These days games are either full of gore and explosions, full of more gore and more explosions, or are “artsy” indie games. Dear Esther is a game full of gorgeous vistas and explosive visuals, and yes, it’s an artistic indie game. It does fairly well as a game, though has short-comings.
Right off the bat, you’ll notice that the game has an atmosphere that breathes excellence. The mood reflects the curiosity of the unknown with soft piano playing and the relaxing sounds of an ocean breeze. The world is a painting or photograph of a place you’ve always wanted to visit, and enables you to do so. The attention to detail in textures, lighting, and artistry is absolutely stunning. I can’t emphasize enough how beautiful and surreal this game is. A criticism I have of its beauty, is that the level design feels more open than it actually is. I found myself losing track of where I was and where I needed to go. Being a completionist or an impulsive explorer, like myself, won’t do you any good here, and your best bet will be to keep moving forward.
The atmosphere is the star of the game, and you are put into the world with a narrative being unveiled as you progress through the environments. Trouble is, I never felt connected to the narrator or invested in the story. It was as if I had just noticed someone was talking to me for the last 10 minutes, but I wasn’t paying any attention. They also decided to go with a narrator with an English accent. I tend to cringe a little when I hear voice actors with English accents, but not because they are bad. This issue stems from a notion that the developer wants the writing to sound more cohesive than it actually is. This is unfortunately true for the story, and lacked my interest. The writing was fair, but was still a miss.
The developer wanted Esther to be seen as art. I’m sure they were aiming for the more open-ended approach in its interpretation, but would have been better suited having a more straightforward conclusion. When comparing games with open-ended interpretations, Esther doesn’t meet the requirements. Other games tend to be more successful because they are more vague in their identity, provoking players to question. The only thing I wanted was a better ending.
With the gripes I have with this game, this is a much smaller game than one may think. I spent exactly 60 minutes playing the game. Not only is it short, it is probably one of the shortest games I’ve ever played. So take these negatives with a grain of salt. Don’t look at it so much from a “game” perspective and think of it more like looking at a painting or photo that you’ve always wanted to actually be in. For the asking price of $9.99, it’s a beautiful game and a beautiful experience.
It’s between a rock and a hard place. Butcher Bay was superb in the days of Halo 2 and many other shooters, but fails to hold up in the shooter department in the era of Call of Duty. Butcher Bay is, simply put, a worthy experience. Dark Athena isn’t bad either, but requires a bit more knowledge of the Chronicles of Riddick canon and does little to differentiate itself from its predecessor. Butcher Bay is a much easier experience to jump into and Dark Athena is a tad underwhelming with the lack of context. This is a strange package of two games being that Dark Athena isn’t a direct sequel. The games are solid, but only half of the package is friendly to the unfamiliar, and appeals only to Riddick die-hards, which there probably aren’t many of, outside of Vin Diesel and the developers.
