The Chinese Room

Dear Esther

Two years in the making, the highly anticipated Indie remake of the cult mod Dear Esther arrives on PC. Dear Esther immerses you in a stunningly realised world, a remote and desolate island somewhere in the outer Hebrides. As you step forwards, a voice begins to read fragments of a letter: "Dear Esther..." - and so begins a journey through one of the most original first-person games of recent years. Abandoning traditional gameplay for a pure story-driven experience, Dear Esther fuses its beautiful environments with a breathtaking soundtrack to tell a powerful story of love, loss, guilt and redemption.

Released: 14 February 2012
Developer: The Chinese Room
Publisher: The Chinese Room
Engine: Source
Perspective: First person
Age rating: PEGI 12
Metacritic: 75/100
Steam recommendations: 3,966
Platforms: Linux · PC (Microsoft Windows) · Mac
Genres: Adventure · Indie
Estimated owners: 100,000–200,000 (est.)

72
Player rating: 72
Critic rating: 186
Ratings counted: 75.8%
Steam reviews

Dear Esther

Quick answers

Crossplay System requirements 1GB XP / 2GB Vista Download size 2.0 GB Steam Deck Verified

Dear Esther

The story

“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 game-play 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 uncovered when exploring the various locations of the island, making every each journey a unique experience. 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, the windswept cliffs and buried in the darkness of the tunnels beneath the island… Or then again, they may just not be, after all…

Dear Esther