The caves in the definitive edition are unreasonably pretty running in 4K. Unfortunately, while I am an advocate for games with no fail-state and minimal mechanics, I found Dear Esther to have far less to sink my teeth in than more recent entries in the Walking Sim genre such as Firewatch and Tacoma. While I'm sure if I pieced together the narrative it would be compelling, nothing in my playthrough instilled a desire to do so, which isn't exactly a great mark of praise for a game with little going on besides an appropriately dreary sense of atmosphere.

Completed on May, 5th 2020

theres little reason to be hyperbolic in dismantling this title but chinese rooms school of design back in the day aspired to a subversion of norms and convention. an attempt to shrug off perceived limitations and supposedly counterfeit worlds and supplant them with something more poignant, expressive. unfortunately this approach rather paradoxically furthered the artifice of their game worlds, and if it didn't hold up on release when compared to then-contemporaries like journey, it has most certainly not held up today. cannot regard a game as haunting if at every turn i feel the hand of its masters, if at every moment im confronted with its castration. pageantry

I usually love the dreaded "walking simulator" style indie games that became popular in the mid-2010s, I feel like they get a lot of hate from people who don't understand that they are narrative experiences first and foremost and games second.

That being said, Dear Esther is a pile of steaming feces that has a pathetically weak narrative and uninteresting art design. Most importantly, though, is the complete lack of gameplay. While most walking simulators are by definition very uncomplex in terms of game mechanics, Dear Esther has NOTHING other than walking! I wouldn't necessarily have an issue with this if there was an engaging narrative or more exploration, but you walk down a linear path while a boring story plays out for 2 hours. Nothing else. It might be the worst game I've ever played to completion.

Chamar Dear Esther de jogo é na minha opinião esticar ao infinito o conceito. Mas considerando como tal, a falta de mais mecânicas de interatividade o torna um dos maiores representantes da ideia de "walking simulator" que já surgiu.

Andar, admirar e tentar fazer sentido de algumas peças de texto é o que há em Dear Esther.

Num tem objetivos, obstáculos e recompensas, é basicamente um ambiente para caminhar e explorar. Tem algo a se descobrir? Não sei, eis o maior problema de Dear Esther.

I'd consider myself a pretty big walking sim fan, but I feel like Dear Esther is the game that really points out why so many people are turned off by the genre. Its overly simplistic in its interactibility and controls, while simultaneously being super convoluted with its storytelling.

It's briefness and simplicity are of course the draw and entirely by design, pushing the medium of gaming to its barest requirements, and while I think the game is interesting on a meta level because of that, in execution I find it to be solidly underwhelming. I wish there were some more secrets to find in the really well rendered environments, because every time I went off the beaten path I just found nothing but a dead end.

The story is also too cryptically told for its own good, delivering a simple narrative through over-written prose. There isn't a particularly satisfying ending or engaging twist to it all either, meaning I really just felt empty as I finished it up.

Gone Home, What Remains of Edith Finch, Firewatch, and (while I hate to say it) The Vanishing of Ethan Carter all offer much more to grab onto in terms of game design and storytelling, and Dear Esther just feels empty in comparison.