Well there's something you don't see everyday - Dr. Peter Venkman, Ghostbusters

THE GOOD
Dear Esther is not your ordinary game. In some respects, it is not a game at all. Focusing on environments and atmosphere rather than gameplay and action is a nice way to change the pace, but it will definitely put some people off. If you're a person who prefers Serious Sam and Doom over Amnesia and Proteus, I do not think this game is for you. The sound in the game is, well, not very exciting overall. The intro plops you into the island with explanation of why you are there, if you pay attention. The story is told by a nameless narrator, who talks about the island, his hobbies, and the mysterious Esther. Digging deeper into the story explains more about the characters and the settings, but only if you are willing to look.

THE GREAT
The game can be frightening and intense if you let it. Beautiful environments are accompanied by the haunting yet calming voice of the narrator, who tells his life to you. While not the best decision for gameplay, Dear Esther provides with an amazing narrative and an atmosphere that is so thick you could wrap yourself up in it. The first chapter is the make or break point in this game.While not looking very stunning, the first part does do its job to set up the second half of the game. Not giving away too much, but not boring you to the point of no return. The end of the second chapter is where it is its best. The aesthetic changes completely, music greets you immediately, and the haunting feeling kicks in. The third chapter is my personal favourite, with the climax of the game leaving you able to interpret it however you please.

THE UGLY
There is no gameplay whatsoever. If the developers wanted gameplay, they could've at least given you the choice to turn off and on your flashlight, or maybe do some simple puzzle. Face the facts: You walk extremely slow. Perhaps for pacing, but it can be frustrating whil you spend the whole damn game going 10mph (That's metres, not miles). Also, for a game about discovery, there is very little to discover, not that you'd feel inclined to due the the speed of your walking. It can be quite boring if you're playing it after watching a walkthrough of it on Youtube, TwitchTV, or whatever place you use to watch gameplay videos, so I'd recommend not watching gameplay of Dear Esther before playing it. Also the visuals of Dear Esther deteriorates when it is put into videos, no matter how you set the graphical quality (1080p does NOT do this game justice via video).

THE VERDICT
There are two types of people in the world. Type one is the type who prefer Proteus over Dear Esther, and the other type of people prefer Dear Esther over Proteus. I fall into the latter category, for many reasons. If in doubt, get it on a sale. If you like it, great news! If you don't, you spent $5 and 1.4GB 'playing' a game that you didn't like. Personally, I think that the third chapter is the best chapter in this game. For the first two chapters, you explore the island, and at the end of the second chapter, a forced plot point happens which sends you to the most beautiful part of this game. The final chapter wraps it up nicely, and some people will like the final chapter more, so suffice to say the second half f the game is generally liked more. Also, this is NOT a game for children. It can be difficult to understand and there are so many plot elements that are metaphors or relatively unusual.

SIMILAR GAMES
-Proteus, in many ways, but also differs greatly
-Amnesia: The Dark Descent, although without being as scary

For more reviews check out http://steamcommunity.com/groups/truereview

As an English major, maybe I am biased. Maybe also I am biased by the facts that my fiance died 12 months ago, that my mother died several months after that, and that my father soon died after her. It has been a rough year. Maybe that's why I love this game, and why I already own about ~3-4 copies of it so far, due to Humble Bundles and whatnot...

But perhaps not.

I loved Dear Esther long before any of that stared, after all. I certainly played it at least more than 21 times, trying to figure out where its lines were, though I could never exactly locate them on my maps. I would try to explain it to my fiance, to my dad, to my mom, back when they were still alive, why a 'video game' meant so much to me. How stupid was that? Trying to explain why a 'video game' actually meant something? Instanity, right? Like a barnacle, clinging stupidly to a rock, just trying to not slide into the ocean.

Or, perhaps, it is just that Dear Esther is really not a game, but rather a brilliant piece of existential human literature? Is that a real option? Really?

Maybe this 'game' is as good as the hype, or at least maybe it is for those who are listening for its quiet themes and narratives. Maybe it captured something its 'haters' are deaf to.

Ah, who cares...

This is my all-time favourite video 'game', and I don't care if it's not really a game or not, or if scores of others don't understand/appreciate it and instead choose to pile heaps of scorn/mockery/ridicule on it for not fitting within the mold they've decided it needs to fit.

