I was made aware of Dear Esther after hearing the song “I Have Begun My Ascent” being played live by an orchestra. Hearing the song alone was enough to make me want to check out the game. Unfortunately though, the best part about this “video game” (if you want to call it that) is the music.

The game starts rather unceremoniously, you’re on an island as the day is drawing to a close and it’s getting dark. A narrator starts speaking to you, telling you a tale about something you’re not quite sure of. Is this his internal monologue? Are you playing as Esther? During the course of the game you, as the player, are trying to figure out what the plot is, why you’re on this island, and what other things you could have spent £7.99 on.

The narration read out to you is not fixed, each point on the island you reach you will be provided with 1 of 3 parts of narration meaning that each player on each playthrough will experience the story differently. This would have worked better if you gave players a reason to want to play it multiple times apart from trophy hunters. The game is only about 1+ hours long so it’s feasible that players could experience all parts of the narrative in one sitting but after my experience with the game, one playthrough is enough.

I feel that ‘What Remains of Edith Finch” did the storytelling walking simulator so much better as it was much more of an interactive story.

I do love the writing though, I wish I was as good at writing as Dan Pinchbeck who made the game at ‘The Chinese Room’. At the end of the game it leaves the plot up to interpretation and I have heard a few people interpret the story completely differently from one another. The plot is very difficult to relate to when there isn’t much on the island helping you connect with the people involved aside from individual items scattered around which you cannot interact with.

The music as mentioned previously is filled with beautiful piano melodies which do really well at setting the tone of the game and fitting in with the Scottish Landscape. Filling the player with emotion as they reflect on Esther’s life.

The scenery and graphics are gorgeous. Traversing the island is relaxing but it would work much better as a VR game. When I was playing the game, strolling around the island, I couldn’t help but to think “I would rather be out on an actual walk rather than play this”.

If you’re a gamer who sticks to AAA titles or is unsure if you will like this then I recommend going for an actual walk while listening to the soundtrack instead. I do recommend this game to people who like to explore all forms of art and every nook and cranny that video games have to offer. Despite its shortcomings this game will be a firm part of video game history.

Like Myst or The Witness if they didn’t have any gameplay whatsoever. The vague, lumbering prose and cryptic imagery littered throughout may be super profound for all I know, my problem is that I'm just too comfortable not expending any energy to understand it beyond the surface level. To put it simply, it's a problem of trust. How am I supposed to know if all this obscure verbosity carries some deeper, rewarding intent? Apparently I'm not alone in not being all that engaged by this: according to Steam, only a third of players completed this one-hour game, and only around half made it past the first chapter.

Arguably, this may have been the first real walking sim, predating both Gone Home and Stanley Parable by a year or so. To be fair, it deserves some credit for this, and does stand out visually with some exceptional texturing and shader work. I was impressed by how looking back and to the side would often reveal some breathtaking, painterly compositions that must have required quite a bit of intent to integrate. However, this is still a game, and as a game it feels just a few steps removed from the sensibilities of a 90s multimedia product: just so archaic, so fundamentally deficient and crippled in its design, I can't really bring myself to embrace it for what it is. Two stars.

The OG walking sim. In Dear Esther we wander around a linear track on a remote Hebridean island. It's not just a sightseeing tour though; as you walk, a narration starts up, taking us through a story which unfolds as you walk and parts of which can be triggered as you look at the various things you come across. It's a weird sell, frankly, and not for everyone. It's also odd that the story has an element of randomness to it, with replays showing that the narration isn't always consistent which can shed different lights on the story being told, but it's not the kind of game I imagine one plays and replays in the same sitting so I think a lot of players would miss this. A bit pretentious and obviously not the most exciting of times, but I think Dear Esther still has a place as an intriguing museum piece.