar and make sure you are almost against the front bumper again. Then "Crank fix" appears, so left click and ..... the Crank is now inserted into the locomotive and "Spin Crank" appears .... Now press repeatedly, and quickly in succession, your left mouse button to move the Crank. turn around and keep doing this until you hear that the engine of the Railcar is working. You can not click further when it's done and the crank disappears. You have started the rail car now.
Go to the right side of the locomotive and then click "Enter" to climb into the locomotive. You are immediately in front of the dashboard. On the left is the start / drive lever. To the right is the on / off button that you keep away from with your greasy fingers. With your W and S keys or with your Arrow Down, Arrow Up key, you pull the Lever down or push the Lever up. Lowering the Lever is driving backwards, pushing the Lever up is driving forward. You can not drive the rail car forwards now, so pull the lever down and.......
...... you drive backwards with the railcar ...... You have to drive the rail cart to the red Jerry can.
So turn around to look out the back window, or look sideways through the doorway to "spot" the red jerry can .....
When you think you have almost taken the railcar completely past the red jerry can, quickly push the starter lever back up to stop the rail cart .... You have to stop when you see the red jerry can go from the doorway of the locomotive, so the railcar must not be driven completely past the jerry can. Click "Exit" to exit the locomotive and.......
If you have brought the rail cart to the right place, see the picture below, then you will hear the sound that you heard when you placed the round boulder in the hole .... The Jerry can must lie between the front wheels so that the locomotive is exactly on the spot with the piece of crushed grass that lies between the rails. Is this not the case because you have driven too far, then step back into the rail car and then drive forward to bring the rail car to the right spot
C: Visualize the murder of Travis:
Ok .... now that you have driven the Railcar to the red jerry can and, earlier, have placed the round rock into the hole, it is time to reconstruct how that half body has ended up, here on the path, and who he was when he was still a living soul. So go back to the half body now and touch the corpse now via "Touch" and ....... you will now enter into the Vision of the Murder of Travis ......
The world turns pale blue and white rays rises from the corpse ..... the white rays go to each of the 6 places you have explored and ........ then there appear sparkling points of light ... . Granddad Ed and Ethan Carter appear at the corpse. The half body is still alive and it is Travis.
Now walk, from the corpse, to the other 5 places ... as soon as you get close, the sparkling bright spots, from the people who have a leading role in the drama change. On the rail, Ethan Carter is tied up and Travis is stooped beside him. Travis appears where the severed leg is on the rails
At the rail car we see Granddad Ed and Travis and at the rock boulders appears Granddad Ed who takes the round rock out of the hole.
Number the scenes in the correct order
You now have to number the 6 scenes in the right order. Go to each of the scenes .... at each scene appears "Chronology" and the mouse icon ......
You have to give the scenes a number tag from 1 to 6 ..... in the order in which the scenes took place.
First go to Ethan Carter and Travis ...... Ethan is tied to the rail and Travis is sitting next to him ....This is Scene 1 ...
With your Q and your E keys you set the number. So make sure you give this scene the number 1.
Go back to the rock boulders .... Grandpa Ed takes the rock out of the hole .... This is scene 2.
Scene 3 is at the rail car and scene 4 is Travis, who's is on the rail at the location of the leg.
So number the scene at the railcar as number 3 and Travis on the rail as scene 4
Go to the creeping half corpse at the beginning of the path and give it the number 5. Scene 6 is then the half body of Travis, which has crept along a bit further.
When you have numbered all the scenes correctly then you are back at Scene 6 ...... you now see "Visualize" so press your space bar and ........
You now see how Travis is cruelly murdered by Granddad Ed
Travis, or granddad, has Ethan tied up on the rail ... they talk to each other for a moment and then Travis walks away.
We then see Granddad Ed taking the boulder out of the hole .....
Travis and granddad meet at the railcar and ...... Granddad slams Travis on the back of his head with the rock .......
Half groggy Travis has crept towards Ethan but he does not make it .... We see that Ethan knows how to free himself and then .........
Grandpa Ed drives with the railcar over the poor Travis and Travis looses both legs.
But Travis is still alive and he is dragging his, now half body, to the beginning of the path ..... Grandpa and Ethan appear at Travis .... Grandpa has taken the Crank and screams that Ethan must run away ... In scene 6, Granddad smashes Travis's brains in with the Crank .....
Then white rays rise again from the body of Travis ..... Follow the white ray ..... the white ray descends below the lake ... and Scene 7 will appear there.
