Dear Esther: Landmark Edition Reviews

Many would argue that [i]Dear Esther[/i] is not a game. A "game" implies "gameplay"—some systems to interact with, points to accumulate, a victory to achieve. [i]Dear Esther[/i] has none of these things. You interact with your eyes and your ears, and it is only differentiated from a movie by the fact that you control the camera. This gameplay-free experience essentially created the term "walking simulator." The term intends to dismiss outliers of the medium—an insult to any games that dares to create a 3D space with nothing to kill or collect. It resonates readily with serotonin-soaked minds of hardcore gamers. But to me, walking simulator is not pejorative. I will jump at the opportunity to experience a piece of interactive art, and I enjoy a nice long walk when the weather is nice. So I will take the stance of the underrepresented minority: [i]Dear Esther[/i] is a game. It's story could have been interspersed with puzzles or combat. Its ending could have been punctuated with a challenge to overcome. But those additions would have been unimportant to the creators intent and only thrown in to meet the qualifications of a traditional video game. By focusing on atmosphere and narrative, [i]Dear Esther[/i] succeeds, quietly and concisely, at its purpose. [i]Dear Esther[/i] is a game I love—a game that I'll never convince anyone else to play.

This game is pushing the envelope of just what that actually is. If you're looking for an experience more than a game, then this could be for you. [b]Why did you play Dear Esther?[/b] I love Scotland and I've been to the Outer Hebrides. This had a great price point and I was intrigued. [b]So what is this game's USP?[/b] Look, there's no denying this one is for a niche audience. To call it a "game" is stretching the definition, but I regard this as a matter of commendation for the developer. It's clearly a passion project, and in a world of AAA titles, that should always be given a chance, for the developer as much as for oneself. Having said that, there are a couple of points you need to be ready for. The game is slow-paced af. There's quite a bit of obscure verbiage. There's no challenge. If you can look past that, there's a very beautiful and atmospheric experience waiting for you here. [b]And what about achievements?[/b] Hm. I completed 100%, but I wouldn't recommend playing Dear Esther for the achievements, because a) it's tedious, and b) I'm not sure that does it any justice. Soak in the mood instead

I'm coming back and playing some of the Chinese Room's games after playing later titles. It's really interesting to see how they've kept improving with each new release. This one is still good but there's definitely some quality of life improvements that are much better in later games, and it's mostly to do with the subtitles.

To be completely honest, while playing the original non-Landmark Edition of this game many years ago I always felt it was kind of hard to grasp on what exactly it is about because the writing was so cryptic, almost pretentious in a way. Also the pacing was way to slow for my younger self back then. The narrator did a really great job however, his voice is very fitting and nice to listen to. Now replaying it years later I kind of understood it much more clearly in my mind, or at least I formed a somewhat passable explanation for the story elements which I won't spoil here, but even when you don't really understand what's going on it is still a great experience and there are also many good interpretations floating around for the curious. What was true back then and still is, the game's setting on a Scottish island is gorgeous, the environmental worldbuilding is top notch. And it is brought to life by an equally amazing soundtrack and sound design in general. One of the greatest additions in the "Landmark Edition" however is the one thing I didn't know I needed: The developers commetary mode. It switches out the normal story with little speech bubbles you can walk through along the way for some very interesting background info about the game, their intentions, some technical tidbits and much more, for example what they think about their game having created the "walking simulator" genre, or how the game's is actually very intended to be somewhat vague and up to interpretation. What I didn't know actually is that the voice overs and the props in the world change randomly with each playthrough which is a really neat idea, as it gives each player slightly different pieces of the puzzle. This was so much more interesting than I had imagined, and I can really recommend to try out after the main story. It made the experience much more grounded and relateable, they seems like really nice folks over at The Chinese Room dev studio. All in all, really nice experience. If you're not turned off by it's very slow paced nature and "unique" storytelling I can recommend it, the price is fair I think.

Beautiful island and great music alongside the main story.

A short and boring walking sim. Might be the most boring game I've played in 20 years.

A really boring game. You don't collect anything, you don't solve any puzzles, you don't read any notes or journals, you don't interact with the world in any way. Just slow walking and listening to the narrator ramble about stuff that half the time sounds like nonsense.

Still holds up today if you take it for what it is. Movement is intentionally slow, you absorb the environment and the details as a result. This is a narrative focused journey, if you expect that then you'll enjoy it. If you have different expectations then probably not.

I was recommended to play this game after finishing What Remains of Edith Finch. I enjoy a nice walking sim with a good story, something that pulls you in, but unfortunately this was just you making a character get his daily steps in. The narrator had a nice voice, but the story didn't really make any linear sense. On top of that, the writing itself seemed to be trying to come across as deep, thoughtful, insightful, etc, but all I felt was boredom and confusion. It was just a lot of big words sounding eerie without any real emotion to give them substance. I got halfway through the 2nd chapter of the story before throwing in the towel. There is absolutely nothing to do besides walk. The scenery and music are absolutely lovely, but the gameplay itself is such a massive letdown. I'm sure this is right up someone's alley. just not mine.

