Dear Esther is a morose interactive storybook which was originally a Half-Life 2 mod and now returns several years later as a retail release powered by the optimized Source engine used in Portal 2.

Dear Esther is gorgerous. There will no doubt be controversy as to whether it is a good game and the case could even be made that it isn’t even a game at all, but I doubt anyone can objectively look at it and not say it’s beauty is breathtaking. During the course of my complete playthrough, less than one hour , I took nearly a hundred screenshots (the best of which I’ve posted at the end of this article)

Not for the emotionally bankrupt

To appreciate Dear Esther you must be introspective, empathetic and patient.

To appreciate Dear Esther you must be introspective, empathetic and patient. You move along at a snail’s pace and at first I struggled with this. But soon after I realized that the realistic rate at which you walk isn’t there to pad out game length (which is astoundingly short) but to force the player to really absorb their surroundings instead of whizzing by one set-piece on their way to another. Each and every hill you traverse or corner you turn gives way to something gorgeous. Whether that be the water crashing against the rocks of an ancient beach from a cliff side high above, or a subterranean river carrying a birch log down stream towards immeasurable depths.

"I’ve begun my voyage in a paper boat without a bottom. I will fly to the moon in it."

How to play

The whole of gameplay is to walk the paths of the solemn unnamed Outer Hebrides island. Once in awhile a narrator’s voice over will provide you with a bit of puzzling exposition. As time goes on you will begin to piece together a somewhat cohesive tale for yourself.

You begin on the shores of the island as an unnamed and unheard protagonist. I do not believe that you are the narrator, who during the course of the game pines over a great tragedy that befell him, but rather someone who has stumbled upon this island at a later date. Although the story is subjective and open to interpretation.

"I’ve been folded along a crease in time, a weakness in the sheet of life."

It’s the little things

My favorite part of exploring the island were the random bits of trivia you can find if you look closely enough at your surroundings. Electronic schematics intermingling with chemical diagrams,  a nest of broken bird eggs with ultrasound Polaroids littered around it, a candle lit altar found inside a sea side cave with a surgical tray of bloodied instruments and a disused defibrillator placed upon it.

These surreal oddments don’t exactly reveal any great truths but instead help to flesh out the mysteries that permeate this adventure. Namely, Who is Esther? and What happened to her?

"You can see your traces in the ink that soaks through the fiber, the pulped vegetation."

What could have been better?

Some amount of interactivity or puzzles would have been a welcome addition. Even something as simple as finding the flashlight you use (automatically) in darkened places would have gone a long way in convincing me that I am actually a part of the world instead of just a phantom retracing someone’s steps.

It’s a shame that more effort wasn’t made during its conversion from mod to retail product to craft a more interactive experience especially since it’s built upon an engine with renowned physics capabilities. However, it’s ability to set a mood and make you care about the lives of characters you’ve never even met is an impressive feat of storytelling in of it self and is enough to keep you moving forward.

You could argue that finding objects or solving puzzles goes against the grain of what Dear Esther was trying to convey, but regardless of it’s lofty goals it would have been “funner” and therefore in the end more successful as a “video game”.

"When we become waterlogged and the cage disintegrates, we will intermingle."

Final Word

Dear Esther is as much a video game as toasting a breakfast pastry can be considered Culinary Art. It barely meets the minimum criteria.

There are no weapons or enemies, no power ups to collect or areas to unlock. You can’t fall off a cliff to your demise or even drown yourself in the ocean. But as an interactive story it is surprisingly strong. The narrator’s voice acting is top notch and the emotions of loss and regret are realistically conveyed to the player.

Dear Esther is the shortest game I have ever played. That’s not to say it is too short.

Dear Esther is the shortest game I have ever played. That’s not to say it is too short. It has a very specific story to tell and does so succinctly.

I finished in 48 minutes and I thoroughly explored the world. One thing that may assist Dear Esther in the long term is it’s short run time. One of the advertised features of Dear Esther is a “semi-randomised story”.  I can easily see myself replaying this game again in the future to see how the experience changes.

It’s difficult to apply a score to Dear Esther as if it were a typical game. It’s presentation is beautiful but it’s interactivity is basically nonexistent.

Without risk or reward it really doesn’t provide the same type of entertainment as a video game and the fact that you can control your character and therefore the rate at which the story unfolds means that it defies a label like “art film”.

Despite it’s lack of classic video game paradigms, Dear Esther manages to capture your attention and makes you want to learn more about the island, Esther and the tragic circumstances which transpired some time before your arrival. It’s moving, melancholy violin and piano soundtrack and rich ambient sound atmosphere do an excellent job of infusing life into the environment around you.

Score 7.9

Why so high? Real emotional weight, a visual treat.

Why so low? Over much too soon, little interactivity.

Bonus Material

Original Half-Life 2 Mod

 Console Commands

Press ‘~’ key to enter developer console (must be enabled in Keyboard/Mouse options)

• de_playerspeed – increase movement speed (default: de_playerspeed 100, faster: de_playerspeed 200)
• de_examinezoomamount – increase zoom amount (default: de_examinezoomamount 0.7, increase: de_examinezoomamount 0.4)