So descend the path back to the lake and ..... if you walk down the path to the sparkling lights you will see Scene 7 ....
Grandpa is really sorry but he can not let Ethan live .... but .... Ethan guesses what grandpa is planning and runs away.
Chapter 3: The Astronaut and the Space capsule
Your screen is back to normal because you are back in everyday reality. So you are now down at the lake.
Straight ahead a path goes back up to the rail, so follow that path ... while you hear Paul musing about grandpa.
The path brings you back up and at the rail. Further on are a few freight wagons are on the rail......
Continue until just before the rear freight car and then turn left ..... you look back into the forest
First of all you have to search in the forest for a Pole with 4 screens that you have to touch with your hand ...... I call it the Hand pole and it is your starting point for your race with the Astronaut.
From the rail you look into the forest and you stare at a group of trees in the distance ..... From the rail walk straight on, to that group of trees .......
When you are closer to the tree group you will see a somewhat denser grove in the distance and a few large stones in the high grass.
On the screenshot below I have numbered those stones 1, 2 and 3.
Go to stone 2 and stand straight ..... Walk over stone 2 and then straight through to stone 3 .... From stone 3 it goes up slightly ...
. so walk over stone 3 and then further up to point 4 and ......
..... point 4 is in the middle of the dense vegetation and here is a pole with 4 white screens .... this is the Hand Pole
Go straight in front of the Hand Pole ..... A Hand appears on the screens. If you click on a screen, that screen will turn blue or red ..... Blue is good, red is not good.
So you have to get all 4 screens blue. The solution for this Hand pole puzzle is always different, but it is not that complicated .....
You have to click the 4 screens in a certain order so that all 4 screens turn blue ....
If you get red then you have to try again, just as long until you have the right order and all 4 screens are blue. And then ...... appears the Astronaut:
Follow the Astronaut:
The Astronaut turns around and runs away and you are meant to follow him ...... The Astronaut zaps himself away every time but then pops up again and will wait for you until you have almost reached him and then he runs away again .... So always run to the Astronaut and then look carefully in which direction he runs away and then follow the Astronaut again. Always keep walking / running in straight lines .....
If you loose track of the Astronaut then you will be hopelessly lost in the forest and you will have to do this piece all over again, starting from the Hand pole ..... If you are lost and / or you can not see the Astronaut again, make sure you return to the freight wagons on the rail and then go back to the Hand Post and make the 4 screens turn blue again to make the Astronaut appear again and go chasing the Astronaut again.
The Astronaut always follows the same route through the forest, so try to memories that route so that, after having started again for the 200 times, you can complete this "Follow the Astronaut" in your 201st attempt. I can not help you here, but maybe the following screenshots, that I made during the pursuit of the Astronaut, will be of any help to you .... they give you the only correct route .....
The Astronaut has led you through the forest to a large open space ..... and he is waiting for you ....
So run one more time in the direction of the Astronaut and ........ The Space capsule appears ....
The Astronaut is then beamed up to the space capsule and disappeared for good. Also run into the blue ray and ......
You are sucked into the space capsule and the capsule takes you through a wormhole to another part of the Universe, far from the Earth.
When you have regained control, turn around in the capsule ... Look up and down .....
find the small bench at the white round hatch .... a note will appear on the bench .....
Zoom in on the note and "Read" the note You can turn the note around again.
On one side is the "Fang" story and on the other side a drawing. Read the "Fang Story and ......
Left click then to put the Note down again (Accept) and ...... you end up back from the vision on Earth and are back in the forest and in a lookout hut .... The "Fang" note is also here, so you can read the "Fang" story again if you want. Turn around and ....... In the distance you see a station ..... so we are back in the forest:
To the other side of the reservoir:
Walk to the train station ...... Also the station is in a somewhat deplorable state ....
Beyond the station, the rail goes further and along side the rail is a forest road. Follow the rail, or the forest road now further through the forest and .....
..... Beyond the wagons we end up at the railroad crossing and the Dam
Cross over the dam to the other side ....... On the other side there is, on the left side , a house on top of a hill and a bigger house on a smaller hill. The road bends to the right and in the bend a path goes up to the left house on the hill but also a path goes into the woods and to the elevator. We have arrived in:
Chapter 4: The 2 houses beyond the Dam:
2015: Original Dutch Walkthrough by: Louis Koot
2019: English translation and screenshots by: Louis Koot