This is, uquestionably, IMHO, the greatest video 'game' I've ever played, full-stop, even if there is no actual game to play. Dear Esther is a rare, precious gem of a 'game', and it makes me feel good just to have had the priveledge of experiencing it.

This is a work of art.

There is little story, and even less gameplay. You're mostly railroaded along a path, where you will hear and see things. The world is visually appealing, and the voice work is wonderful, but the overall mood may or may not appeal to you.

Like any purely artistic work, it either speaks to you or it falls flat. Personally, it's not my cup of tea, but it might be yours.

It isn’t a game, it’s an experience.

A lot of the criticism and confusion of Dear Esther is brought about because it is not exactly 'a game'. There are no enemies, no objectives, no inventory, nothing we've come to expect in video games. It is where art, storytelling and games intersect, to create a masterpiece.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=553155472

Dear Esther is visually astounding. Journey deep into the island's caves and you will be utterly in awe of the beauty therein.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=498467039

The music is beautifully haunting, always appropriate in intensity for the situation, and never overwhelming it.
The narration contributes significantly to the player's emotional state while traversing the island. His rantings and musings, his rage and his despair, all help lend color to the landscape, and keep the player firmly rooted in the world before them.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=532172608

Whether you would define Dear Esther as a game or not, if you have any interest in narrative driven adventure games, you’re sure to find a new favorite here and it is without a doubt an experience you will not regret.


Verdict: 8/10

As always, TL;DR at the bottom. This game deserves more though.

In recent years it has become more common to hear gamers, and even some non-gamers giving credit to games as pieces of art. Truly all games are art in some form as they provide a visual and narrative experience no matter what type of game they are. Some games are simply greater classified as art than others, but even inside of that it seems something such as 'Dear Esther' should be given credit on the art scale much higher than any old "video games are art" scale.

'Dear Esther' is claimed by many as "not a game". This is a debate I am no longer interested in, as I simply don't take a hard stance on what a game is anymore now that I have played so many adventure games, and what are more aptly described as "walking simulators". If you want to call it art instead, which it is, I can accept that, but debating on what a game is has become something I do not find interesting anymore. It's a game to me and great art at the same time.

Now that I have grown up a little and become able to appreciate games as great pieces of art, I look for games with beauty in narrative, visuals, music, and even atmosphere much more often than I once did. Giving games described as "walking simulators" a much greater chance than I once would have as a younger gamer. 'Dear Esther' is a game I never would have played maybe as recent as a year ago. I would ignore games such as this and mockingly call them "walking simulators", or games with a lot of FMVs like MGS4, "movies". It's actually quite embarrassing thinking about discussions I've had in the past about such games. >_>

I'm glad I came to my senses because games like this not only give you a sense of extreme beauty, but challenge you to think about things in abstract and interesting ways. Digging into you deeper than a more traditional game focused solely on the gameplay, which I considered the ONLY thing that mattered for the longest time. Games with these weird worlds, stories, and characters just stick with you longer and allow for us to spend more time with them after finishing by discussing them with other gamers. Isn't that something we all enjoy as a major part of gaming? Discussing games and trying to understand them when they give us something to talk about? (feel free to discuss in the comments of this review! Please be mindful of spoilers, however.) It definitely does for me, and 'Dear Esther' made me think, wonder, and read more about it the second I was done playing.

'Dear Esther' on a technical side is a magnificently wonderful game. While you can see in the store screenshots that the game has haunting and lovely visuals, you can't really know how wonderful the atmosphere is without playing it. The music in this game is so well done (I highly recommend buying this soundtrack and I rarely do that) that I found myself saving when I heard a piece start so that I could reload and listen to it again before moving on. The music is atmospheric, haunting, beautiful, and I can't think of a game where I was so enthralled by the music before.

With the musical score lending to the feel of the game, the island you find yourself on gives a tremendous feeling of isolation, dread, insanity, and fear. You will go into "every nook and cranny, John" to see the strange items and locations from all angles before moving down the correct path to move the narration along. Taking these extra paths may lead you to seeing extra narration, or even ghosts out of the corner of your eye. Making you feel like you might not be alone, and then dissipating into mist to leave you wondering if you had just seen something moving, or it was just your imagination.

