TwiceBittenBacklog Dear Esther: Landmark Edition Review

“From guilt, acceptance. From grief, love.” Dear Esther is, if not the progenitor, then the popularizer of the term “Walking Sim”. A genre in an interactive medium paradoxically defined by its lack of interactivity. Dear Esther is a brief, melancholic tale about accepting responsibility and contending with ones grief in a land that is more metaphor than reality. I put the Source-mod-turned-standalone-title through two playthroughs. One, blind. The other, with the developer commentary on. While there was some fluff, I did gleam new insight or at the very least, authorial intent from the commentary. This is a feature I wish more games implemented, as I personally love peaking behind the curtain of creation. This option alone gains an extra point from me. Not much can be said about the game without spoilers. The game is minimal, and sparse. You trek across an island while the narrator recites nonlinear fragments of a story. There is zero interaction in the game outside of walking from point A to B but this is in itself not a criticism, just an uncommon approach in the medium of games. One could argue that it is bold to throw away one of the largest advantages of games, interactivity, in the creation of a work. But I reject that any art should be arbitrarily limited or otherwise enforced by precedent or cultural norms. The closest analog from another medium to compare would be a Tarkovsky film such as Stalker. Long stints of down time between narrative and dialogue, where you will be left to digest what you have experienced with little more than the gorgeously built but tarnished setting to stimulate you. The voice work is good and when music and sound design do come into play, they are well executed. The piano and violin lift the ambient loneliness. Winds rustling through the vegetation creating a tense climax as you ascend to the peak of the island. I think the biggest critique that can be leveled at Dear Esther is that, like many ‘firsts” in a genre, it is downright restrained and sparse in comparison to it’s contemporaries. Take a Stanley Parable, an Edith Finch, a Firewatch - these games have so built on the foundation Dear Esther has provided as to make Dear Esther feel absolutely scant by comparison. This does not invalidate what The Chinese Room has created but does provide a level of friction when going back to enjoy “The Classic”. Returning to the Tarkovsky metaphor, Dear Esther is similarly hard to recommend. It comes with a caveat that it may not be for you, it may not do what you want. You may prefer games where you shoot-dudes and grind-level. You may want a more directly told story or higher fidelity. But eat your vegetables and find out if you like it. It’s a micro-game in length and scope, and beautiful in it’s own right. A tentative 7 out of 10, -4 if you really can’t get into walking sims.