Indie developer The Chinese Roomโs first-person narrative Dear Esther is heading to PlayStation 4 and
The minimal gameplay, however, remains the same.ย Your only objective isย toย explore aย strange,ย Hebridean island as you listen to a man reading letters to his wife, who is named Esther.ย The originalย was released in 2008 as a free-to-play modification. However, its commercial release did not come until 2012 for Linux, Mac, and PC and garnered aย wide varietyย praise. Despite its acclaim, though, many gamers were turned-off by Dear Estherย simply for the fact that it did not feel like a real “game”.

Narrative games have been increasingly popular in the last few years, especially the experimental first-person titles. Ones that come to mind areย Gone Homeย andย The Chinese Room’s most recent release, Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture,ย which takes place in the fictional English village ofย Youghton, where all the residents have disappeared.
Despite the criticism, these type of games have you re-evaluate your expectations of narrative gameplay andย force you to takeย your time as you explore and watch theย story unfold.ย Dear Estherย is similar in that respect as well and has a beautifully haunting soundtrack to support it, butย likeย Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture,ย my experience was ultimately underwhelming. Hopefully with the new added touches to the console release of Dear Esther: Landmark Edition,ย I will feel differently.