The narration voice-over is spectacular. A voice that helps the atmosphere as much as anything else, but what is said is just as unnerving in many instances. Narration comes at you as you walk around and move through the island on your ascent up to the top. It will be strange and probably not make a ton of sense every time you hear it. You will feel the mind of the narrator, which is you, seem to disjoint, and speak about things that don't seem relevant at times, but interesting none the less. Strangely, although I have played through the first couple chapters more than once, the narration seems to change in different playthroughs, making it almost impossible to know what exact pieces you will hear in a certain area. The theme and dialog seems to be standard enough through the entire game that the story you hear is about the same as it would be any other time, but it is quite interesting to hear other blurbs as you reach a section from game to game. I have no idea how many of these different blurbs you can encounter, but I am planning to play through the game again, maybe several times not just because I love the feel and isolation I feel while playing the game, but to tread deeper into the depths of the story and hear various new commentaries.

If you read this far, this game is for you. If you are willing to take this much time to read a review, I think you can appreciate this wonderful game as the artistic piece of work that it deserves. I highly recommend this game to anyone that has accepted games as more than just gameplay, but as a form of true beauty, a place to lose yourself in a world without having to shoot at things and jump around, and challenge yourself to see what the creator is trying to say by making it less than easy for you to interpret their strange thoughts to us gamers.

A like-minded gaming friend gifted me this game, and I am truly grateful that someone cared enough to share this experience with me. It was a wonderful journey. Thank you. :)

TL;DR Glorious mix of graphics, music, narration, and atmosphere. Walking simulator that is a true masterwork of art in the gaming universe. Even if you don't respect games such as this, give it a try (Not sure there has been a game in more bundles than this one so there is no way you can't get this for cheap at some point. The forum has 75% off coupons being given away constantly right now as well so there is that too). and see if you can appreciate it for what it is rather than just disregarding this genre entirely without actually making an effort to understand why people DO like them. A challenging, insightful, chilling, isolationist walk through a place that could make you think, feel terror, and maybe, just maybe turn you into a fan of more than just games focused entirely on gameplay.

Dear Esther is beautifully designed, hauntingly atmospheric and splendidly narrated. It also has a couple of very big problems...

<Contains minor spoilers>


...but funnily enough, the question of whether or not Dear Esther is a game isn't one that bothers me. Gaming is still a relatively young medium, and writing off a game just because it doesn't meet the traditional definition can only stifle innovation and discourage others from experimenting. Ultimately, I'm more interested in the question: did Dear Esther succeed in what it set out to do? Well, allow me to elaborate on what I think.


Dear Esther is a so-called "walking simulator" (i.e. has very little gameplay besides walking and looking) set on a bleak Hebridian island. This island is perhaps the most compelling character in the entire story: it is nothing short of breathtaking. I regularly visit these islands in real life, and Dear Esther succeeds magnificently in capturing their bleak magnificence. Coastal winds whistle through rusted chain-link fences, smoky clouds hug towering cliffs, bothies speckle the terrain and rocky bays with rotten wooden structures dominate the landscape. Both the visual (spinning 2D plants aside) and the sound design are spot-on in establishing the atmosphere, which in turn is helped by the superb soundtrack. There were some moments that left me literally stunned at what I was witnessing on my screen, that's a rare achievement for any video game.

Anywho, you play as a nameless, voiceless, faceless protagonist shipwrecked on a harsh Scottish island, who must make their way towards the radio tower on the horizon. It's not really clear what you intend to do once you get there, but never mind. Interaction is limited to walking around the island and sometimes poking your head into forlorn buildings, only to find them empty and long-abandoned. The lion's share of the game is spent listening to a well-spoken narrator reading a series of letters written to the eponymous Esther. The narrator himself is another highlight of the game; speaking in a deliberately monotone voice to start with, but rising to passionate speeches as you approach the game's climax.

So I like everything so far, and I don't mind the bare-bones gameplay, so why a No?


Because of the limited interactivity, the narration pretty much forms the crux of the entire experience. Sadly, I found the quality of the writing in Dear Esther to be wanting.

If ever there was a walking definition of purple prose, this would be it. Although it contains a handful of reasonably well-written lines, the core parts of the narrative are so cluttered with flowery dialogue that it repeatedly draws attention to itself with how ridiculous it sounds. I admit to not being the smartest when it comes to analyzing good writing, but I can usually get invested in a well-told story even if I don't fully understand everything behind it. But Dear Esther is so full of itself and so utterly pretentious that I found myself getting frustrated rather than intrigued by the story. Here are a couple excerpts from the game:

"An imagined answerphone message. The tires are flat, the wheel spins loosely, and the brake fluid has run like ink over this map, staining the landmarks and rendering the coastline mute, compromised. Where you saw galaxies, I only saw bruises, cut into the cliff by my lack of sobriety."

