Dear Esther PC

1. TGMode

   Nov 16, 2013

   10

   A brilliant, beautiful game. Jessica Curry's soundtrack is amazing! I have played and replayed this game and it never gets old. I'm sure it'sA brilliant, beautiful game. Jessica Curry's soundtrack is amazing! I have played and replayed this game and it never gets old. I'm sure it's not for everyone but the way the story unfolds and leaves you to make your own conclusion about what happened.
   Great game!… Expand

   • 0 of 1 users found this helpful
2. NotkerBiloba

   Jul 7, 2012

   10

   I went back and forth a lot on this one, between 9 and 10. Rationale for "10": the developers have made something that captures ourI went back and forth a lot on this one, between 9 and 10. Rationale for "10": the developers have made something that captures our imagination; we become enrapt in an environment without having to blow anything up, kill things, solve complex puzzles, etc. There seems to have been a general trend towards less story-driven content and more blowing stuff up, and in my opinion the question has been, can we increase the story, the art, the atmosphere, etc., decrease the explosions, and still entertain people? This title *is* that experiment, having taken the shooting and problem-solving to absolutely zero -- and the response has been surprisingly (to me) positive. Rationale for "9": I was a little confused at the end; I had an expectation that by uncovering clues, I would be able to piece together a story that made sense. And I also read a little bit about this title, both before playing and after completing it, and I thought there would be more of a "ghost story" aspect to it. In the end I decided I was leaning more towards "10", as the rationale for "9" was reasoned away. Specifically, it dawned on me that there is no reason not to consider a game as a work of art; and as I began to consider this work amongst the many other types of works, such as poetry, music, painting, etc., and I realized that in art, there often is no "right answer" as to the meaning of the work. Some art works aren't so much important for their meaning as for their creativity, beauty, and their ability to make us think. The artist may have an idea in mind, a message to convey, but sometimes a work can lead to more questions than answers. It is often up to the beholder to decide what the meaning is, and to fill in the gaps. As for the "ghost story" aspect, once I came to find out (through fora and such) that there were mysterious shadows lurking around, and where they might turn up, I have to admit that I could no longer attempt play-throughs at nighttime with the lights out. That is a powerful statement. I'm not a spiritual person, but for some reason this story, setting, music, etc., had a very real effect on me. I'm not sure if I agree with the designers' approach of not allowing the player to get all the story fragments in one play-through, but it does give us the opportunity to go back through and pick up subtleties that we may have missed the first time through. In short, 9.5; I'll round up.… Expand

   • 3 of 10 users found this helpful
4. jthayer09

   Feb 14, 2012

   10

   To call this a game would be almost entirely inaccurate. This piece is better described as an interactive fiction narrative. The only gameTo call this a game would be almost entirely inaccurate. This piece is better described as an interactive fiction narrative. The only game play mechanic in this work is to guide your character through the story. However, what makes this piece of work interesting and outstanding is the atmosphere that is created through the narrator's speech, the beautiful graphics, perfect music score, and amazing ambient sound. This is an experience that no one should pass up, my first play-through took up a little over 2 hours of my time; for $10 this is a fantastic deal.… Expand

