Dear Esther is a fantastic story set on the remote island of the Hebrides in Scotland where we are taken through the journey of a man as he begins to make his way across the island. This story that we are taken on uses clever dialog scenes that cut over the explorations of the island and little bits of information about this mysterious Esther and what has happened to others that have journeyed here.
The overall setting is absolutely beautiful and well worth seeing. The game has a unique way of taking you around the island in a certain way so that you can explore everything in as much detail as you want. There are also choices that can be made, like the path that you are following will often fork into two, most of the time leading you to the same destination, but sometimes a dead end. Most of the time if you hit a dead end it can often lead the player to a reward by giving them another hint as to what happened on the island from the narrator. This nice little way of adding in more information into the game is brilliant as it makes you want to go everywhere as otherwise you may miss a valuable piece of information about the people who have visited, or Esther herself.
When making your way further around the island, especially into the caves, as this is just a stunningly beautiful place that offers exploration and also more information into the back story of the island. We see that the stalagmites and stalactites have been formed superbly, offering artistic qualities in the way that they grow and hang and the use of light which I didn't think was possible. The use of glowing mushroom is perfect as the emit such a beautifully bright light that echos around the rocks, illuminating them brilliantly again what would be cold, harsh stone.
I believe that the caves brings the most potential to the game in terms of environmental storytelling, not merely because of the beauty that it radiates but the writing that is smeared across the walls and the candles that have been lit and the plunge pools of clear water that you can sink into with such ease. That caves has a significant power that can pull you in so easily and not only with its tempting looks. The caves offers insight into the heart of the island, literally and metaphorically, as it sits under everything that is happening, even if its not a lot, and takes all that information in, just ready to spew it out to the next wanderer who happens to come along.
To sum this game up, it is clearly not a game that you can get stuck into like you would with an action game, but it draws you in slowly giving you small bits of information at a time, making you want to continue the journey, and want to learn more. With its clear pieces of dialog, which are beautifully and poetically read, you become immersed as you wander around, delving into secrets of the past. It is a game that would be thoroughly worth while to get whatever your genre of game is; as it is just such a beautiful story set in such a remote but spectacular environment that for an hour draws you in closer and tells you a story that could be interpreted in so many different ways.
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