Dear Esther: Landmark Edition

 PlayStation 4
User Score
6.1

Mixed or average reviews- based on 63 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 21 out of 63
  2. Mixed: 27 out of 63
  3. Negative: 15 out of 63
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  1. ragethorn
    Sep 26, 2016
    2
    I'm a huge fan of Gone Home, Everybody's Gone to the Rapture, Slenderman, and a bunch of these so-called "walking simulators".

    Gone Home was great. It was filled with mystery, atmosphere and dread. Every clue you find puts another bad thought in your head. I was hoping Dear Esther, would be the same. It wasn't. Gone Home is a different breed. Everybody's Gone to the Rapture is    I'm a huge fan of Gone Home, Everybody's Gone to the Rapture, Slenderman, and a bunch of these so-called "walking simulators".

    Gone Home was great. It was filled with mystery, atmosphere and dread. Every clue you find puts another bad thought in your head.

    I was hoping Dear Esther, would be the same. It wasn't. Gone Home is a different breed. Everybody's Gone to the Rapture is developed by the same guys who made Dear Esther. It wasn't my favorite game but it was creepy and huge. The town looked like it was filled with secrets. I enjoyed it but I wouldn't replay it. Dear Esther isn't even that.

    I love shorts games but only if it does its job. The Park did its job. It's an interactive, hour long horror movie where you play the protagonist.

    Dear Esther is about an hour long, maybe 90 mins. You walk around an island triggering talking points to let you know you're going into the right direction. The graphics are sub-par but that's expected since it's an indie game.

    Controls are simple. There's only walk and zoom. Zoom doesn't seem to do anything. You don't bump into anyone or anything. It's just dull.

    The best moments of the game come when you enter a broken down cabin and your flashlight comes on. It reminded me of 11th Hour, an old PC CD-ROM game from the 90's.

    This game isn't for me. I need purpose in my short indie video games. Gone Home hit me hard. Everybody's Gone to the Rapture got emotional towards the end. Slender-Man terrified me, even with it's technical issues. Dear Esther isn't even interactive. I paid $11 to walk around a generic island for an hour and that's not fair.    … Expand
  2. bloodman900
    Jul 18, 2020
    0
    As a passive fan of The Chinese Room's other works, this "experience" was a waste of my time. Many will defend the game by calling it and experience rather than a game, but trust me. This is the most boring, unplayable, meaningless mess that you will ever play. If you somehow found enjoyment from this, I envy your ability to enjoy terrible games. I realize that this game has someAs a passive fan of The Chinese Room's other works, this "experience" was a waste of my time. Many will defend the game by calling it and experience rather than a game, but trust me. This is the most boring, unplayable, meaningless mess that you will ever play. If you somehow found enjoyment from this, I envy your ability to enjoy terrible games. I realize that this game has some significance in that it was first a source mod, but that's no excuse for the slow, dull mess you find here. Do not buy this. If you get it for free, do not play this. I am now more bored than when I started.… Expand
  3. HSuke
    Mar 8, 2022
    4
    This 1-hour hiking-simulator was mostly visually-pretty. I actually enjoy walking simulators, but Dear Esther was utterly uneventful, boring, and meaningless. In terms of art, it kind of reminded me of the Kid A Mnesia: Exhibition, but the Kid A Mnesia: Exhibition is 100x more artistic and more interesting.

    The worst part is the utter-nonsense narration. If you put a infinite number of    This 1-hour hiking-simulator was mostly visually-pretty. I actually enjoy walking simulators, but Dear Esther was utterly uneventful, boring, and meaningless. In terms of art, it kind of reminded me of the Kid A Mnesia: Exhibition, but the Kid A Mnesia: Exhibition is 100x more artistic and more interesting.

