"Dear Esther is an experimental first-person adventure video game developed by 'thechineseroom' for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X. First released in June 2008 as a free Source engine mod, the game was entirely remade between 2009 and 2011 for a commercial release in February 2012." - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dear_Esther
The game does not follow traditional video game conventions, as it involves minimal interaction from the player and does not require choices to be made nor tasks to be completed. It instead places focus on its story, which is told through a fragmented, epistolary narrative as the player explores an unnamed island in the Hebrides.
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| The Hebrides |
Structural Framework:
It can be suggested that Dear Esther is a visual novel with an interactive experience, as opposed to a conventional first-person game where you follow a code of 'shoot anything that moves'. Increasingly apparent as the game progresses, players may be taken aback and possibly dislike the game for it's elements of freedom, in that all you do is explore the island whilst learning the back story of the unknown protagonist and as a result, lead to feelings of confusion and dissatisfaction for the player.
Being a single-player game there is no other interaction with other players in-game, thus no high score boards or co-op modes. The game lacks a sense of interactivity for these reasons and for that fact that there's little interactivity with the environment. There's no sense of adventure because there is no action or sense of exploration, you just walk along the same coast whilst listening to the narration. You cannot play Dear Esther like you could with Angry Birds, so gamers looking for a sense of 'play' in that respect, won't get what they're looking for.
Many conventional, standard requirements to fulfill meaningful play aren’t apparent in this piece. There is no interface, no combat, you are an silent protagonist who remains unnamed. Being a single-player game there is no other interaction with other players in-game, thus no high score boards or co-op modes. The game lacks a sense of interactivity for these reasons and for that fact that there's little interactivity with the environment. There's no sense of adventure because there is no action or sense of exploration, you just walk along the same coast whilst listening to the narration. You cannot play Dear Esther like you could with Angry Birds, so gamers looking for a sense of 'play' in that respect, won't get what they're looking for.
How ever, to a player that enjoys archaic literature or poetry and highly metaphorical thought, Dear Esther proves to be a unique, enjoyable experience. It's highly metaphorical language and leaves much to the imagination and thus suggests that the struggle players are embraced with in this game is the struggle to understand the story. "I've rowed to this island in a heart without a bottom; all the bacteria of my gut rising up to sing to me" The best way to describe this piece is interactive art, as opposed to an interactive game - it is as an elegy or poem with evocative graphics to lessen the tedium.
Aesthetic Framework:
There is not a shadow of doubt in saying that this game is absolutely beautiful. The breath-taking art style in this piece looks exceptional. Whillst exploring through the island it is clear to see how much attention to detail has been applied upon creating this game, whether you're navigating through thick, grassy hills at dusk, creeping through the dark caves running under the island, or wandering the beaches on the north side at dawn, the piece's environment is absolutely stunning.
Robert Briscoe, lead game artist of Dear Esther on the visuals of the game:
"I think, for me, what pleases me the most about the game, at least from an artistic standpoint, is the sheer amount of detail that’s been squeezed into the environment. I really think that details matter, especially in a game such as Dear Esther where you want to encourage and reward exploration. My goal was to make every area offer something unique to find and have every vantage point offer something visually interesting to the player to look at. I often find it really disappointing in some games where from a distance an area or structure looks really cool and interesting, but upon getting closer it end up being a bit barren, low-res and boring." - http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/02/06/igf-factor-2012-dear-esther/
Dan Pinchbeck, writer and producer of Dear Esther on the influences and references of the game:
“To be honest, most of my inspiration came from games. I did a doctorate in FPS games and this led to the questions that inspired Esther. But I guess in terms of authors I most identify with: Boris & Arkady Strugatsky, William Burroughs, Philip K. Dick, Margaret Atwood, Andrew Greig (if you haven’t read “That Summer” you haven’t lived), J.G. Ballard, Angela Carter, Sebastian Faulks (particularly Human Traces)… I love Soviet-era Russian sci-fi too: Kiri Bulychev and Dmitri Bilenkin are fantastic. Although they haven’t made it into our games yet, I’m a massive fan of good steampunkers too: G. W. Dahlquist and Stephen Hunt are superstars and I want to make a full-on Victoriana steampunk shooter before I die.” - http://dear-esther.com/?page_id=133
The audio, particularly in the form of the music playing during flashbacks compliment the archaic literature and poetry that evidently drive the story so well. Composer of Dear Esther, Jessica Curry has composed brilliantly sombre, beautiful songs that work perfectly within the environment Dear Esther has been set in. "As beautiful as the game is, it’d be remiss not to mention Curry’s atmospheric soundtrack...impossible to ignore." - http://www.jessicacurry.co.uk/esther.html
http://jessicacurry.bandcamp.com/album/dear-esther
Contextual Framework:
"Built in the Source engine and originally released in 2008 as a mod for Half Life 2, Dear Esther quickly established itself as an award-winning, critically acclaimed experimental first-person game. It abandons all traditional game play, leaving only a rich world soaked in atmosphere, and an abstract, poetic story to explore. In 2009, it was picked up by a professional game artist, Robert Briscoe, for a complete overhaul of the visuals and level design, in the hopes that it would be able to overcome it’s early shortcomings as a mod and be able to fulfil its true potential. In late 2010 it became clear the overhaul had become something much more, and with Valve and the community’s support the project was granted a license to make Dear Esther a completely independent release, and allowing everyone the opportunity to get a chance to experience the game for themselves!" - http://dear-esther.com/?page_id=2
This game evokes a persuasive manner in that this interactive art piece asks players to consider playing in a different style. As a result, this game's overall reception has reflected it's potential effectiveness in driving the games market forward in terms of narrative-driven play. The potential this game has could be ground-breaking as it is an interactive experience that books cannot acetain. This game is entertaining in the form of it's narrative style, the metaphors and language are interesting, the ambiguous storyline enticed me. Innovative experiments such as Dear Esther is what drives the envelope in the gaming industry and what helps us to discover new possibilities in games.
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