You all know that sometimes we like to give more independent projects some special coverage so people become aware that Indie games can actually be worth a look. Dear Esther is clearly one of these games, though it is actually not quite clear if it is really a video game per se. Known by the Half Life² community since 2008 when it was released as a free mod, the game has just been released on Steam in a new version and will only cost you €7.99 or $9.99. To find out if you should succumb to temptation, read our review and watch our exclusive video.
Dear Esther is like nothing you have ever seen or played before. It is indeed a unique narrative voyage where the player is told a mysterious story by an even more mysterious narrator who happens to be the main character. Who are you? How and why did you end up on this strange deserted island? Who is Esther? Who is Paul? Who is Donnelly? So many questions you will ask yourself while listening to the main character's randomized interventions. Questions you may actually never get a clear answer to, which makes the story all the more ambiguous. Don't expect to fully understand it in one playthrough, or even to come to the exact same conclusions as other players. Indeed, it's all about interpretation.
The paradox with Dear Esther is that it manages to make you lose yourself in its world and story while still proposing a very straightforward experience. The shores and caves you will explore will always point you in the right direction, though you will never be quite sure what makes you move forward and why you are doing it. Glimpses of the story are given from time to time as you progress through the desperate landscape, conveying a sense of despair, loss and solitude. Sadness can be felt at every corner, in each sentence, as well as in the moving soundtrack which will sometimes accompany you on your journey. Time stops, the slow pace being one of contemplation and introspection.
All comments (16)
I just came across the crazy hallucination location change. I'll keep on playing more.
:D
The narration reminds me heavily of Amnesia. The writing is right out of a bygone Edgar Allen Poe novel. "My disease is the internal combustion engine and the cheap fermentation of yeast".
£6.99 on Steam is a bargain and I can`t wait for my puny 230 k/sec to get with it.
Killing Floor for £2.24 also took my interest............BARGAIN!
But somehow I feel this could be so much more with a decent engine under it.....hmm, maybe I'm just spoiled.