# Dear Esther



## James Coote (Dec 17, 2012)

Has anyone played Dear Esther?

I'm interested to know what literary fans make of it, since it is very heavily story driven.

In fact, many people argued it wasn't even a game as such, more of an interactive story. I'm personally on the game side of the fence (it is a game to find the next narration and try to guess at the different threads of the mystery that unfolds).


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## TheTomG (Dec 18, 2012)

Haven't played it, but will do. My daughter thought highly of it. I love exploration, ambiguity, atmosphere, etc - things that are often missing in games


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## kromanjon (Jan 30, 2013)

Ok. I love story in games and I love finding new ways of tellings stories through games. Dear Esther falls flat on its face, of a cliff and dies a horrible death beneath the crashing waves.

It's not a game as you pointed out. The interactivity is basicly non-existent with walking and looking being all you can ever do. The story is nothing more than random voiceovers played at certain points throughout the game.

Don't get me wrong, there are redeeming qualities. It looks good, it sounds good, the atmosphere is decent. But there is just no point to it. It's random. It's a book having all its pages ripped out and thrown in the air and your only allowed to read the pages you manage to catch and in the order you catch them.

Complete waste of money.


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## hawkmoon83 (Feb 15, 2013)

I loved it. I play (too) many games, and this was sufficiently different to be memorable for a long time to come. Personally, I very much enjoyed the walking and looking - it's a very beautiful setting, I gleaned much enjoyment out of the the purely exploring the island as the sun sets... The story unfolding was secondary for me. Short, sweet, and a memory I look back on fondly.


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