    The worst part is the utter-nonsense narration. If you put a infinite number of monkeys with typewriters in a room and give them an infinite amount of time, they'll eventually write Shakespeare-quality material. Dear Esther's dialogue was written by 10 monkeys given 1 hour (and then auto-corrected by AI for grammar). It made zero sense at all.    … Expand
  4. pfear83
    Mar 13, 2020
    1
    Most boring Walking Sim i've ever played through. Much prefer Everybody's Gone to the Rapture or Firewatch. Total waste of time and money.
  5. bergcamp101
    Aug 24, 2020
    2
    Maybe, the worst game, I've purchased on PS4. The plot is interesting, but not mysterious and gameplay is very boring. I truly believe, we can't compare walking simulators with other games.
  6. greyestfox
    Nov 24, 2020
    2
    I only paid $2.50 for this on PSN. At that price, I'd say this game is worth it because the "story" and setting is pretty interesting. I say "story" but the directors commentary at points makes it clear at one point that there is no one correct interpretation of the game's story and they purposely obfuscate the story using conflicting voice over lines. At another point in the director'sI only paid $2.50 for this on PSN. At that price, I'd say this game is worth it because the "story" and setting is pretty interesting. I say "story" but the directors commentary at points makes it clear at one point that there is no one correct interpretation of the game's story and they purposely obfuscate the story using conflicting voice over lines. At another point in the director's commentary, the writer said the main crux of the story DID actually happen. Any game like this relies VERY heavily on the story so to have it so up in the air and leave you wondering if there's a story at all definitely detracts from the narrative.

    The visuals of the game are lacking. The setting is beautiful, to be sure, but looking up at the sky you can see pixilation of the clouds which is out of place in a PS4 game this short. To compare, when I played The Vanishing of Ethan Carter I took several screen shots because I found the setting and visuals so appealing but I only have one screen shot of this game I thought was worth keeping.

    If I had stopped playing the game after my first playthrough, I probably would've given this game a 5 or 6. But I'm a completionist so I decided to try to get all the trophies and I thought the director's commentary would lend some clarity to the story. Unless you are extremely enamored by the main game to the point where you'd give it a 8-10 out of 10, don't bother with the director's commentary. To be fair, the gaming community tends to agree this was a pioneer that led to many games like "...Ethan Carter" and "...Edith Finch" so that's perhaps why they thought a commentary track was appropriate. But compared to the two aforementioned games, this is very bare bones and if the visuals weren't in HD, this easily could've been a point and click on PC in the 90's. I still would've liked the experience if the Director's Commentary reflected how meager this game is but the commentary lacks any humility (humbleness). Listening to the commentary, you get the impression that these developers think they could've written Silent Hill 2 on a napkin over breakfast. At one point, the writer literally says that this game redefined how caves were designed in video games.. Enough said- the directors commentary was absolutely miserable to sit through because the directors seem to have no concept of where their game stands. It was $2.50 on PSN and hearing them talk you'd expect they'd want it to be a full priced $60 game.

    The only gameplay consists of choosing where to walk and walking up to environments and objects which trigger voice over. There is no "press x to examine:", there is no sprint button (the director says he thought it would be weird because you don't run around in everyday life-- as if being alone on an island is everyday life). In fact, R1, R2, L1, L2, Square, Triangle, Circle, and X all do the same thing-- zoom in. And you never have to zoom in to progress the game.

    To be fair, there is one moment in the game at the end of the third chapter that I thought was very well done.

    I can appreciate that this was the first of its kind and it was a risk to make it but because the story isn't great or clear and it has the least amount of gameplay of anything I've ever booted on my PS4 or PS2-- it is worth the price I paid for it-- $2.50. If you get it for $5 or less and don't try to 100% it, it's a solid 5.    … Expand

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
68

Mixed or average reviews - based on 21 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 10 out of 21
  2. Mixed: 9 out of 21
  3. Negative: 2 out of 21
  1. PSNStores
    May 3, 2017
    60
    Dear Esther isn’t a groundbreaking experience, but it did help pioneer more games in its genre. It will take you a little under 2 hours to complete the game’s four main areas, but it is a game that you might want to play again upon completing it to further understand its plot. The Director’s Commentary will add another playthrough for those looking for an interesting background on how the game was created and its inspirations.
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  2. The Digital Fix
    Oct 26, 2016
    80
    A hauntingly immersive experience which may not be as exciting as the average game but four years on it's still a beautiful piece of art. If you haven't played it before now is the time to pick it up.
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  3. DarkStation
    Oct 21, 2016
    40
    The game shines most through its aesthetics with impressive environments and an atmospheric score. Its lack of agency and action may bore players, especially if the confusing story doesn’t reach them.
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