Dear Esther: Landmark Edition

Sometimes you want a short story to pass the time rather than sinking into a much larger story. That is where Dear Esther comes in. Within Dear Esther, the player explores a seamlessly abandoned island while a narrator reads letters about his wife. As you progress throughout the island, the narrator reveals more details about his wife as well as the island itself. The first thing that will jump out at you while you play is the level of detail and wonderful environments presented. The game has some of the best looking caves you will ever see in a video game. The music is both calming and unnerving at the same time. Some sections of the game are down right creepy due to the score. The voice acting, although by just one person, is top notch and helps give the island a voice. The plot itself is wonderfully told through the narration as well as the level design. Although the way the game ends could have been done better. As for gameplay, all you do is walk and listen, that is it. The narrative presented would have worked best if there were more gameplay to it. For example by adding puzzle elements or interactions with objects would have helped. As it is, Once the game is beaten, there is not much left to do afterwards. If you start a new game, some lines are changed as well as the levels to present the narrative in a different light. After completing a chapter, you can go back and listen to the developer's commentary to the game. Listening to this really helps you understand some of the thought process behind the game, even if some of them tend to go on a bit too long for what they need to explain. The game can be beat in about 2 hours and a half or even shorter if you rush through it. If you take your time to explore and listen to the commentaries, the game length would be around 5 hours or so. Overall, I do recommend this game and at least it should be experienced once. Not at full price though, wait until its on sale for 50% or more off.

I'll be honest, I really wanted to like this game. Had super high hopes going in. Heard a lot of good things about it. While the game starts off strong, with indescernable messages left on the wall, creepy island locations that made me froth at the mouth for more, it quickly became bloated on its own self worth. What the game offers in terms of visuals (which are nothing short of stunning) are quickly taken away by a non existent story and highschool grade poetry. But that kind of thing may be what you like. If not, at least it's short.

Dear Esther is basically the grandfather of all walking sims. It single-handedly kickstarted the whole genre - so as a piece of video game history, it's definitely worth cheking out. What can easily end up frustrating the player though is the eye-rollingly forced writing and the annoying limitations. I get that the Chinese Room had a story they wanted to tell, it's just they told it in an arrogant way. It's an equivalent of a dement grandfather not letting a kid away till he hasn't yet listened to his confusing war stories. Which is a shame, because the environment and the sound design is beautiful. I wish there was a separate game mode without the narration...

Dear Esther is a beautiful game. It gives you the opportunity to take in both the environment and the soundtrack, both of which are stunning. As you walk through the landscape you realize how much work has been put into this game by the developers. And it's all worth it, for this game is an experience. Establishing the genre of "walking simulators", Dear Esther is definitely that. But I don't say that in a derogatory way, but instead in a way that the game embraces this game style to a maximum extent. The story is not told to you directly, its there for you to figure out, for you to interpret and to let it sink in as you continue your journey on the island. You find all these pieces, but how are they put together? There's not many answers given, and I think that's kind of what the devs had in mind creating this game. They wanted to make this game a personal experience, unique and different from any other player's and I think they succeeded. I definitely recommend playing this game, especially at least two times where you on the second playthrough listen through the directors commentary. It gives a good insight in the making of this game and you can hear how passionate the creators are about this game, that tells me how much thought and care was really put into it.

Nearly every negative thing about this comes down to personal preference; it is a walking simulator with no source of danger and no interactivity. It is like they took an introspective short story with no real action and adapted it directly into a video game. If that is your sort of thing, then this is a polished, atmospheric, bite-sized experience.