   • 41 of 71 users found this helpful
5. notyourbuddy

   Aug 19, 2012

   7

   Dear Esther was an unusual hate-love experience for me. For the first 45 minutes you will feel like a sucker duped into paying for nothingDear Esther was an unusual hate-love experience for me. For the first 45 minutes you will feel like a sucker duped into paying for nothing more than a tech demo. You will be walking around in a snail paced first person camera, unable to interact with even the most basic of objects, such as books or papers strewn about in a room. It would have been nice to be able to pick them up and read them as is common in adventure games, but apparently that was asking too much. In fact, the only controls in this title are move forward, back, left, right, and swim up (which is used sparingly if at all). Your purpose is to wander - wander aimlessly hoping beyond hope that you will stumble upon the imaginary trip wires placed around the world that trigger the narrator and bring some purpose to this dull experience. And I say dull not because of the pacing, or the lack of interactivity, or a graphically hideous engine (as in fact its quite beautiful when maxed out), but rather the lack of imagination that went into the world as the island is nothing but the same bland repeating rock, ground, and grass textures over and over. As for your lone companion, the narrator (whose voice is exceptionally well done), he rambles incoherently. Its as if he walked into a book store, picked up a random book, flipped through the pages, and just started reading obscure passages out loud. The whole experience is a disjointed mess. Oh and it got worse; the island which at first felt like a sandbox you could freely wander in is soon to be revealed as being a closed one-way track. When it does fork you are quickly led to a dead-end, with no narration, no purpose, only a few rocks that a newborn toddler could conquer, but yet you somehow are unable to step over. All that is left is to backtrack - backtrack with a slow moving camera only adding to the frustration. Troubles continued. As I approached the first interesting thing in this game, a half sunken ship submerged in shallow water, I like any normal person had the urge to swim to it. Well, I drowned in about 4 feet of water, "come back..." the narrator says, as I am transported back to land and free to continue on. Only I wasn't. I could look around, but I could not move. Nothing is blocking my way I'm just stuck. So this thing is bugged too? . In a blood boiling move I had no choice but to restart from the beginning and re-walk the whole bleh experience up to this point (interestingly however was the fact that some of the narration had changed). So, if you do decide to try Dear Esther do yourself a favour and quick-save before jumping off any cliffs or swimming in any water. I might have fallen victim to a rare bug, but no point in risking it yourself. Anyways, out of sheer stubbornness, I continued on from the start, mere inches away from bursting out in profanities condemning Dear Esther to the 9th levels of Hell. But, see... this is where the hate ends and the love begins. For the cave - the blue cave is where Dear Esther grabbed me and didn't let go. From here till the end I was captivated by the world. Long gone is the bland island and instead is a wondrous cave of waterfalls, streams, smoke-effects, creative lighting, and emotion inspiring environments ranging from psychosis to tranquillity. This was the experience I was hoping for when I bought Dear Esther. The story comes together, the narrator's incoherent ramblings start to actually make sense, and your purpose takes shape (which of course I won't spoil). I still don't know whether Dear Esther can be categorized as a game - and having only lasted 85 minutes in length (including my restart) I'm not sure its really worth the $9.99 price tag being sold for. However, if you wait and buy it on a Steam sale like I did for 75% off its hard to argue its not worth $2.50. Despite the slow starter it did come on strong and its unusual epistolary style of story telling will leave just enough holes to give you plenty to think about even after Dear Esther is long over.… Expand

   • 2 of 4 users found this helpful
6. Zuboklev

   Feb 21, 2012

   6

   Dear Esther marked the beginning of a new genre in games. Half - interactive trip with meditation elements. Example of how far can a fantasyDear Esther marked the beginning of a new genre in games. Half - interactive trip with meditation elements. Example of how far can a fantasy authors who do not need to look at the gameplay. I think this is a qualitatively new stage in the establishment of games as art.… Expand

   • 0 of 9 users found this helpful
7. Dkashola

   Aug 12, 2012

   3

   Regardless of how good the storytelling is, or isn't, 10 USD is way too expensive for an hour of gameplay, let alone non-gameplay. If thisRegardless of how good the storytelling is, or isn't, 10 USD is way too expensive for an hour of gameplay, let alone non-gameplay. If this is art, I'd rather stick to being an ignorant and uncultured hick.… Expand

   • 9 of 13 users found this helpful
8. Tywin

   Mar 5, 2013

   0

   Honestly, it's not a game. It could easily have been a cut scene or a short movie, but then again you wouldn't get the fan boy defence corpsHonestly, it's not a game. It could easily have been a cut scene or a short movie, but then again you wouldn't get the fan boy defence corps or all that juicy profit if it wasn't sold as a game. The game tells you the story of Esther's husband wandering through a Hebridean island (A thoroughly ugly scene to behold) coming to terms with his wife's death. You are somehow automatically expected to care about the wife or his plight and are subjected to 45 minutes of gripping.... holding down the W button. You walk painfully slowly through the island, often being encouraged to take a wrong turn to try and find additional dialogue. The problem is the dialogue just isn't interesting or rewarding. The whole piece is neither emotionally gripping nor philosophically gripping, so I honestly don't know what it is aiming for.
   What Dear Esther needed was dynamic content and emotion. What it has is neither.… Expand

   • 2 of 3 users found this helpful

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