"I had kidney stones, and you visited me in the hospital. After the operation, when I was still half submerged in anesthetic, your outline and your speech both blurred. Now my stones have grown into an island and made their escape and you have been rendered opaque by the car of a drunk."

Perhaps my experience with human beings is limited, but this sounds like it was written by a teenager in English class trying to sound far cleverer than he actually is (this I can speak from experience though, because it sounds like one of my old essays). This is the only story I've experienced that somehow manages to be both frustratingly vague and tiresomely heavy-handed at the same time. Not sure how they did that, but that's the thought that kept crossing my mind as I listened to it.


Then we come to the second problem: the player. The fact that Dear Esther may not be a 'real' game isn't what bothers me. What does bother me is that the player is completely amputated from the story being told. We're not here to partake in a moving tale of human loss, instead we're merely treated as a vehicle for the narrator to force flowery nonsense down our throats without getting to experience or even influence any of it. In fact, we're almost a hindrance to the game for our mere presence. This makes me wonder why Dear Esther is even a game in the first place, especially since it wrestles control from you during the ending (the only time something of note actually happens). The only benefit from it being a game is that I get to hold down W for 90 minutes, so it's essentially like watching a film on a DVD player with a broken pause button. On top of that, the walking speed is painfully slow:

"People need to be more patient and take their time with soaking in the atmosphere"

This is what admirers of the game often tell me when I bring this up. Fair enough, I like immersing myself in a slow-burner, if anything I prefer a slower-paced story. But more often than not you'll wander down rather lengthy corridors, find nothing of interest, not even a bit of narration, and then have to slowly plod all the way back again. At this point, all the carefully planned pacing in the game comes to a crashing halt. Then there are other times when you have to traverse fairly featureless expanses all the while sliding along at the speed of a Peugeot driver on the Edinburgh bypass. This is not good pacing, this is just time wasting.


Some might say that I've simply missed the point of the game, and that I'm too thick or impatient to fully appreciate Dear Esther's strengths. In all honestly, there's a good chance that you're correct in saying that. However, this game did not engage me on any level. I never felt invested in any of the character shells we're given a vague description of, and its eagerness to be intellectual and thought-provoking just came across as pretentious and condescending. I can give it credit for trying, but not for failing in its primary purpose. For that reason, I cannot recommend Dear Esther as a video game.

(But I do recommend buying the soundtrack. Seriously, go get it, it really is that good)

For a less truncated review, see my blog piece below:
http://indignationgaming.blogspot.co.uk/2017/04/thoughts-on-dear-esther_42.html

During the first 10 minutes or so of this game, while I was wandering (slowly) through the game's initial area, I was bored. Very, very bored. While I was bored there was a pretentious British guy babbling to me in an overwrought poetic manner about something that had happened and for which I had no background information to help me understand what the hell he was talking about. That changed (thankfully): the backstory filled in, the environment and audio changed, and things improved dramatically.

This game has very impressive visual and audio aesthetics. The background sounds and ambient music enhance the experience significantly (you should play with headphones on). The voice acting is also compelling--you can really feel the narrator's internal turmoil as he struggles with what has happened. The world the developers built here has a sense of mystery, purpose and beauty, but also sadness, introspection, and the portent of dread. As I progressed through the "game" I felt more and more anxious about the revelations to come from the narrator. The suspense was palpable, and was reflected in the narrator's increasingly impassioned and upset dialogue. It's quite well done. I would say this is a game targeted toward mature gamers, in the sense that it is pretty sophisticated overall.

There are a few weak points: for a 1-hour experience it's quite a bit pricey at $10 (I got it on sale); the poetic tone was good but I thought it was forced in a few places, and at times obscured the backstory; the guy walks pretty slowly (you can go into console and change that, but that kinda breaks immersion).

In retrospect, I was impatient at the beginning of the game and am very glad I pressed on. This is a very worthwhile experience. I do think $10 is a bit steep, so I'd recommend waiting til it's on sale. If you are really into artistic and experiential games, then this is definitely for you. on sale or not.