[h2]'Dear Esther' is a beautiful, barely aged game. Dear devs though, modesty is not a sin, but a recommendation[/h2] ‘Dear Esther’ is a beautiful game, a pioneer of walking simulator as we know it now. Came out in 2012, was re-released in 2017 with ‘Landmark Edition’, which made it even more visually stunning and didn’t let it age. [u]If you play this game for the first time more than 10 years after its release as I did, you will not even notice its age. From the visual perspective, it’s an astonishing game[/u], ‘The Caves’ chapter is especially impressive. [u]However, the story of ‘Dear Esther’ is heavily fragmented, and this is a problem[/u]. The problem is not only about how the story’s pieces are given to the player in non-chronological order and the narrator can be unreliable at best sometimes. This is okay, if the story actually gets complete and full, even with multiple interpretations to support. [u]The major issue is, that the story is not even intended to be presented as remotely understandable and complete to you, the player.[/u] Yeah, there are bits of something scattered somewhere throughout the game’s levels, and there may be some tiny pieces of environment that can be actually useful in understanding of the game’s story. Sort of, kind of. [u]Most of the times all of the symbols, pictures or signs you can meet are just there ‘for the vibes’. I’m not joking[/u]. If after completing the actual game you’ll intend to listen to all the Director’s Commentaries as there is an achievement for it, you’re going to get a lot of… interesting information. Not all of it is going to be eye-opening in a good sense of this word. In fact, some of what the developers said almost turned my initial opinion of the game sour. So now I’m going to give my opinion about some of the Director’s Commentary. [b]My general opinion of the game: it’s beautiful and dirt-cheap as a bonus too. It is worthy of going through either way, especially given the influence it made on the entire genre[/b]. However, the developers’ stance made my eyebrows rise much more often than once or twice. [u]In the commentary, the devs actually address the incredibly slow walking speed of the main character and the absence of shift button[/u]. Their response was: ‘[i]Well, we know that a lot of players are dissatisfied with the snail’s walking speed in the game. Why didn’t we add the ability to speed up at least for some moments of time? Well… You see… In real life, you’re not running around most of the time, right? You like, walk. Not run. So… as our game’s purpose is to make you observe and think… you can only walk with the snail’s speed!’[/i] Dear developers. I don’t know if you are that type of people that I unfortunately meet in the streets, who walk with the speed of a rock and also prevent me from passing you with your unbothered backs… Let me present myself. Oh, I LOVE thinking and daydreaming while also walking. Yeah, I don’t run in real life. [u]But guess what. You can actually walk… pretty fast! And you can give player an opportunity… to adjust the walking speed in the way they’d be the most comfortable! Given how you can do NOTHING in this game but walk, that would be pretty significant, isn’t it?[/u] This response was so ridiculous it really made me go [i]“Oh really? So we’re defending this poor walking speed with ‘we’re just too intellectual for running’ BS?”[/i] Speaking of fragmented story, [i]the vibes[/i] and narrative structure. [b]Dear Jess[/b], all of your musical insights were incredibly interesting and useful to me as a person who literally worships music. [b]Dear Rob and Dan though[/b]. If you have truly nothing to say about your game, you’d better keep it silent and not waste my time with your useless remarks while I’m trying to go through all of your DC. Why am I so harsh? Because the devs, responsible for the actual concept and story, literally say it in your face, that the game’s story was never intended to be complete. Their stance seriously was: ‘[i]We wanted to make the game that would make you feel things… the vibes, the hallucinations. Nothing is real. What is the story about? Well… figure out for yourselves! We don’t like straight narrative structure. That’s why we’ll just make you, the player, the one to get all of our poor-excuse of story bits together and make something out of it. What our story is actually about, generally? Well… it’s up to you!’[/i] Now repeat the same thing over and over, with different words, in the most pretentious and self-loving way possible. [u]After that the developers, who do not have a sin of being too shy or modest, compare ‘Dear Esther’ with ‘Stalker’ by Tarkovsky, best pieces of Strugatsky brothers literature, somehow ‘The Elder Scrolls’ series (?!) and many other iconic pieces of art in cinema, literature and gaming[/u]. [b]Dear developers[/b]. [u]Your game is decent at best, none of the themes it takes is groundbreaking (loss of a loved one, travelling within your mind during coma, dying as a metaphore for breaking free), and would it not be so visually and musically stunning as it turned out to be[/u], nobody would have even remembered it for longer than a couple of years. Comparing it with anything I pointed out above is more than pretentious. [b]It’s just cringe[/b]. To be so self-absorbed and out of touch IS cringe. And it actually turned me off so much I was really fighting the urge to give it a red review. Not to mention that your studio is not known for producing absolute masterpieces, you know. I love ‘Machine For Pigs’ and defended it since forever, but more than a half Amnesia fans think otherwise. Your last project, ‘Still Wakes The Deep’, seems not so incredible either, especially given… damn, how much it costs?! For four hours of gameplay? You people are definitely not shy at all…