Dear Esther is a first person point-of-view exploration first and foremost. Although you might also coin it an adventure game, I’m hesitant to do that. There’s really no enemies or prevailing threats. All that you’ll find here is a riveting story… 

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Dear Esther was developed by The Chinese Room for the PC, PlayStation 4 and the Xbox One. The game was first released in 2008 as a free to play model. Later on, the game was entirely redeveloped for a commercial release in 2012.

As I said above, the game features very minimal gameplay at best, which is why it is often called a “walking simulator” a phrase you generally either love or hate as a gamer.

Personally, I think games like these have their own value, particularly if well written prose is the goal ambition of the design from the start. Dear Esther showcases this perfectly. Really, you only have one main objective here; explore the island the narrator stands upon. While you explore around and get your bearings, a troubled man explains his turmoil and reads a series of letters to his beloved, yet deceased, wife. Details of her death are slowly revealed as you explore around the island.

That’s about it… no really… that’s the basics of the game.

It is noteworthy to state that despite the minimalist style and gameplay, the game was critically acclaimed for the story it tells. I wouldn’t go so far as to call it horror, but if you are the imaginative sort, it can be a bit unsettling.

When 2017 came around, an updated version known as the Dear Esther: Landmark Edition was released, based on the Unity engine. That’s the one I’m playing in the video.

This has been Kernook of The Demented Ferrets, where stupidity is at it’s finest, and level grinds are par for the course. ..