I'll start off by saying that I didn't have high expectations going into this and to be honest, those low expectations weren't exceeded. I don't mean that the game is bad, just that it isn't anything extraordinary or exciting. I would give it a neutral rating if I could.
I don't remember when or how, but I do recall getting this game for free and it's something otherwise I wouldn't have gotten for myself. Having now played it, I'd say it's not worth the price it goes for. If you decide to get it, I'd recommend waiting for a 75% or higher discount.
Even though I don't recall when I got it, I'm fairly certain the game has been in my library for a few years and what finally motivated me to play it wasn't even the game itself, but rather that I've been on a completion grind lately and I noticed the game was easy in that regard plus being quick to do so.
I'll go into the Pros and Cons soon, but before I'd like to point out that one of the achievements require a second playthrough with director's commentary on. I find it to be a bit of a silly achievement, but I guess the intent of the developers was to share the story behind the development of the game and give some insight into the game's actual story. Ironically I'd say the director's commentary was more interesting than the game's story itself.

Pros:
-Great environmental design, especially in the caves chapter. Including clues regarding the main story is also a nice touch.
-Beautiful soundtrack.
-Short.

Cons:
-The story is rather uninteresting and not told the best way. It feels like a collection of anecdotes which should be pieced together, but personally I find that type of storytelling hard to keep track of.
-You need to go out of your way to trigger some story voiceovers which can be stressful because of FOMO. I found that it also took me away from the immersion because I was constantly thinking of where I would have to go to make sure I'd trigger the missable voiceovers.
-Dear Esther is THE walking simulator. I'm usually ok with those, but I find the walking speed in this one to be too slow. Early on I found myself trying a bunch of buttons to see if any would allow me to run. None did.
-The ashes achievement was sometimes buggy for me. Luckily not permanently buggy so I was able to get it on a second playthrough.

I don't like giving negative reviews, but the Pros and Cons speak for themselves. I would not recommend this to the average player looking to play a traditional videogame. If you are aware that Dear Esther is an experience rather than a "game" and you're still curious about it though, then sure, give it a try. Even if you don't like it, it won't waste much of your time.

This got some praise, and rightfully so as supposedly the first walking-simulator. However, it's not very straight-forward. The terrain makes it vague where you can go, so you often meet a dead end and lose the desire to explore, because the destination is somewhere in the landscape, and not a point of interest. The monologue triggers are intentionally concentrated, but contain too many words for one bit, and something to flesh it out is barren in between. The developers placed random items to fuel the imagination, but that didn't really click, as they appear to be, well, random items. The game was best on the second playthrough with the developer's commentary, when you knew were to go and got pieces of the story more densely, but even then mediocre.

Some better games of this genre, in my opinion, are 'The Suicide of Rachel Foster', 'What remains of Edith Finch', and 'The Beginners Guide'.

Boring and pretentious. The writing isn't good enough to carry the absolutely nothing else that the game offers.
The only justification for buying it is the fact that you can beat it - 100% it even - and return it within the refund window.

But hey, I got it for free, so whatever.

4/10

too hard

Boring

goats. how do goats syphilitic goats why question mark
Siri, please make polite review I just can't

I like the premise of the game, and it looks amazing, but while playing it the way the camera moves made me nauseous and I had to stop playing. It seems like a good game from the limited amount I could play, but unless something changes to solve the motion sickness I'm unable to play it any more.

Terrible execution of a mediocre idea.

No just no
This game is a BS