Dear Esther is part of a research project, creating experimental game mods, based at the University of Portsmouth, UK. The aim was to use Source to create something radically different from normal: an interactive story that dispensed with traditional gameplay and focused instead on an open-ended, semi-random narrative.

More information about the mod and its aims, and the overall project can be found on the website. Also look out for two more mods coming soon: Conscientious Objector (Doom 3) and Antlion Soccer (Half Life 2 Deathmatch)

Thanks for looking - any feedback would be fantastic.

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Dear Esther Remake - update 25/10/2009 Dear Esther Remake - update 25/10/2009 Dear Esther Remake - update 25/10/2009
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32 comments by Henley on Oct 31st, 2009 digg this super bookmark


Ghosts, Zombies, Vampires and other monster boggiewoggies. Halloween is a great time to get into the scarier movies and games to give yourself a good fright. Last year on ModDB I created a video for the top ten voted spooky mods by our community, it had some interesting results to say the least with the popular but not always scary mods took the cherry. This year we will do something a little different, I have compiled a list of singleplayer mods (because we all know being alone in the dark really sets the mood) for different engines that you should check out if you want to get your spook on.

Mistake -1 (Half-Life)

Mistake -1 is the prequel to 'Mistake' and tells the story of Steve Rick, a patient from the Andrew Parker asylum, who harbors a dark secret. A very spooky mod that uses the Goldsource engine very well. Creepy lighting and visual map changes creates something very unique and exciting.


Hollow Moon (Unreal Tournament 2004)

You arrive to the moon research station to work as heavy machinery engineer. From now on you are on your own. Created as more of an experiment for different means of showing audio-visual styles Hollow Moon boasts no environmental sounds, but what is produced is a thick atmosphere that few games or mods can come close too.


Paranoia (Half-Life)

You will play the role of a Russian officer of the secret service. Your first impressions are that this mission will be just like any other, but you really have no idea what nightmares future events have in store for you. Paranoia is one of the very best mods to come out of Half-Life for both engine expansion and content. A must download!


Curse Episodes (Half-Life 2)

Curse episodes is an Egyptian themed action/horror/puzzle/exploration FPS where the further you creep into the world of Curse the harder and more frightening the entire experience gets, its up to you how you want to play. A very unique and very amazing mod worthy of your attention and bandwidth!


Dear Esther (Half-Life 2)

A deserted island... a lost man... memories of a fatal crash... a book written by a dying explorer. Dear Esther is a ghost story told using first-person gaming technologies. If you want a very spooky interactive ghost story Dear Esther should be the mod for you, highly recommended by all the staff here on ModDB.


There are hundreds more mods and games out there that will help create a fantastic Halloween experience for you all, these are just some of the truly stand out mods that deserve to be the major source of your ghostly ahhs and eeiies. Hope you have a very frighting Halloween!

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Dear Esther v1.1 (fixed)

Dear Esther v1.1 (fixed)

Jan 22, 2009 Full Version 36 comments

Updated Dear Esther with fixed link to level 4. This fully replaces v1.0, please delete that and unzip this into your SourceMods folder

Dear Esther - Soundtrack

Dear Esther - Soundtrack

Jul 11, 2008 Music 17 comments

Jessica Curry's soundtrack for Dear Esther: 8 tracks as MPEG4s.

Dear Esther script

Dear Esther script

Jun 30, 2008 Guides 14 comments

This pdf contains the script for the interactive story Dear Esther, as requested...

Dear Esther.zip

Dear Esther.zip

Jun 27, 2008 Full Version 12 comments

Zip file for the Dear Esther mod. Unpack it into your source mods folder, restart Steam and it will show in the games list.

Comments  (60 - 70 of 432)
Kaneda13
Kaneda13 Sep 2 2009, 12:48am says:

This mod does look quite fantastic, especially with the update.

But with all due respect to the dev's, especially since you put so much freetime in making it, a mod at this magnitude should be done on Cryengine2. I find Cryengine2 more immersive and the way Dear Esther is designed, well, its pretty self-explanatory in that sense. You'd easily add nicer visual effects and you wouldn't be bogged down with loading screens.

Dont get me wrong, Im a big HL2 fan. I'm not trying to troll the diehard source engine fanboys or those with systems that cant run cryengine2 with these comments. But you have to admit that Source is showing much age nowadays. An exquisite mod like this deserves that level of aesthetic attention with an engine that can compliment it to its potential.

Just a thought...

-2 votes     reply to comment
Afnopo
Afnopo Sep 1 2009, 10:57pm says:

One of the great weaponless mods. Shame it is also a crasher for my rig.

This is a real eye opener for developers who don't understand the concept of "Uniqueness".

+3 votes     reply to comment
Aaagreen
Aaagreen Sep 1 2009, 9:09am says:

Epic update.

+1 vote     reply to comment
thegentleman
thegentleman Aug 30 2009, 2:27pm says:

I found the ending rather creepy (when you accend the steps at the end, no spoilers).

+2 votes     reply to comment
CaptainBadass
CaptainBadass Aug 29 2009, 12:05am buried:

(buried)

Maybe I'm the only one but I find this mod to be highly, highly overrated. The narrative is somewhat interesting at times but it isn't anything extraordinary. Sure, it's one of very few "interactive novels" but it just isn't fun to experience.

If you're looking for a fun mod look elsewhere.
If you're looking for a pretentious borefest with a vague and dull storyline then download this mod and knock yourself out.

-5 votes     reply to comment
theLumberjack
theLumberjack Aug 30 2009, 2:38pm replied:

I found the story rather captivating, then again, I like to think about things.
Also I'm quite looking forward to the remake =D

+2 votes     reply to comment
lawlhat
lawlhat Aug 30 2009, 1:02pm replied:

Its more like art than a game. Just my two cents.

+1 vote     reply to comment
DVNC
DVNC Aug 28 2009, 7:31am says:

Hi guys, ive been playing your mod around this days and i find it great, probably the most atmospheric game ive ever played, but i have one problem.. i cant really understand all that is said, i have a good english level but my ears are not really trained (i must admit that im stunned with the island itself and its kind of a distraction too). The thing is that i would really appreciate subtitles, or an easy way to make them, in order to enjoy the experience at its full level. I know you guys must be busy and that you are working on a remake but i, and im sure lot of people around the world too, would be really happy to be able to enjoy this incredible mod like its meant to.

+1 vote     reply to comment
chineseroom
chineseroom Aug 28 2009, 10:13am replied:

We're hoping to localise and enable subtitles on Rob's new version. I've been offered a French translation of the game, any other languages gratefully accepted too - please PM me if you think you can help with this.

+1 vote     reply to comment
slogun
slogun Aug 27 2009, 11:16am says:

Every single one of those images up above is mind blowing - especially after the "re-mastering". Really makes me want to learn how to do this myself...exactly the kind of stuff I would like to make.

+1 vote     reply to comment
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chineseroom
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Released Jun 19, 2008
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