I recommend it.

"...but your fascination with the empty, and its cure, remained."

I've been getting endless recommendations about this game for a year now, from people who know me and my taste in games. Dear Esther was originally a free-to-play modification for the Source engine, developed and released in 2008 by The Chinese Room. The game is later redeveloped for commercial purposes in 2012, including the Steam version we have here.

Our unknown and unreliable narrator opens his eyes on one shoreline of Hebridean Islands, and starts to walk. For the remainder of our experience, we will walk upon the surface of this forlorn island to discover its many wonders, abandoned mysteries and eerie beauties enhanced with a fantastic ambient music. We walk and bear witness to fragments of a tale concerning a loss, a death, a shepherd, a boat without a bottom, a love story and endless aphorisms of a broken mind, tested through a journey to embrace a final conclusion. We are there to complete an unfinished tale, accompanied only by eerie shadows of past tales that we feel and sometimes see with the corner of our eyes. "Dear Esther" says the narrator in one of his letters; "I sometimes feel as if I’ve given birth to this island."

In its totality, many would categorize Dear Esther as a story exploration or walking simulation game. Yes, it is a walking simulation that will present you the most beautiful of environment designs harbored with genuine melancholy. But in my opinion Dear Esther is neither only a walking simulation, nor a consistent story revelation. It is, with all its grandeur and beauty in display, interactive literature. The script of the game arranged through aphorisms of the narrator is weaved out of allegories, metaphors, fleeting yet crushing narrative descriptions to accomplish a literary experience no lesser than James Joyce in feat. It may possibly take a literary career to completely appreciate the full context of this narrative beauty with tremendous subtext and symbolism.

A full playthrough consists of 4 distinct chapters - monumental areas of the protagonist's journey. One singular chapter takes approximately 15-20 minutes to complete, depending on your tendency to explore. It takes 3-4 playthroughs to reveal the whole script, which will accordingly reveal a new part in this symbolic feast every time. There is nothing to do in the traditional sense: only an experience to behold.

If you are one to appreciate symbolic narrative and have an hour or two to spare, this is a short journey you shouldn't miss. Wear your headphones, kick back and start your exploration. Esther, The Hermit, Donnelly, Paul and Jacobson... they all wait for you in this island, forgotten in Hebrides.

Please also check out Lady Storyteller's Curator page here - follow for regular updates on reviews for other games!

First off, let's be clear: this isn't a game for everybody. Nor is it really a 'game'. If you want fast paced action, turn back now, but if you're looking for something different, something a bit avant-garde and arty, Dear Esther is well worth your time.

You play a nameless character (first-person) who wanders along a basically linear path accross an abandoned Hebridean island for about 2 hours while a narrator intermittently reads fragments of letters to a woman named Esther. Interaction is minimal: you can walk, look around, and zoom in slightly. A flashlight automatically turns on when you enter a dark place. That's it in terms of gameplay, but Dear Esther's focus is not gameplay, it's on story.

And what a confusing story it is. Piecing together the narrative will require you to listen carefully to everything the narrator says, read past the symbolism and shifting characters, and to play the game a few times (the fragments are mixed semi-randomly each time you start the game, so you won't hear every fragment until you've played the game at least 4 times). On top of that, you'll have to look around for visual clues on the island: objects littered on the ground, books in houses, diagrams and messages painted on walls. Even then, you'll still have trouble figuring out everything exactly what happened. However, you'll be able to work out the bare bones of the story from one playthrough.

As mentioned before, the story is primarily told through letters read out by a narrator who is the protagonist of the story. The writing is poetic, symbolic, and digressive, often making it difficult to follow, but this is intentional I believe. The writing is really excellent (although a little over-wrought at times), and is delivered fantastically by the voice actor. Without giving much away, the story concerns a tragic accident in the narrator's past, and explores themes of guilt and redemption. Its stunning conclusion nearly brought me to tears, and loses none of its power on replays.

The visuals of Dear Esther are stunning, wonderfully complimenting the loneliness and sadness of the story. You get a real visual feast, from the rugged hills above ground to the etheral caves below. The music is also beautiful, and goes well with the visuals and story.

By now, you know whether this game is for you or not. If you think it is, buy Dear Esther right now and get ready for the experience of a lieftime.

No language can describe its beauty .