Games like The Vanishing of Ethan Carter
If The Vanishing of Ethan Carter is your kind of game, the closest matches are The Painscreek Killings, Murdered: Soul Suspect and Firewatch — picked from the ranked list below. Reviewers single out its challenging yet rewarding puzzles, stunning environments and unique story telling approach. Each pick is ranked by what players of this game also play, shared genres and tags, and review-mined similarity — not a generic popularity list.
Get personalized picks →The Vanishing of Ethan Carter is a 2014 first-person mystery adventure from The Astronauts that centers on exploration, puzzle-solving, and story revelation. Set in a mysterious environment, the game tasks players with investigating events through non-linear exploration and environmental puzzles tied to uncovering the narrative. Players describe it as atmospheric and immersive, with reviewers highlighting challenging-yet-rewarding puzzles and a unique storytelling approach. The game runs around three to four hours in length and supports play on Steam Deck, with an 86% positive rating from over 4,100 Steam reviews and a Metacritic score of 82. Priced at $19.99 USD, it offers a chill, sit-down solo experience for fans of story-rich adventures.
About The Vanishing of Ethan Carter: The Vanishing of Ethan Carter is a first-person story-driven mystery. Purchase this game to get both the original and the Unreal Engine 4 remaster called The Vanishing of Ethan Carter Redux.
Players who liked The Vanishing of Ethan Carter also play
Steam players who put hours into The Vanishing of Ethan Carter also tend to own these titles — a signal called collaborative filtering. imho.run cross-references millions of library ownership patterns to surface games whose real audiences overlap, regardless of whether their genre tags match.
The Painscreek Killings
WHY THIS
Top pick for The Vanishing of Ethan Carter fans by collaborative filtering across millions of Steam libraries. Shares Indie and Adventure with The Vanishing of Ethan Carter.
Investigate an infamous cold case in the eerie, abandoned town of Painscreek. Search for evidence, connect the dots and uncover who killed Vivian Roberts. Can you expose the truth behind this town’s dark secrets?
Murdered: Soul Suspect
WHY THIS
Shares exploration, puzzle solving and an atmospheric mood with The Vanishing of Ethan Carter.
Second-strongest match for The Vanishing of Ethan Carter fans by collaborative filtering across millions of Steam libraries. Shares Adventure with The Vanishing of Ethan Carter.
MURDERED: SOUL SUSPECT™ takes players into a whole new realm of mystery where the case is personal and the clues just out of reach, challenging gamers to solve the hardest case of all… their own murder.
Firewatch
WHY THIS
Shares an atmospheric mood with The Vanishing of Ethan Carter.
Third-strongest match for The Vanishing of Ethan Carter fans by collaborative filtering across millions of Steam libraries. Shares Indie and Adventure with The Vanishing of Ethan Carter.
Firewatch is a single-player first-person mystery set in the Wyoming wilderness, where your only emotional lifeline is the person on the other end of a handheld radio.
Kona
WHY THIS
Shares an atmospheric mood with The Vanishing of Ethan Carter.
Ranked #4 for The Vanishing of Ethan Carter fans by collaborative filtering across millions of Steam libraries. Shares Indie and Adventure with The Vanishing of Ethan Carter.
Northern Canada, 1970. A strange blizzard ravages Atamipek Lake. Step into the shoes of a detective to explore the eerie village, investigate surreal events, and battle the elements to survive. Kona is a chilly interactive tale you won't soon forget.
Call of Cthulhu®
WHY THIS
Shares an atmospheric mood with The Vanishing of Ethan Carter.
Ranked #5 for The Vanishing of Ethan Carter fans by collaborative filtering across millions of Steam libraries. Shares Adventure with The Vanishing of Ethan Carter.
1924. Private Investigator Pierce is sent to look into the tragic death of the Hawkins family. Plunge into a world of creeping madness and cosmic horror. Cryptic clues, shadowy figures, and pure terror bar your way as you fight to retain your sanity and solve an otherworldly mystery.
Transient: Extended Edition
WHY THIS
Shares an atmospheric mood with The Vanishing of Ethan Carter.
