Dear Esther, It’s Great Being A PC Gamer

Yes, just thought I’d share that with Esther. Who’s Esther? Well, she seems to be the love interest of the protagonist we find in new indie release Dear Esther. I say seems because there’s nothing really that clear about this game, including its very definition as a game. It’s like an interesting cross between the old Myst titles, Amnesia: Dark Descent, the coastal sections of Half-Life 2, and those dark levels from PS3 game Flower. Having said that, Dear Esther is right now a very firm PC exclusive, and looks destined to stay that way. Basically nothing happens in Dear Esther, it’s all just one big walkabout in some of the most gorgeous environs you’ve ever seen on a PC. There are no real controls except for directional keys, you just walk, and can somewhat zoom the view for a slightly closer look at things. And that’s it. There are no bad guys, no cover mechanics, nothing. Just walking and listening to incredible voice overs done by Nigel Carrington. These present deliciously surreal and confounding exposition, and I loved every line. Dear Esther takes place on a very bleak island, probably somewhere off the coast of Wales or Scotland. The narrator (and there may be more than one, actually, cause sometimes the guy doesn’t quite sound like himself) comes up with very detailed but wacky stories involving apparently random characters, and these snippets may vary depending on how you trek across the landscape. Arriving at certain points triggers specific lines, and by the end of the experience you won’t really know much more about this world than you did before even installing the game. However, if this makes it sound like I’m being cynical, think again. Dear Esther is simply mesmerizing. First of all, the storytelling and language are beyond rich, even if they don’t always make the most sense. Actually, they never really make any sense. Then you have the graphics, which are incredible. Granted this is a largely static world with almost nothing to render save for scenery, but you’d be forgiven for thinking the aged Source engine just went DX11 on you. For something that started as a low-tech demo five years ago Dear Esther sure looks amazing. It’s also proof positive that you don’t need fancy decision moments or morality trees to get a jaded gamer to shed a small tear. As Dear Esther wrapped up, I was weepy, and not because there was no XP to gain. The ending sequence is spectacular in its bizarre simplicity, with proceedings definitely helped along by the remarkable soundtrack, done by Jessica Curry. If you like your gaming Skyrim-long then this may be a tad disappointing. My Steam clock showed me at 86 minutes played when I finished Dear Esther, so it’s essentially like one level in a big AAA release. But it’s worth every second and every penny of the $10 admission. Developers thechineseroom and ex-DICE member Robert Briscoe have done good, big time, and have been rewarded, seeing as news came in that Dear Esther moved 16,000 copies and became technically profitable within six hours of going on sale. Get your copy on Steam now! Meanwhile, I shall resume my bout of emotionally-charged, tender and introspective gaming by playing The Darkness II. That is all. And of course thanks to Steam for the awesome screenshot feature!