Ether One is a first-person adventure game developed by British independent company White Paper Games. It was the studio's debut game and was originally released for Microsoft Windows on 25 March 2014. A PlayStation 4 edition was released on 5 May 2015.
In Ether One, the player assumes the role of a "Restorer", whose job is to investigate the thoughts of Jean Thompson, a 69-year-old woman diagnosed with dementia. The player must reconstruct Thompson's memories using three-dimensional simulations of the details she can remember in the town of Pinwheel, solving puzzles that become more obtuse throughout the gameplay, as the patient's thoughts continue to grow more unstable.
Ether One took around three years to complete and was released to positive critical reception, particularly for its atmosphere and immersive themes, while its narrative divided critics. The game's portrayal of dementia in the Jean Thompson character was also praised by numerous critics, such as The New Yorker and Kotaku.
Gameplay
Ether One is a first-person exploration game with optional puzzle solving. The player is cast as a "Restorer", an individual with the ability to project himself into the mind of someone suffering from mental illness in the hopes of restoring their memories. The game takes roughly five hours to complete.
After the game's premise is introduced to the player, the town of Pinwheel (the game's central location) is opened up to the player. The player must collect red bows tied to objects. A broken reel projector on the floor indicates a puzzle; once a puzzle has been solved, the memory it represents can be played back. Puzzles may involve physical tasks, such as completing a shipment of cider, while others are more mentally labouring in nature. The puzzles become more difficult and obtuse throughout the game, simulating the chaos and difficulty of a person suffering from dementia.
The player can also teleport at any point to a hub area, a virtual room where objects (picked up in memories) can be stored. These objects often have little-to-no relevance to the game's plot, and also tie in with the game's portrayal of dementia. The room allows the player to access the main areas of the patient's past and collect memories from these areas; the player is "never sure" of what is important and what is not, meaning they are encouraged to take everything.
Plot
The player assumes the role of a "Restorer", an employee of a futuristic memory-retrieval company called the Ether Institute of Telepathic Medicine. The Restorer is tasked with investigating the thoughts of Jean Thompson, a 69-year-old woman diagnosed with dementia, and retrieving her lost memories. The Institute is able to generate 3D simulations of damaged memories, and the Restorer must reconstruct them using the remaining pieces of those memories. The project is led by Dr. Phyllis Edmunds, who guides the Restorer through the memories. She claims that the project is on the brink of losing its funding, and that Jean's case will either make or break the future of the Institute.
Once inside the patient's mind, the Restorer makes their way through the patient's childhood memories of Pinwheel, a seaside village in England which relies heavily on tin and iron mining. Throughout the journey, the Restorer learns about the village's residents, a terrible accident in the mines that cost the lives of dozens of its citizens, and Jean's growing relationship with a boy named Thomas, whom she later marries. While rebuilding the memories, the Restorer encounters a gem-like stone, representing the dementia they are attempting to rid the patient's mind of. They must destroy the stones using the "Artifact", a lamp capable of erasing the dementia from the mind.