Ranked #6 for The Vanishing of Ethan Carter fans by collaborative filtering across millions of Steam libraries. Shares Indie and Adventure with The Vanishing of Ethan Carter.
H.P. Lovecraft meets Cyberpunk. Delve deep into a dystopian world and investigate what is happening to you and your friends in a domed city. Solve puzzles, hack systems and plug in to explore other dimensions. Discover a truth that might tear apart your sanity and question your very existence.
Enigma of Fear
WHY THIS
Shares puzzle solving and an atmospheric mood with The Vanishing of Ethan Carter.
Ranked #7 for The Vanishing of Ethan Carter fans by collaborative filtering across millions of Steam libraries. Shares Indie and Adventure with The Vanishing of Ethan Carter.
Become Mia, a paranormal detective searching for her missing father inside the Perimeter - a place that doesn't exist. Investigate clues like a real detective and unravel the mysteries behind the Enigma of Fear, defeating the terrible monsters who'll try to stop you.
The Gap
WHY THIS
Shares an atmospheric mood with The Vanishing of Ethan Carter.
Ranked #8 for The Vanishing of Ethan Carter fans by collaborative filtering across millions of Steam libraries. Shares Indie and Adventure with The Vanishing of Ethan Carter.
Driven by a rare neurological affliction plaguing his family, Joshua has to recover his memories by exploring parallel realities through déjà vu. Facing the innermost depths of his past – moments both joyous and painful – seems to be the only way to get his life and family back together.
Reviewers mention these as similar to The Vanishing of Ethan Carter
Surfaced from review text: when other players write 'if you liked X, try Y', we catch the name and resolve it back to a Steam game.
Everybody's Gone to the Rapture
WHY THIS
Shares an atmospheric mood with The Vanishing of Ethan Carter.
Reviewers of The Vanishing of Ethan Carter cross-mention this title as a similar play. Shares Indie and Adventure with The Vanishing of Ethan Carter.
Featuring a beautiful, detailed open-world and a haunting soundtrack, Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture is non-linear storytelling at its best.
Dear Esther
WHY THIS
Shares an atmospheric mood with The Vanishing of Ethan Carter.
Reviewers of The Vanishing of Ethan Carter cross-mention this title as a similar play. Shares Indie and Adventure with The Vanishing of Ethan Carter.
Begin a journey through one of the most original first-person games of recent years.
Gone Home
WHY THIS
Shares an atmospheric mood with The Vanishing of Ethan Carter.
Reviewers of The Vanishing of Ethan Carter cross-mention this title as a similar play. Shares Indie and Adventure with The Vanishing of Ethan Carter.
June 7th, 1995. 1:15 AM. You arrive home after a year abroad. You expect your family to greet you, but the house is empty. Something's not right. Where is everyone? And what's happened here? Unravel the mystery for yourself in Gone Home, a story exploration game from The Fullbright Company.
Ether One
WHY THIS
Shares an atmospheric mood with The Vanishing of Ethan Carter.
Reviewers of The Vanishing of Ethan Carter cross-mention this title as a similar play. Shares Indie and Adventure with The Vanishing of Ethan Carter.
Ether One is a first person adventure that deals with the fragility of the human mind. There are two paths in the world you can choose from. At its core is a story exploration path free from puzzles where you can unfold the story at your own pace.
Papo & Yo
WHY THIS
Shares puzzle solving and an atmospheric mood with The Vanishing of Ethan Carter.
Reviewers of The Vanishing of Ethan Carter cross-mention this title as a similar play. Shares Indie and Adventure with The Vanishing of Ethan Carter.
Quico’s best friend, Monster, is a huge beast with razor-sharp teeth, but that doesn’t scare Quico away from playing with him. That said, Monster does have a very dangerous problem: an addiction to poisonous frogs.
SOMA
WHY THIS
Shares exploration, puzzle solving and an atmospheric mood with The Vanishing of Ethan Carter.
Reviewers of The Vanishing of Ethan Carter cross-mention this title as a similar play. Shares Indie and Adventure with The Vanishing of Ethan Carter.
From the creators of Amnesia: The Dark Descent comes SOMA, a sci-fi horror game set below the waves of the Atlantic ocean. Struggle to survive a hostile world that will make you question your very existence.
