![]() These set pieces do much to convey the age of the island and instill a sense of permanence and historical awareness. A sense of decay permeates the landscape, described in-game as “sick to death: the water is too polluted for the fish, the sky is too thin for birds and the soil is cut with the bones of hermits and shepherds.” Vestiges of civilization lay scattered about the cliff sides and windswept caverns comprising the island in the form of shepherd bothys and weather-torn radio equipment. The surface of the island is primarily desolate the only life encountered throughout the course of the game is coastal shrubbery. ![]() Little is revealed about the location of the sprawling atoll on which the game takes place besides the mention of it being a Hebridean isle, one of a cluster of islands off the coast of Scotland. There are no set paths through the island how one explores it and at what points it reveals its secrets are entirely up to the player. Depending on the depth of inspection of the island, a run-through can range from two to three hours. The bare-boned control scheme conveys the key mechanic of the game which, according to project artist Robert Briscoe, is “telling a story through exploring the environment.” Player death is not possible in-game if one suffers a long fall or is pulled underneath ocean waves, the game simply resets the player to their most recent checkpoint. This point of view coupled with the level of interactivity unique to video games, in the words of development team Hitbox, “communicates depth of narrative experientially.” Movement is mapped to the WASD keys and mouse, with a perspective zoom mapped to the right mouse button. The entirety of the work is experienced through a first-person perspective. The intent of Dear Esther is to emote, and by referring to the story abstractly, to instill connections between the narrator’s plight and the player’s personal life. There is no goal to the game in the sense that one neither wins nor loses. This story runs the gauntlet of the human condition, touching on themes of love, loss, depression, redemption, death, and the hereafter. Dear Esther is an experimental video game from developer The Chinese Room that employs epistolary narrative to convey a fragmented story.
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