Dear Esther: Landmark Edition
Dear Esther immerses you in a stunningly realised world, a remote and desolate island somewhere in the outer Hebrides. As you step forwards, a voice begins to read fragments of a letter: 'Dear Esther...' - and so begins a journey through one of the most original first-person games of recent years.
Dear Esther: Landmark Edition is a walking simulator, atmospheric and indie game
developed by The Chinese Room and Robert Briscoe
and published by Secret Mode.
Released on February 14th 2017 is available on Windows and MacOS
in 5 languages: English, French, German, Spanish - Spain and Russian.
It has received 6,549 reviews of which 4,869 were positive and 1,680 were negative resulting in a rating of 7.3 out of 10. π
The game is currently priced at 1.49β¬ on Steam and has a 85% discount.
The Steam community has classified Dear Esther: Landmark Edition into these genres:
Media & Screenshots
Get an in-depth look at Dear Esther: Landmark Edition through various videos and screenshots.
Requirements
These are the minimum specifications needed to play the game. For the best experience, we recommend that you verify them.
Windows
- OS *: Windows XP/Vista/7/8/8.1/10
- Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E4600 (2 * 2400), AMD Athlon X2 4200+ (2 * 2200) or equivalent
- Memory: 2 GB RAM
- Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce 7600GT (256 MB), AMD Radeon X1600 XT (256 MB)
- Storage: 2 GB available space
MacOS
- OS: 10.7.5 - 10.12.1
- Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo (2 * 2260) or equivalent
- Memory: 2 GB RAM
- Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce 9400 (256 MB)
- Storage: 2 GB available space
Reviews
Explore reviews from Steam users sharing their experiences and what they love about the game.
I suppose this game having mixed reviews at the time of writing makes sense, considering that this is definitely not for everyone and it has been quite polarising from the get go, but Dear Esther is possibly my favourite game of all time and I also think a lot of criticism of it is very dull and short-sighted, so there. The Steam store page description definitely struggles to market this game accurately; I would say this is a poetic experience, rather than a strictly narrative one, but I realise this wouldn't exactly help the reputation it has for being pretentious. While I completely understand not clicking with Dear Esther (that's poetry for you), I firmly reject the criticism that this game was made haphazardly. I truly believe every controversial decision made here (the length, the ambiguity, the walking speed, the dreariness, the absence of shiny gaming mechanics to dangle in your face like car keys in front of a baby) was made in service of the overall experience. This game knows exactly what it's going for; it's just going for something weird, and that is probably its greatest contribution to gaming. A lot of walking simulators that followed have tried to be less weird, and to that I say: BOOOOO. Are you embarrassed not to be a ~real game? Dear Esther's not embarrassed for a second, and it delivers exactly what it set out to deliver, knowing that some people will vibe with it and some people won't. Anyway, I'd recommend Dear Esther if you're interested in 'narrative games' or 'walking simulators' or whatever we're going to call them next, and especially the director's commentary here, because it has truly been an influential game in so many ways, and also because it's extremely good.
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Dear Esther is an experiment that, more than 15 years after its first version, has become an important - and somehow kinda overlooked - piece of video game history and a great example of the general understanding of art in this medium. As any piece of history, however, it must be understood in its context. In these 15 years or so, the "walking simulator" genre - to which Dear Esther, to many, is the precursor - has seen an steady growth both in numbers and in different creative/artistic approaches, sometimes mixing aspects from other genres (platform, puzzle, adventure, etc.), sometimes exploring more and more the limits of the narrative scope a video game can provide. It's safe to say that, since then, many games have excelled in this regard and accomplished more, as singular experiences, than Dear Esther. You've probably played - or you'll play at some point - many "walking simulator" games that are more touching and outstanding than this one, that's for sure. With that in mind, this game might even seem - for the present-time gamer - lacking, barebones or shallow, with sometimes over-the-top alegories/metaphors that don't quite immerse you in the story and many important subjects (grief, memory, history, sense of belonging, etc.) that are only touched on the surface with the short time there is to develop everything properly - all that with a gameplay that comes down to, well, walking around. Later not-so-successful experiences from the same developers in this genre may also taint the vision about this game. Nothing more misleading, however. Dear Esther is a testimony of a shift in game-making and game critics. It's the link between the early experimental days of Source engine mods and the nowadays diverse indie scene. Its seemingly dated gameplay and storytelling still holds up a little not only because, as an artistic experience, it'll mantain some potential of impact in a personal level no matter what, but also because this is kind of the "big bang" of the genre - every game that came after has a little bit of Dear Esther in it, even if they're objectively better. If you're interested in video game history or if you just like to walk around in a desert island, this game is a must for you.
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Not sure what the game was all about when I started and upon finishing I still have no idea what the game was about. But I enjoyed playing whatever it is though the best part of spending my close to three hours wandering around in the dark is that I didn't have to watch the big political debate tonight. That's an enormous plus for me. (Yes, I'll be voting when the time comes)
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At first glance, it seems like a simple walking simulator where you leisurely travel around an island without any interaction. However, upon closer inspection, it reveals a story with profound meaning about the protagonist, his experiences, his decisions, and their consequences. Through a unique expression of philosophical themes and literary imagination, beautiful graphics, stunning landscapes, and a captivating soundtrack come together to deliver a dramatic and emotional experience. μλ°ν μ°μ±
μ κΉμ΄ μλ μ¬μ μΌλ‘.
