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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Dear Est...Esteban

News 7 comments

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

Original Dear Esther out now on Desura

News 15 comments

Dear Esther a fantastic mod for Half-Life 2 is out now on Desura.

Just a quickie

Just a quickie

News 15 comments

Just 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

Dear Esther remake to get commercial release

News 185 comments

The remake of the cult source mod Dear Esther will be released commercially in summer 2011.

Q&A + MODTY and new media!

Q&A + MODTY and new media!

News 60 comments

So 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...

RSS Files
Dear Esther - Original - 2009

Dear Esther - Original - 2009

Full Version 26 comments

This is the original Source Mod for Dear Esther. Last updated 22/01/2009

Dear Esther - Soundtrack

Dear Esther - Soundtrack

Music 24 comments

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

Dear Esther script

Dear Esther script

Guide 19 comments

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

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Re-synthesizer
Re-synthesizer

"Dear Esther" is a rather 'unique'....a rather 'quaint' ditty of a HL2 "Bloke" user-made mod.

The beginning of this mod occurs whilst the avatar you play is stranded on a delapidated boat deck -- which in and of itself is situated on a rather dreary and overcast, though to a degree 'picturesque' British Isle.....which in and of itself is rather......*ahem*....delapidated.....and quite 'forlorn'-> (to use the favorite word of that queer-some bloke: Andy Bell of Erasure). Your 'avatar is not able to run.....hence, you are only able to walk....and also there are no weapons to be found, much less used. From time to time as you enter the recesses of dimly-lit caverns and abandoned shantys....your flashlight automatically turns on -- and conversely when you exit these dimly-lit areas, your flashlight automatically turns off.

While you are exploring this 'forlorn' British Isle -- periodically you are 'entertained' by the lucid and very intellectual voice of a 25 year old Anthony Hopkins.....who recites in a very heavy Cornwall accent...various entries of his lengthy diaries which he addressed to his mother, Esther, .....*ahem*.....I presume many decades ago. Also, periodically throughout the 'exploration' of this 'forlorn' and 'dreary' though to a degree picturesque British 'isle'....some of the lesser-known compositions of 'Chopin' are to be heard at close range -- the source of which recordings is unknown: Are they 'ghastly' recordings....with no ACTUAL source....hence their ability to permeate the ambience/atmosphere which embellishes your 'avatar?'

"Dear Esther" is a very 'quaint' and original mod that is purely 'exploratory'.....and unfortunately after I had explored the entire 'isle,'... I was not able to determine how to 'END' this mod.....or more aptly stated, to "reach the END" of this mod....without ENDING the life of the avatar whose 'shoes' I was 'filling'.....*ahem*....by means of 'cliff-jumping'....in a manner of speaking.....*ahem*.....

I rate the original and very 'quaint' "Dear Esther" a 6/10.

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regularshowman
regularshowman

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

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regularshowman
regularshowman

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.

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Dune_Jumper
Dune_Jumper

Agreed completely. People that give Dear Esther a 10/10 are obviously very biased.

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Burning-X
Burning-X

I like the story idea of it, but really It's rather boring looking upon Scenery and getting a Narrator to recite everything.

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DubSmith04
DubSmith04

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.

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Trinitylynne98
Trinitylynne98

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! :)

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yarow12
yarow12

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

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