I rarely post in here any more, and have relegated myself to lurking, mostly.

But when I saw this, I just knew that this forum needed to know about it. If it has already been covered, I apologize. But this "game" has the makings of a classic. See if you don't think so too.

http://dear-esther.com/

It looks intriguing. Thanks BaldBob!

If I'm not mistaken, it appears to be an interactive story of sorts. Voice over narrations are triggered during certain points of exploration of the island. Nice graphics but no puzzles.

Thanks, BaldBob and Mordack.

The video left cold, wet, sad and lonely. :lol:

Thanks BaldBob!

Ana

This looks like a gorgeous game. I'm not familiar with 'Steam' although I've heard of it. Is this download only?

It doesn't look like a game at all if you read what's said about it.

From Rock, Paper, Shotgun: "In a sense, Dear Esther is pretty much non-interactive: nothing you do changes the course of the fiction, and there’s no element of challenge to speak of.."

Going by that, it's not even an interactive story. I'm not sure what it is. Another 'art' experience, maybe.

Gil.

Now THAT'S not nice! I liked looking at the screens anyway, very nice. Why?

Why what? I don't know what you're asking. Not nice? That quote from Rock, Paper, Shotgun was from a guy who actually liked Dear Esther. A lot.

Here's a quote from Dan Pinchbeck , the guy who's making Dear Esther: "For me, writing in general – and I think there’s a lot more scope for this in games – I don’t think things have to make sense. We don’t require logical, causal sequences in many other art forms. With Dear Esther, it doesn’t matter if you don’t understand anything so long as it creates the right mood."

Logical, causal sequences, as he calls them, are an integral part of point and click adventure games. Without them, you have no story just a...a what? An emotional experience? This creation of his (in his own words games are an "art form") may have beautiful graphics and leave you ready to cry (he talks about 'negative' emotions at one point) but that sure doesn't make it a game in my view. So, searching for something to describe it, I tentatively reached for 'art experience'.

I've played games that made next to no sense to me (TLJ comes to mind) and left me plenty emotional - highly irritated that I'd wasted my time and money on it. This one is taking TLJ a few steps further, from what I gather, taking control away from the gamer and tossing any pretense of a narrative out the window. What's left? Pretty pictures that induce a mood? It may be an earthshaking advance in something and people may like it, but I wouldn't call it a game.

Gil.

The screenshots are gorgeous & the scenery in the clip I played was breathtaking. From what I've gleaned, answers as to who you are, where you are & who Esther is etc are all discovered (or maybe not!) from narrated? story fragments as you explore the Island to unlock the plot.

It seems to be mainly a collaboration between Dan Pinchbeck who's a writer & a game 'environmental' designer so it could be interesting.

I do agree traveler that 'logical, causal sequences' are an integral part of P & C AGs but I think it depends on what DP means by that & what he means by things not having to make sense.

At the moment it's coming across as an interactive story but also something between an interactive 'art experience' & a 'relaxation' DVD.

DP, in one of his blogs said that he liked to have fun with the players, so I do hope there's a demo as I'm not paying anyone to have fun with me unless I'm going to have fun too!

NB I'm not buying it either if it doesn't make sense!

I have to agree with Traveler, I think he found a little gem.
Just looking at the video made me feel to go exploring.
I will try to know a bit more about Dear Esther and report back to you

Chrissie and Carla, that's what I got from the fantastic screens. I liked what I saw and what I THOUGHT the 'game'would be about. I asked WHY because I wanted to know why is seemed to be presented as a 'game' of sorts. I am curious about who Esther is and who the gamer character is and why Esther seems to be asking the gamer to explore if only to get some sort of info. That sorta sounds like a game to me. I like story driven games, especially if there's something to do other than JUST explore, but exploration can be fun, too.
In my opinion, TLJ was an excellent game, btw.

Dear Esther has now got a release date for Feb 14, it has also been nominated for the IGF awards. Its going to be the closest thing to Myst that we have seen for a long long time.

HI everyone. I just wanted to say thanks for posting the link to this. I'm not sure what it will be like either, but it's certainly beautiful and I'm intrigued. Now if I could just learn how to enter my monitor and live in these pretty worlds---I'd never come back! sigh...

Tracy

It has no puzzles so I do not see how it can be in line with Myst.

Ana

Dear Ester has been around for a while. I know I downloaded it about two years ago. I guess it is being remade into a much larger game. Another good one, and this is a real game, is Korsakovia. I believe it is a Half Life 2 mod. It is very scary, much like Amnesia.

http://www.thechineseroom.co.uk/korsakovia.html

Hi BrownEyedTigre,

Its because the puzzle is the Island itself, and the gameplay is centered on immersing you into the world and story.

Neil