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Just a friendly note to all my friends who might be having a difficult time with life and struggle with thoughts of self-termination that this game contains some pretty strong themes and undertones of the subject. There's a pretty jarring moment that leaves little wonder of what's going on. If you're not in the headspace to deal with it then take care of yourself and find something else to do for the time being. That out of the way, let's talk about Dear Esther. Imagine a haunted house. No, not the monsters, the blood and guts, the chainsaws, and the masked people jumping out and saying, 'boo!' I'm talking about the experience itself, not the content. You arrive and pay some money. You're then turned loose into the haunt itself. You walk along, take in the sights, gather in the story (if there is one). There might be some spots where you might get to move around a little, maybe even explore a little, but the 'way ahead' is always pretty clear - it's a linear path, at the end of the day. In most of them, there's nothing you really 'do' - no puzzles, nothing to pick up or mess with... in fact, you're really not supposed to do any touching, truth be told. Then you reach the end, and go about your day. That is pretty much Dear Esther in a nutshell. Now, that's not necessarily a bad thing. I've played plenty of games that were primarily story-driven that had needless puzzles scattered all along the way, and they ended up feeling like busy work to pad out the hours of gameplay. Puzzles, riddles, and the like aren't necessary. In Dear Esther, there are none. In fact, you can't really interact with your environment in any way except for walking. For a while I kept trying to figure out how to pick up and inspect stuff, but quickly realized that there was no way. Again, not necessarily a bad thing... But this is simply, and purely, a walking simulator. You proceed along the path and trigger voice-over audio. That's it & that's all. If this doesn't sound appealing to you, this is your warning. The flip side of this is that this world is... actually pretty stunning and beautiful. The level of detail is amazing - this world is filled with all kinds of imagery, and the amount of work that must have gone into putting this world together must have been pretty pain-staking. Everything looks gorgeous, the grass and weeds blow in the wind, the water flows serenely, etc. Everything just looks fantastic. And, as stated, there are little spots that aren't necessarily part of the 'main path' that you can stop and poke around in if you'd like. It's not really necessary, but so much work went into putting this world together and making it look believable that it feels wrong not to poke your head into that old dilapidated building and see what's inside. End of the day, you'll be back on the path, but take time to enjoy your surroundings. It's a haunting island. All kinds of signs of there having BEEN life.. buildings, garbage that has washed up, little things here and there.. but as of right now, just so lonely and distant. I'm not going to give away the story, but it might be worth reading up a bit on what folks feel the interpretation of the story is before playing. The story is delivered in bits and pieces, often in poetic metaphor, jumps around a bit, and most of the time isn't entirely clear. This can be more engaging than a direct telling of the story, of course, but if you're just hoping for a lazy afternoon, it might be worth poking in to read up a bit on the back-story. Up to you, of course. The game is very short. It looks like I logged 1.8 hours, and that's partly because I DID poke around a little, and also because apparently my Steam Deck woke up while I was eating some pizza. You will likely not spend a ton of time playing this game. If you read the reviews, you'll see several complaining about a lack of 'sprint.' At first I thought, but this is kind of a walking simulator, I read - are you really in such a hurry that you need 'sprint'!? But I guess now I get it. The distances you cover are pretty large, and the 'path ahead' isn't always COMPLETELY clear (most of the time it is, but a couple times it's not) so you walk about a million miles in one direction, find out it's a dead end... Now you've got to walk a million miles in the OTHER direction. At this point, you're just wanting to move on in the story... so yes, a couple times you may wind up wishing you could... er... 'walk faster.' I also read one review where the person lamented, accidentally fall off a cliff... enjoy your five minute walk back to where you were. Yes, that happened to me. Overall, my experience was.. decent. I enjoyed the atmosphere, the scenery, the calming walks (except when I had to backtrack a couple times). I semi-enjoyed the story.. It was pretty moving, but told in a 'distant, artistic' sort of way such that I didn't connect with it as much as I think I would have if it were told a little more directly. (I guess a good way I could describe this: If someone told you a moving story in normal narrative form, filled with creative adjectives and adverbs, used moving verbs and descriptive nouns... and then told you the same story in poem form, unless you're just a huge fan of poetry, the narrative story form will probably be more moving and meaningful.) The music was good and the sound effects were.. actually pretty decent. Overall, my favorite part was the scenery. Worth full price, though? I can't in good conscience say 'yes.' I bought this game on sale for $1.49, and I think that's a good price for the experience. The world was very pretty, but for such a short experience with no interactivity, $1.50 just feels more right than $10. So if you're in the mood for a brief distraction, a bit of a deep-dive into an artsy, lonely, distant world, this might be right up your alley. Just wait for a sale.
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Last Updates
| Steam data | 21 December 2024 00:33 |
|---|---|
| SteamSpy data | 18 December 2024 16:09 |
| Steam price | 23 December 2024 20:44 |
| Steam reviews | 22 December 2024 23:49 |
Online players
9
Developer
The Chinese Room,
Robert Briscoe
Publisher
Secret Mode
Release
14 Feb 2017
Platforms
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