Dear Esther is an award-winning, critically acclaimed, experimental first-person game. Built in the Source engine, it abandons traditional gameplay, leaving only a rich world soaked in atmosphere, and an abstract, poetic story to explore. Dear Esther was originally launched in 2008 and is currently being rebuilt by Robert Briscoe - watch this space for updates.
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Someone wrote: The engrossing world of "Dear Esteban" was created for a very simple purpose. To blow an existential hole in the players perception of their own realities. We wanted present a story so enriching to the human condition, that years from the initial play through the player will look back and think: "How was I ever that naive child before Dear Esteban pulled the wool off my eyes". We've created an interactive tour de force, so powerful, that society at large will have no choice but to acknowledge video games as mankind ultimate art form and the final stage before the event horizon of the human singularity.Engine & Tools: Unity and a masters degree in Philosophy
Travis Chen @TravisChenNolan Fabricius @ShiftlessHobo
Disclaimer: We love Dear Esther. Dear Esteban was made in good fun & parody. Dear Esteban is not so much 'Fuck This'. It's more a love letter to Dear Esther from the weird kid who doesn't have a shot but you kind of feel bad for.
Original Dear Esther out now on Desura
News 15 commentsDear Esther a fantastic mod for Half-Life 2 is out now on Desura.
Just a quickie
News 15 commentsJust a quick update to let you know I have re-uploaded the original mod for you to download (my fault, should have been back up long ago) and that we...
Dear Esther remake to get commercial release
News 222 commentsThe remake of the cult source mod Dear Esther will be released commercially in summer 2011.
Q&A + MODTY and new media!
News 61 commentsSo in my last update I asked for your questions regarding the Dear Esther Remake, and today I have been sifting through them and have answered some of...
Files
Dear Esther - Original - 2009
Full Version 26 commentsThis is the original Source Mod for Dear Esther. Last updated 22/01/2009
Dear Esther - Soundtrack
Music 24 commentsJessica Curry's soundtrack for Dear Esther: 8 tracks as MPEG4s.
Dear Esther script
Guides 19 commentsThis pdf contains the script for the interactive story Dear Esther, as requested...
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Highest Rated (6 agree) 8/10
Hey Dan I finally got around to playing your work. The narration was great. Stellar voice acting and writing, it really got me into the story. It genuinely seemed as though I was watching the last moments of a broken man's life, and that was quite something. However, it seemed that in your attempt to elevate narrative in games you forgot what makes a game, a game. I was constantly being annoyed by the little things. Whenever my character entered an area where you thought I should have my light on…
Feb 19 2011 by AJ_Quick
Lowest Rated (7 agree) 1/10
This game looks more like a movie mod than an actual playable mod. Other than the sharp graphics and the story, the gameplay purpose is a huge issue. On top of that, this makes one of the worst HL mods of all time in the HL series. Why? Because the remake will not be free. This mod qualifies for the YouTube episodic video(s) rather than a HL2 mod because it's better to watch rather than play. Changing the gameplay to something else that has almost no purpose is purely unacceptable. That type of…
Apr 17 2011 by PurpleGaga27
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My expectations for this game weren't too high, but I atleast expected something that wasn't so pertentious (if that's how you spell it) that it forgot to add entretainment. As for the so called "mystery to be uncovered" the game was way too short to actually get me interested into the story, it's just some weirdo rambling poetry to his dead wife on some bland island that does nothing to interest. This mod is what I call an "artistic fart". In other words, a game that's so artsy and pertentious that it just has this bland feel that trying to be so innovative that it forgets that video games are not templates for some weird form of art, but entrertainment and emmersion. And I feel neither emmersed nor entrertained by this mod. 2.5/10.0
In addition, to those who say that the mod is "beautiful" and isn't supposed to be full of action and the game is abstract, that's not m biggest problem. My problem is that it's missing entertainment and length, it could have been interesting if the story was expanded upon better and if the visuals were less boring and uninteresting. That's why I think "Dear Esther" is boring and overrated.
Agreed completely. People that give Dear Esther a 10/10 are obviously very biased.
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I like the story idea of it, but really It's rather boring looking upon Scenery and getting a Narrator to recite everything.
I kinda figured from the description that there wasn't going to be any action, but I think I would have liked it better if I could have interacted with more than boxes and barrels that held no significance. Even if it ment looking at one of the drawings on the walls and clicking to begin the next segment of the story. I just felt detached because I didn't really know what started the character's train of thought. For instance, I was walking by some wrecked ships just off shore and the guy started talking about kidney stones... I just didn't feel any connection between where I was and what triggered the story.
Is this the full game? I've heard a lot of great things about this game, but thought it was a stand alone game. I did not realize it was a HL2 mod. I also see that you can buy it from Humblebundles right now for $1 ( or only $.01 if you don't want the Steam keys). It's free here on Desura and it doesn't say it's a demo, it says full game, so ??? Does the stand alone/paid version have more content? Or did it just do so well that they decided to make a stand alone version of it? I just bought the bundle, cuz a few other games looked cool, and its gonna run out in 2 days. Just wanted to know if I should bother installing the other verison of this or if they are the same thing! Thanks! :)
This is the mod, Dear Esther's original release.
The game itself, the one in the Humble Indie Bundle 8, was released in 2012.
Moddb.com
Humblebundle.com
The full game is there with a bunch of others and you only have to pay one cent.
Get it before it runs out.
$1 to get steam keys and $6 for Hotline Miami along with it.
I see so many people talking about a great story and I just think... What great story? You walk around on a dank island following chalk drawings while listening to what can only be assumed is random sentences chosen from 10 pages ripped out at random from some bland book.
This mod sucked when I played it, and I can't expect the new version to be any better, unless in fact they give you more than a bunch of irrelevant sentences about stupid **** you have no idea about.
StegoBROus, you know this mod is supposed to be mainly of art stuff, right? It's not meant for gunplay. Just art.
The problem with the game isn't that it isn't some stupid shooter. The problem is that the visuals are way too boring, even for something depressing, the game is way too short, and the plot is not expanded on enough to be interesting. The game traded entertainment for the bland art that's meant for art enthusiests.
Well you can get a longer version of it, I don't know how by long, on Steam for around $10. It is their standalone release.
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Someone can't understand what "Art" means...