VANISH

About VANISH

VANISH was made by 3DrunkMen, a small team from the United States and Portugal formed in 2012 by Mark Lemmons and Sean McSheehan to learn Unity, and released free on Game Jolt in July 2014. Its makers built it in their spare time on the free version of Unity and promise it will stay free; it is downloaded from Game Jolt or from the IndieDB mirrors linked on its own site.

You are dropped into a labyrinth of old brick tunnels, pipes and grated cells with no instructions. The makers leave that out on purpose, so that you work out where you are as if you had been thrown in yourself. Their own FAQ gives the outline: find the glowsticks, then the keys, then the exit gate, without dying. Notes from the workers who were here before, such as Hank, are scattered about and sometimes say different things from one game to the next.

What sets it apart is that the maze is not fixed. Each hall piece is generated while you play, with its own objects and events, and the tunnels keep changing behind you, so no two runs are the same and a corridor you remember may not be there when you turn back. Pipes can burst, and the makers warn of creatures waiting idle in the dark halls.

The tension is built from what you are denied. There is no flashlight, only glowsticks that burn out faster than real ones, which the makers say is to keep the tension high. There are no saves or checkpoints, and pausing only buys you 15 seconds before the game sends you to the main menu, because the makers want you to keep moving and feel vulnerable. It suits players who liked the free first-person horror of the Slender era and want something less predictable than collecting pages.

How to play VANISH

1. Download VANISH free for Windows, Mac or Linux from its own site, which links Game Jolt and IndieDB, and unzip it without moving files out of the folder.
2. Start the game and set the brightness and mouse sensitivity in the Options menu.
3. Explore the tunnels and pick up glowsticks first so you can see.
4. Read the notes you find for hints, then search for the keys.
5. Find the exit gate and get out before something in the halls gets you.

Tips

• Glowsticks run out quickly, so keep looking for more instead of saving them.
• Do not rely on memory: the halls change while you play, so a way back may be gone.
• Read the notes; you do not need to collect them, but some tell you what to do next.
• There are no saves and the pause lasts 15 seconds, so set aside up to 40 minutes before you start.
• If the screen is black, the makers say you need a DirectX 9c graphics card and current drivers.

Questions