It’s what Johnathan Blow calls “the most well written game of all time”. It’s one of Edmund Mcmillen’s most anticipated of 2012, and a finalist in 4 categories of this year’s IGF awards. It originally began as a Half Life 2 mod, but through high user and critical demand, its developers obtained the funding to turn it into a stand-alone gaming experience. It is Dear Esther.
With stunning visuals that pushed the source engine to its limits, a score with an unheard-of level of production value in the mod scene, and some of the best writing, storytelling, and experimental gameplay we’ve ever seen, the original Dear Esther mod was a runaway success. Highly lauded by critics and fans alike, demand quickly grew for the game to get a life outside of the source engine, and to be freed of some of the restrictions that come along with being a game modification. In 2009, Robert Briscoe, a professional video game artist, picked up the task of creating the standalone version of the game, and one year later in 2010 it was granted license for independent release by Valve.
Lauded by essentially anyone who’s ever come in contact with the game, and a finalist in the Excellence In Visual Art, Excellence In Audio, Nuovo Award, and the Seumas McNally Grand Prize categories at this year’s IGF, Dear Esther‘s impact on the gaming world is already being felt.
Part ghost story and part emotional roller coaster, Dear Esther strands you on a seemingly abandoned island and tasks you with the job of finding out why you’ve been summoned there, and what has happened to all of its inhabitants. The game can be loosely categorized as a first-person exploration game, but I can’t help but feel like doing so is some sort of small injustice to the plethora of other things the game is able to accomplish so well. Saying anything more about the game’s narrative and mechanics would spoil so much of what made the original mod great, but suffice it to say that, if critical response and the greatness of the game’s source material is any indication, Dear Esther is a game you’re going to want to play, and subsequently talk about endlessly when it releases for the PC on February 14.
