Dear Esther: Landmark Edition on Steam - User reviews, Price & Information
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 exploration, interactive fiction and walking simulator 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 6,764 reviews of which 5,032 were positive and 1,732 were negative resulting in a rating of 7.3 out of 10. 😊
The game is currently priced at 9.99€ on Steam.
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.
System 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
User reviews & Ratings
Explore reviews from Steam users sharing their experiences and what they love about the game.
Admittedly emotionally compromised by this game, so bear with. I think the British coastline is one of the most consistently beautiful places I can lay eyes on, and have dedicated hundreds of hours of my time to walking around as much of it as I can. After my granddad on my Scottish side passed away, I accompanied my grieving father down the plots of land that meant the world to the both of them, and extended as far beyond as we could. One of our trips took us to Gometra, a place of such beauty it finally broke his stoic ass into tears, despite it not being somewhere he'd ever visited before. It's just such a haunted place, the whole coast is. Freezing cold, battering you with constant gales and rain and seafoam and seagull shit - the same elements that carve the land itself. Jagged slippery rocks and mundane flora, the only specs of colour or sign of human life being litter or debris, broken glass or empty cans left god knows how long ago. On my solo walks, my mind would wander to morbid places, imagining what would happen should I trip and hurt myself; what kinds of infections I'd get, how long it'd be if at all before I would have any chance of help. That same uneasy awareness, the pull of the beautiful and the morbid, defines my experience with Dear Esther. The game's Hebridean island is made to feel like a place out of time, a frozen echo of someone's grief. It makes use of randomised props and narration, one of the major points of contention way back at this game's release. What does it all mean? Do you really need to replay it to get the full story? Even back when this was just a simple free Source mod developed as a university project, I somehow just Got It. I didn’t need to know who Donnelly was or why the narrator was here. The weight of it was enough, the way the words hung in the air like mist over the cliffs. Some things you don’t need to piece together; you just need to let the words hang as you eavesdrop on the memories on the breeze. Maybe this all works for me because - - embarrassingly, I think anyone who knows me particularly well would attest to this - - I am very emotionally vulnerable, not only to art but so many facets of life. If I am interpreting this as an existentialist tale about grief, would I be so greedy as to also demand Answers when life itself rarely supplies them at times of struggle? Much of why I feel this game be more effective than some of its more better-regarded peers is that it invites me to sit in the loneliness of the space. Pained, empty, but full - full of all the things unsaid, all the memories tied to a place that can’t speak for itself. And maybe that’s why it hit me so hard. The randomisation of narration and props isn’t a gimmick; it’s a reminder that stories are never static. The same place, the same words, can mean something different depending on where you are in your life when you encounter them. I’ve played Dear Esther's original form, and the remaster a great many times, but this replay was a good few years in the making - and the story I uncovered felt wonderfully evocative... not because the island has changed, but because I have. On replay I was particularly taken to the work put into the sound design. This is such a rich soundscape... The whisper of the wind through the grass, the distant crash of waves against the cliffs, the faint echo of something that could be a voice. Doesn’t just set the mood; it deepen it, pulling me further into the island’s strange, mournful embrace. Jessica Curry’s score remains as achingly beautiful as it was I first heard it, swelling at just the right moments to catch my breath in my throat, and using elements of unusual distortion and industrial wailing to convey a real sense of sorrow. It harkens to whenever I visit the coast - there's never a moment of silence, even in relative stillness and isolation, it's this overwhelming cacophony of nature is trying to crush the ground I'm standing on. Can't praise it enough, man, entire characters in some of my favourite games don't have the presence of the wind in Dear Esther. One unsung aspect of this game for me is the involvement of Robert Briscoe - the veteran level designer for Mirror's Edge. That being a game I adore for its incredibly well thought out world - not just gameplay-wise, but mostly by how it conveys a sense of place. Mirror's Edge thrives on its pristine, dystopian cityscapes, where every building and rooftop feels deliberately placed to tell a story about control, surveillance, and rebellion. Briscoe’s work there demonstrated an ability to create environments that are more than just backdrops, they’re active participants in the narrative, conveying meaning through their design - on top of just looking gorgeous. This same philosophy is palpable in Dear Esther. A broken fence, a rusted piece of machinery, or a strange marking on the wall - each detail feels like a breadcrumb leading me further into the island’s mysteries. It’s also worth noting how Briscoe leveraged the Source engine to its fullest potential. The lighting, in particular, plays a huge role in the game’s emotional resonance. The way the sun sets over the cliffs or how the glow of phosphorescent caves contrasts with the bleakness above ground is breathtaking. These moments aren’t just pretty, they’re deeply atmospheric to me. The final chapter's skybox? Abso sublime. The game isn't for everyone, and I understand why. I also don't think any game worth playing would be. The only interaction function is a camera zoom, there is one walk speed, if you don't feel for it then there's nothing to latch on to. Still, the smear back at release does feel incredibly quaint now that you can hardly walk through Itch without tripping over a game like this. It doesn't feel that way now, but this was an incredibly risky game at the time, and one that has definitely helped blossom a subgenre of narrative adventure game. You have to forgive me for the glaze sesh, it never really sat right with me that this game has been forbidden from getting its flowers even now.
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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.
Expand the review
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)
Expand the review
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. 소박한 산책을 깊이 있는 여정으로.
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Last Updates| Steam data | 04 April 2025 08:09 |
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| SteamSpy data | 10 April 2025 05:36 |
| Steam price | 12 April 2025 20:44 |
| Steam reviews | 11 April 2025 14:05 |
If you'd like to dive deeper into the details about Dear Esther: Landmark Edition, we invite you to check out a few dedicated websites that offer extensive information and insights. These platforms provide valuable data, analysis, and user-generated reports to enhance your understanding of the game and its performance.
- SteamDB - A comprehensive database of everything on Steam about Dear Esther: Landmark Edition
- SteamCharts - Analysis of Dear Esther: Landmark Edition concurrent players on Steam
- ProtonDB - Crowdsourced reports on Linux and Steam Deck Dear Esther: Landmark Edition compatibility
Online players
5
Developer
The Chinese Room,
Robert Briscoe
Publisher
Secret Mode
Release
14 Feb 2017
Platforms