The Beginner's Guide
WHY THIS
Shares an atmospheric mood with The Vanishing of Ethan Carter.
Reviewers of The Vanishing of Ethan Carter cross-mention this title as a similar play. Shares Indie and Adventure with The Vanishing of Ethan Carter.
The Beginner's Guide is a narrative video game from Davey Wreden, the creator of The Stanley Parable. It lasts about an hour and a half and has no traditional mechanics, no goals or objectives. Instead, it tells the story of a person struggling to deal with something they do not understand.
What Remains of Edith Finch
WHY THIS
Shares an atmospheric mood with The Vanishing of Ethan Carter.
Reviewers of The Vanishing of Ethan Carter cross-mention this title as a similar play. Shares Indie and Adventure with The Vanishing of Ethan Carter.
What Remains of Edith Finch is a collection of strange tales about a family in Washington state. As Edith, you’ll explore the colossal Finch house, searching for stories as she explores her family history and tries to figure out why she's the last one in her family left alive.
Cheaper alternatives
Games in the same vein priced at least 40% below The Vanishing of Ethan Carter at current Steam store prices.
Terraria
WHY THIS
Priced ~50% under The Vanishing of Ethan Carter on Steam right now. Shares Indie and Adventure with The Vanishing of Ethan Carter.
Dig, fight, explore, build! Nothing is impossible in this action-packed adventure game. Four Pack also available!
Garry's Mod
WHY THIS
Priced ~75% under The Vanishing of Ethan Carter on Steam right now. Shares Indie with The Vanishing of Ethan Carter.
Garry's Mod is a physics sandbox. There aren't any predefined aims or goals. We give you the tools and leave you to play.
Lethal Company
WHY THIS
Priced ~50% under The Vanishing of Ethan Carter on Steam right now. Shares Indie and Adventure with The Vanishing of Ethan Carter.
A co-op horror about scavenging at abandoned moons to sell scrap to the Company.
People Playground
WHY THIS
Priced ~50% under The Vanishing of Ethan Carter on Steam right now. Shares Indie with The Vanishing of Ethan Carter.
Shoot, stab, burn, poison, tear, vaporise, or crush ragdolls in a large open space.
Vampire Survivors
WHY THIS
Priced ~75% under The Vanishing of Ethan Carter on Steam right now. Shares Indie with The Vanishing of Ethan Carter.
Mow down thousands of night creatures and survive until dawn! Vampire Survivors is a gothic horror casual game with rogue-lite elements, where your choices can allow you to quickly snowball against the hundreds of monsters that get thrown at you. Be the bullet hell!
PEAK
WHY THIS
Priced ~60% under The Vanishing of Ethan Carter on Steam right now. Shares Indie and Adventure with The Vanishing of Ethan Carter.
PEAK is a co-op climbing game where the slightest mistake can spell your doom. Either solo or as a group of lost nature scouts, your only hope of rescue from a mysterious island is to scale the mountain at its center. Do you have what it takes to reach the PEAK?
Free alternatives
Free-to-play games that recommended players of this title also tend to enjoy.
Doki Doki Literature Club!
WHY THIS
Free-to-play pick from the same recommendation pool — no purchase to try it. Shares Indie with The Vanishing of Ethan Carter.
The Literature Club is full of cute girls! Will you write the way into their heart? This game is not suitable for children or those who are easily disturbed.
Life is Strange - Episode 1
WHY THIS
Free-to-play pick from the same recommendation pool — no purchase to try it. Shares Adventure with The Vanishing of Ethan Carter.
Episode 1 now FREE! Life is Strange is an award-winning and critically acclaimed episodic adventure game that allows the player to rewind time and affect the past, present and future.
Ultimate Custom Night
WHY THIS
Free-to-play pick from the same recommendation pool — no purchase to try it. Shares Indie with The Vanishing of Ethan Carter.
Welcome to the ultimate FNAF mashup, featuring 50 selectable characters and custom difficulties!
ENA: Dream BBQ
WHY THIS
Free-to-play pick from the same recommendation pool — no purchase to try it. Shares Indie and Adventure with The Vanishing of Ethan Carter.
