Dear Esther: Landmark Edition

Dear Esther provides a very beautiful world to walk through, a mysterious plot (sorta), and the music is remarkable. Yet, as I went through the experience, I felt empty. Then I realized why I felt empty. Every positive point about Dear Esther I said above -- the beautiful world, mysterious plot, and music -- I had already experienced almost 2 decades earlier in Myst and Riven except that -- Myst and Riven actually had gameplay. THAT is the problem. Dear Esther is incomplete and lazy game design. Dear Esther did what Myst and Riven (and so many other games) already accomplished in terms of story-telling and atmosphere -- which is fine, but the developer of Dear Esther was too lazy or too blind to understand that gameplay is an essential part of gaming (and that gameply can actually enhance the story and experience like it did in Myst, and Riven). Instead of implementing gameplay into Dear Esther that could enhance the experience and maybe make the story even more impactful, the developer chose to just have us walk around the world and listen to the story unfold. Can you imagine walking around Final Fantasy 6, watching the story unfold without any gameplay? Without any RPG? That's exactly what To The Moon is. Can you imagine walking around Myst and Riven, listening to someone narrate the story without any puzzles that perfectly integrate into the story and environment? That's Dear Esther. These are not games. They're interactive stories. Dear Esther, and the vast majority of similar interactive stories, are ultimately empty, half-experiences that do half of what Final Fantasy 6, Myst, and Riven did two decades ago. They are an example of the devolutionization of "games".

I played this game after playing "The Park" and "The Vanishing of Ethan Carter" and thought, it would just line up with these two. Funny enough, I always felt a little sad, when someone called one of the former two games a "walking simulator". Well, for Dear Esther there can be no other description than exactly that - a walking simulator. You are doing nothing more than walking and exploring, while you are listening to some spoken thoughts now and then. I enjoyed The Park and Ethan Carter and even Kholat for what they are, but Dear Esther has absolutely nothing of that. Doing nothing at all is not fun - at least not for me. The story, that becomes more clear with every step you take, can not improve this. The graphics are not as polished as in Ethan Carter, so that is another downside to the game. The only upside is the atmosphere of a lonely island, that is captured in a very immersive way. I normally would have given this game only one star. But somehow, the developers managed to drag me until the end of the game, although I thought of just giving up multiple times. That is worth one more star for me, because I feel like this is some kind of good game design - in a weird way. The playing time is roughly between 1 and 2 hours, depending on your will to explore. Maybe my rating would have been better, if this was my first "walking simulator". Unfortunately my expectation where set a little too high.

It is not a game. Has no actual or implied failure state. Art exhibition, maybe, Visual presentation in a form of a walking simulator, very much, a game, not at all. If you want a good looking experience go ahead, if you want a game turn around and don't look back.

I read many reviews across the web before buying this game, so I was very much looking forward to playing it. Don't waste your money or your time. First, it's a total ripoff. I explored every inch of the island accessible, and I took time to soak in the atmosphere and ambience (which is excellent by the way). I completed the entire game in UNDER TWO HOURS. Second, there is no story. Just a guy with a pleasant European accent randomly reciting pieces of his journal. I played the game through six different times because I know the narration varies each time the game is played. If Dear Esther has a story, then Quake's story is epic literature. Seriously. I LOVE games with stories (e.g. Myst series, Gabriel Knight, Thief series, Gemini Rue, Kathy Rain, etc.) Dear Esther does NOT have a story. It has random disjointed readings of excerpts from the narrator's journal. The game IS beautiful, and the atmosphere is the excellent (especially in the caves). Dear Esther reminded me of the mood and feel of Riven. Also it has modest hardware requirements. My laptop has Intel i3 with Intel HD 4400 integrated graphics, and I ran at 1280x800 with highest settings (except anti-aliasing was turned off). But beauty and atmosphere alone with no story and no real gameplay are not enough. As I said before, I've played through this game several times because I thought maybe I missed something. But I didn't. Dear Esther is a beautiful, over-priced, very short and boring game. Save your money!!

Take this as a warning: you need to be the right person to enjoy this. It isn't a "game" per say, as you don't have objectives to accomplish. It is, however, a marvelous story and incredibly intriguing. The music is stupendous, the narration flawless, the writing superb, and the atmosphere hits all the right notes. It was an engrossing, fascinating, wonderful experience from start to finish. I still occasionally run through it, just to enjoy the setting. If you like visual novels, or you like narrative experiences, you will very much enjoy this game.