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. Rather than traditional gameplay, the focus here is on exploration, uncovering the mystery of the island, of who you are and why you are here. Fragments of story are randomly triggered by moving around the environments, making every telling unique. Features a stunning, specially commissioned soundtrack. Forget the normal rules of play; if nothing seems real here, it's because it may just be all a delusion. What is the significance of the aerial - What happened on the motorway - is the island real or imagined - who is Esther and why has she chosen to summon you here? The answers are out there, on the lost beach and the tunnels under the island. Or then again, they may just not be, after all...
The narrative work here is applaudable for it's originality, not for functionality or ease of understanding. It is a contender for games-as-art in a lot of circles and while I don't disagree, I don't really think Dear Esther qualifies as art when it looks so crude and rough hewn.
The story is, as many have said before me, close to nonsensical. But if you dig past the symbolism, a fractured narrative that is a bit Sanitarium and a bit Jacob's Ladder remains. A man goes into a coma from a car crash. The key guilt's of his dying moment are exploded, like a library book overdue, for example.
Little touches like that are interesting but ultimately buried in fractured story telling. The random generation and out of order sync for the letters and VA was a poor design choice and requires a physical notepad in order to keep track of everything, and I don't believe any experience--sans a mystery story--should require physical input in having to actually remember what is going on.