The Vanishing of Ethan Carter VR is... not very good.

[RikkTheGaijin]

I owned the regular game for I while in my Steam library, but I only played few hours because I was patiently waiting for the VR version. Yesterday I purchased the VR DLC on Steam for $10 (and I wasn't very happy about having to give them more money just for the VR support, but ok, whatever), the problem is that the game in VR is probably one of the most nausea-inducing game I've ever played (and last year I forced myself through play session of Half-Life 2 and Alien Isolation, also very nauseating). The game runs very smoothly on my machine (i7, GTX980) but I can't play it for more than 10 minutes without starting to feeling dizzy and uncomfortable. We all know that FPS games are very hard to get right in VR, but they didn't make any effort in trying to make a better navigation system. Every time you rotate the view with the right stick, is like a punch in the guts. I had to close my eyes every time I wanted to change direction, and that's really not what a game should do to you. I know there is a "comfort" play mode, but that basically turns the game into a slideshow of 360° images, without the possibility to move around freely.
I'm really disappointed, I had great expectations for the VR version of this game, but it seems I won't be able to play it. So if you plan to buy this game and play it in VR be prepared to feel sick, unless you have a very strong stomach.

[Scratty84]

AFAIK it's gamepad only but you stand in place and get teleported to the next position when focusing on an arrow for mo ement and hitting the a button. You rotate by 180 degrees with the right analog stick and do all other turns by rotating your real body.

[ten10]

I've bought and tested Ethan Carter VR with my DK2 - v1.3 - and i can't see the real problem, which is discribed in this thread. It should be clear for everyone,  that if you choose the free roaming mode of the game, where you can move and walk and turn in any direction, that mostly while making fast turns, you will feel sick more or less quick. That's not a problem of the Ethan game, that's an overall problem with all games with a lot of free movement and turning - like you would play Halflife, Doom and so on ...

I've noticed, that if you use the free roaming mode (which is selectable at the start of the game, where you will be asked, if you want free movement or a comfortable mode) and want to turn left or right, you shouldn't turn too many degrees and when you start a turn movement with the gamepad/buttons you should move your head along in that direction the same time - it's not perfect, but it does help. And then you can move straight forward again, which is no problem in the Rift at all. While that you can look around and examine the area.

If you choose the comfortable way to play the game, you will see certain spots around you - markings like arrows or some other ones, which turn yellow, looking at them and then you click a button and you will be transported to this new spot - with a moment of the screen turning black and going on again at the new positon. At each position you can't move forward, you just can look around you 360 degrees and examine the area. At each of those fixed spots you can make a quick 180 degrees turn, too, back and forward. The first time the screen turning black moving from one hot spot to the other, it bothered me, but trying this mode for several minutes i got used to it and it didn't bother me no more. Moving around that way surely limits your movement, but still the game is nice playable in that mode without getting sick feeling, which you will more or less depending how sensitive your senses react or cope with it.

Anyway - i think the game looks really nice and runs butter smooth in my DK2. Looking at the rocks, grass,  trees, leaves flying aroung or towards you and so on, look nice real, because of their good textures.
I can't understand how someone  could say it looks awful - i'm running the DK2 since it came out at pre-ordering it, and it's for sure one of the best looking games i've seen and it's running very smooth. I know  - each one's opinion, but i'm still able to compare ...

[Scratty84]

I totally agree with ten10 but perhaps they should have made the comfort mode the default one for the vr version.

[edguy1]

There's still a lot to learn about VR in it's early stage, however from what I've learnt using the DK1/2 - sitting experiences work best where you see a fixed point i.e. chair / in-cockpit views. Top downs work with a lot of consideration in their development.

First person with no fixed points are hard on the brain. Additionally as people have mentioned some people are more sensitive to VR than others, A drop in frame rate also can be a significant contributor. I knew when The Astronauts announced the VR version of The Vanishing of Ethan Cartor it would be a challenge to give a comfortable VR experience as non VR in 4k it felt a little churning at times. Can't blame them for trying though it's visually stunning.

One game I have bought on VR which I felt gives a great VR adventure experience is Chronos, At first I wan't sure with the distance player view but it's a fantastic bit of development, feels like they have taken everything into consideration for a VR player.

[xWandererx]

................have done it with the DK2 and will be able to move even more with the
longer cable of the consumer HMD's.  You just need a bit of cable
awareness and don't wear shoes so you can feel the cable if you happen
to step on it........................                   Im gonna screw a big hook into the ceiling an loop the cable over it 🙂

[Anonymous]

Yea The Vanishing of Ethan Carter made me feel shitty after about 10 mins as well. I can last about 30 mins in Technolust since they changed the rotation in game.

[richhard1]

Think it's a great game, VR comfort level is detailed as intense though. Mind you not one VR has made me nauseated yet. 

[EthanCommunity]

Hi everyone,

If anyone feels unwell while playing Ethan, please make sure that you are playing in the Comfort mode. It is also worth adjusting the sensitivity stick.

Adrian Palma
Support Manager
The Astronauts

[EthanCommunity]

RikkTheGaijin said:

ThreeDeeVision said:

A game with poor VR implementation won't help things though.  They could definitely start by creating more gradual momentum changes and snap turns.  

Exactly. There are ways of making FPS games more comfortable. The devs on Ethan Carter didn't put any effort into it. The game runs on Unreal Engine, which enables VR with a click of a button. That's it. And they turned it into a $10 DLC.
Also, the subtitles in the game are broken, they appear only on one eye...

We did put a lot of effort into the VR version of Ethan. It was basically created from the ground-up specifically as a VR experience. It took us half a year to do it and it would be incredible if VR versions of already existing games could be made with one click of a button. Unfortunately, it is not the case at all. 

Adrian Palma
Support Manager
The Astronauts

[Luciferous]

Adrian, it's great you are on here answering questions and as soon as my CV1 arrives, I will be buying it as it really is a beautiful game.

It is a shame though if VR games in future do not support mouse and keyboard. This really does make a difference to playing 1st person games and not getting sick.

I hope Oculus do not discourage this for other games, I know it is not perfect because you cannot see your hands but most gamers do not need to look at the keyboard often when playing.

I played Alien Isolation with this method for hours on end without a hint of sickness but play with a controller then nausea soon set in.

I also played Technolust original demo with the keyboard and mouse but lost interest when they just supported comfort mode. It just breaks the immersion.

Who knows maybe the touch will help here.

I appreciate developers may want to default to the Xbox Controller but if they could leave the options in for mouse and keyboard, I think a lot of us would be eternally grateful.

Edit: I also think the title of this post is a little harsh OP. It is a great game but Oculus are trying to push developers down the Controller or comfort mode route. You can see this all over their blogs and talks.

I really do not want to discourage developers from creating 1st person experiences, especially the developers of the like of Alien Isolation which I would love seeing come officially to VR. These are early days and we should be giving these first generation developers as much encouragement as possible.