Ingenious Indie Innovators, Part #42 - Dear Esther (2012) (PC) (thechineseroom)
0Dear Esther is not much of a game, since all you really do in this atmospheric and experimental Source Engine-based adventure title is follow a mostly linear path through the environment while listening to the occasional voice-over. Lead writer (as well as British professor) Dan Pinchbeck's writing is intentionally vague and somewhat pretentious, too, but the unnamed Hebridean island on which the story unfolds is one of the most meticulously detailed and evocatively designed environments I've ever experienced in, well, a game. The art director is none other than Robert Briscoe, who previously designed the unique presentation in DICE's Mirror's Edge, and there are numerous moments of haunting beauty throughout this short experience which makes Dear Esther well worth "playing" through (especially in stereoscopic 3D).