Experience surreal environments and inexplicable characters as ENA in a new wild world.
The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog
WHY THIS
Free-to-play pick from the same recommendation pool — no purchase to try it. Shares Indie with The Vanishing of Ethan Carter.
Sonic the Hedgehog...was murdered!? Get to the bottom of the mystery in this brand-new adventure!
Indigo Park: Chapter 1
WHY THIS
Free-to-play pick from the same recommendation pool — no purchase to try it. Shares Indie and Adventure with The Vanishing of Ethan Carter.
Explore the abandoned childhood wonder of Indigo Park! Guided by Rambley the Raccoon, help restore power to the destroyed amusement park while you run from the reason it shut down.
Narrow it down
Head-to-head comparisons
Plays great on Steam Deck
Valve-Verified or Playable picks from the similar pool — ready to go on Deck out of the box.
Murdered: Soul Suspect
WHY THIS
Shares exploration, puzzle solving and an atmospheric mood with The Vanishing of Ethan Carter.
Deck Verified — runs on Steam Deck out of the box. Shares Adventure with The Vanishing of Ethan Carter.
MURDERED: SOUL SUSPECT™ takes players into a whole new realm of mystery where the case is personal and the clues just out of reach, challenging gamers to solve the hardest case of all… their own murder.
Firewatch
WHY THIS
Shares an atmospheric mood with The Vanishing of Ethan Carter.
Deck Verified — runs on Steam Deck out of the box. Shares Indie and Adventure with The Vanishing of Ethan Carter.
Firewatch is a single-player first-person mystery set in the Wyoming wilderness, where your only emotional lifeline is the person on the other end of a handheld radio.
Kona
WHY THIS
Shares an atmospheric mood with The Vanishing of Ethan Carter.
Deck Verified — runs on Steam Deck out of the box. Shares Indie and Adventure with The Vanishing of Ethan Carter.
Northern Canada, 1970. A strange blizzard ravages Atamipek Lake. Step into the shoes of a detective to explore the eerie village, investigate surreal events, and battle the elements to survive. Kona is a chilly interactive tale you won't soon forget.
Call of Cthulhu®
WHY THIS
Shares an atmospheric mood with The Vanishing of Ethan Carter.
Deck Verified — runs on Steam Deck out of the box. Shares Adventure with The Vanishing of Ethan Carter.
1924. Private Investigator Pierce is sent to look into the tragic death of the Hawkins family. Plunge into a world of creeping madness and cosmic horror. Cryptic clues, shadowy figures, and pure terror bar your way as you fight to retain your sanity and solve an otherworldly mystery.
The Gap
WHY THIS
Shares an atmospheric mood with The Vanishing of Ethan Carter.
Deck Verified — runs on Steam Deck out of the box. Shares Indie and Adventure with The Vanishing of Ethan Carter.
Driven by a rare neurological affliction plaguing his family, Joshua has to recover his memories by exploring parallel realities through déjà vu. Facing the innermost depths of his past – moments both joyous and painful – seems to be the only way to get his life and family back together.
Frequently asked about The Vanishing of Ethan Carter
- Does The Vanishing of Ethan Carter run on Steam Deck?
- The Vanishing of Ethan Carter is rated Playable on Steam Deck — it runs, but expect some manual adjustments (control remapping, text size, or graphics settings) for the best experience.
- How much does The Vanishing of Ethan Carter cost?
- The Vanishing of Ethan Carter is listed on Steam at 19.99 USD (current store price; Steam sales may reduce this temporarily).
- What games are most similar to The Vanishing of Ethan Carter?
- Based on Steam play patterns and shared genres/tags, the games most often recommended alongside The Vanishing of Ethan Carter are The Painscreek Killings, Murdered: Soul Suspect, Firewatch.
- Who developed The Vanishing of Ethan Carter?
- The Vanishing of Ethan Carter was developed by The Astronauts.
imho.run ranks Steam game alternatives using a mix of collaborative filtering (ALS / iALS / EASE / LightGCN), content scoring over genres, categories, Steam tags, developers, and publishers, plus AI-extracted vibes mined from review text. The page above is generated in seed mode anchored on The Vanishing of Ethan Carter.
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