3/5 ★ – AzulAzuril's review of Dear Esther: Landmark Edition.

I am a big fan of story driven games, and I typically enjoy games that are in the “walking simulator” genre. I had heard about Dear Esther and how it pioneered the genre, so I was always interested in playing it. After playing the game through, I felt like it was an overall just “ok” experience. On the positive side, the game is simply gorgeous. Even running on my poor laptop, the game was stunning and there were a few locales that really took my breath away. Getting to walk around this Scottish island is enchanting. I also thought some of the story beats (at least the points that were clear) were intriguing enough to keep me moving forward. The ending of the game was also impactful and certainly memorable enough. However, for a game focused on story, I found the obtuse and unclear nature of the narrative to be rather frustrating. It seems clear to me that the developers of the game have a clear picture of the narrative, but it is not clearly delivered to the players, leaving a lot of “room for interpretation” and theory crafting. I also found some of the prose and writing to be unclear and almost pretentious in its nature. I think there’s a really moving story wrapped up in this game, but the delivery of that narrative waters it down a bit. I wish that the game was crystal clear about the nature of the characters, the island, and the relationships between all of them.