87. Dear Esther: Landmark Edition (The Chinese Room, Playstation 4, 2016)

Dear Esther is notorious for being one of the first examples of a "walking simulator", which was originally a derisive term invented by capital-G gamers to describe simple video games where the objective is to walk around and be immersed in a story or world, with little in the way of traditional gameplay. Dear Esther was originally a mod released in 2008, though it was eventually made into a commercial release in the Landmark Edition. In more recent years, the term ''walking simulator" has lost some of its acerbity, especially as the genre has grown and multiplied, so I thought it would be interesting to go back to one of the first and see what it's like.

Dear Esther basically involves you wandering around an abandoned British island, listening to a (British) man read letters to his deceased wife. As the game goes on, you learn more about the island and its previous inhabitants, as well as the fact that the island might actually be a metaphor for alcoholism (or maybe not?) The plot is nonlinear and deliberately vague, faking you out multiple times over its brief 60-90 minute playtime. The brevity really helps here, the plot kept me going, but I don't know if I would be able to say the same thing if the game was twice as long.

Since there is no real gameplay here other than moving around and looking, the game thankfully focuses on some nice looking realistic scenery. This is a game from 2008 and does look like it at times, but they really nailed certain effects like the way plants move in the wind. There is a later sequence where you're going through a series of caves that the game actually starts to feel like a video game. The cave experience reminded me of the Calico Railroad ride at Knott's Berry Farm: it was obviously a series of man made caves built for me to look at, but they sure looked nice.

Overall though, there is not a ton here (especially for me personally, as depressing British stuff is not my bag). Nothing about this game blew my mind, but it was a nice enough way to spend the morning. I did appreciate that you walk slower up hills and faster when going down hills, though I have to say Death Stranding is a way more realistic "walking simulator".

3/5, a little more exciting than I expected, but still about a 2/10 on the excitement scale