Review: Dear Esther (PC)

So, I finally got around to playing Dear Esther, a game that I've been asked about a number of times during paper presentations on Minecraft but never actually experienced myself. And it was better than I expected. Of course, saying I "played" it is sort of misleading, as it doesn't really let you "play" anything in any substantive sense of the word. It is, however, a master class in how to create a virtual place, to make a player curious enough about the fictional world in front of them that they'll gladly trade time in the physical world to explore it. That doesn't happen nearly enough with video games, and even when it does, it usually isn't done this well.

When I first started up the game and realized that all you really did was walk around and look at things, and that you had to walk around really slowly, I almost gave up. But, I imagined it much the same way that I think of all the "real-life" walks I go on: typically, whether I'm going on a walk around the neighborhood, or a twenty-mile hike, the first little bit is boring. It's hard to instantly remember why I enjoy the slow-down of just walking, of just soaking in my surroundings, of not trying to "accomplish" anything other than to just be moving through space for awhile. Eventually, I settle in, and walking for the sake of walking seems as natural as breathing. Which it sort of is.

The same thing happened with Dear Esther. After the brief rough patch at the beginning, I began to sense that I wasn't always going to walking through washed-out grasslands, and that I was probably eventually going to get to find out what was at the top of that Barad-Dur-like tower in the distance. I accepted that the "game" wanted me to approach it as a sort of meditative space instead of an accomplishment-powered challenge. And, intrigued, I went for it.

It's like walking in central Idaho, only not real.

I wasn't disappointed. If my description of the "gameplay" in the previous two paragraphs sounds intriguing to you, then Dear Esther is worth your while. If it sounds like a load of horseshit, then you should probably stay away. It's another experiment in (sort of) gaming, and the results were fascinating to me.

Regarding the poetry, voiceovers, etc. that make up the story, I thought that it was great. Sure, it's a little bit of a stretch stylistically, and might seem a little overly serious, but hell, considering the way Dear Esther ends, it's not exactly supposed to be a comedy. I saw the narrative as trying to do some really interesting things with time, perspective, and the perils of having an unreliable narrator as he descends into madness during the story. Seeing as how I was studying Poe while I was playing this game, maybe it was just a happy bit of synchronicity. But I think there are a lot of clever little nuances to this story that you could, if you wanted to, try to interpret, discuss, and find more meaning in. And that's also rare for a video game. Much like Psychonauts, the narrative treats you like an adult. If you're one of those people who find games like this "pretentious," then you should probably steer clear.

If this screenshot makes you incredibly sad, then we are grief-brothers.

But, combine the game's wonderful visual setpieces, consistent sense of place, and dense, psychologically disturbing exploration of grief and illness, and...wow. This thing was really, really good.