Game Review - Dear Esther

[TheRandomMan1000]

*Hey everyone, It's been a long time in the making, but I've decided to start writing game reviews. I hope to begin moving these onto my channel once my editing improves, but for now MCSG will get all of my reviews. Please give me some critism, everything helps.​

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So today I found myself home sick, and found myself wanting to find something to do. I needed something to keep my attention off of illness. I went to the home page of steam, and discovered that the daily deal was on a game "Dear Esther" It was only 2.50$, so I decided to dive in, with very little idea of what to excpect. That was a good choice.​

Dear Esther is the sort of game that you cannot read a review on before playing. If I'd learned about the game prior to buying it, I would have never bought it. The game is 100% story driven, absolutly zero aspects of the usual 1st person genre. No gun, puzzles, or anything of the sort. Instead, this game is driven by narration, similar to that of the indie game "Thomas was alone".​

In Dear Esther, you're guided silently through an abandoned island. The sound was beautiful, the wind, waves, gulls, the experience was incredibly immersive. The game shows you where to walk, with subtle hints like pops of colors in the flowers, unusal stones, or simply by leading you to a dead end. As you walk along the glorious landscape, the naration begans to tell something of a story. Reading something that seems to be a letter, hence "Dear Esther."
As you walk, the mood changes, the ques in the voice and atmosphere really draw you in and make you feel along with the game. As you move further and further, both the landscape and the letter becomes incresingly conveluted. Graffiti, writting in glowing moss cover the walls. The voice booms with more puropose than ever. Although the story makes little sense til' the end, you're incredibly drawn in.​

As the story weaves itself into your subconsious, you delve deeper into the island. I'd tell you more about the plot of the letters, but that would ruin it for you.​

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As for the graphical appeal, the game goes for realism. Although the game can get a bit framey at times, it's easily tolerable. The sound, as I said earlier, is beautiful. The plot is complecated, but this my friend, is the whole appeal of the game.​

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I won't comment on gameplay, as the game honestly doesn't have any. This is not a downside, as the gameplay takes place in your mind as you try to figure out the message, what do the words mean? The game itself lasts 90 minutes if you wait long enough to revel at the details of this game. I'd compare this game to a movie, but a movie has never been able to get me to feel as much as this game had.​

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Gameplay: 0/0​

Plot: 10/10​

Graphics/Sound: 9/10​

Personal Preferance: 9/10​

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Overall: 9.5/10​

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While this game doesn't shine with flashy guns, or intesnsive puzzles, it brings out what seems to be an entirely new genre. The game grabs a hold of me and captivates me entirely, without any action at all. Instead the game focuses on what is truly important, it pulls the "Player" in and forces them to use all their mindpower, despite only having 4 buttons. This game pulled me in more than any game ever has before, I highly recomend it.​