images

here are various banners we have used over the years.

Here is The Hanged Man's great kill count! :D

Dear Esther (2008)

Dear Esther

"I have run out of places to climb, I will abandon this body and take to the air, We will leave twin vapour trails in the air, white lines etched into these rocks, I am the aerial, In my passing, I will send news to each and every star."

Its odd going into the library of mods online, you see the difference between mods and games is that a modder can make brilliance with limited resources or utter shit either way it's free so you tend not to care. A game, however, costs money and THAT is when you do care, whether you will enjoy it or not.

Dear Esther is a unique mod for the source engine which takes control of a nameless protagonist referred to as "The Narrorator." The experience takes place on an island off the coast of Britain and focuses on the journey of the Narrorator as he explores this island and shares his thoughts with the player.

I don't think I can tell you any more than that, the premise itself is sort of lost in the experience and YOU have to play it to find it. That doesn't mean all the answers are going to be thrown at you, however, as there a forums full of people who are currently discussing the experience and what it all means right now.

Dear Esther is more like an interactive story; although you don't really interact with anything you walk through this island and explore it deeper and deeper. For me this was like a voice, but not one I could place repeatedly calling my inner desires telling me to explore deeper. The first time you go through this you will not have a clue what is ahead and what secrets are kept in the island.

What I find most intriguing about Dear Esther is the way that the experience works, it's different in the mod to the game and the mod manages to make you feel lonely and isolated. The game fills the island with more detailed scenery which I'm pretty sure doesn't have the same effect. I say this because I have only played the mod, but from what I've watched online of the game itself the mod and game are suprisinngly similar.

By now you have probably noticed that I have referred to it as an "experience" rather than a "game". That's because Dear Esther shows a unique new initiative in which you aren't required to do anything, but walk forward. This makes the whole thing somewhat short, now before you say "if there is no challenge it cannot be a game" first of all you obviously haven't played any of the Call of Duty games and second Dear Esther doesn't really claim to be a "game" or at least not challenging or any other criticisms people throw at it.

Now before you say "You like it (although I haven't established that yet) and you are denying any criticism towards the game!" This is simply not true, the point I wish to get across is that yes Dear Esther isn't what you would call a game in a regular sense it's more like the crossover between a film and a book. It allows you to go at your own pace like a book and look over the careful scenery, but also you cannot control what happens like a film. This is what makes it somewhat interesting, the idea that you aren't able to defy the game (without it being a rail shooter of course). This isn't what every gamer wants either because they are a well read intellect who reads stories which are better than this every night, or they are impatient call of dutards that have to see something explode every 2 minutes in order to call it a "game" *cough* BLACK OPS *cough* either way both of these people are going to have their own definition of what a "game" is and no one's definition is going to be the same.

This is why this is difficult to recommend.

I personally bloody loved this experience, but I don't think everyone in the world will. I can imagine people saying it's too complicated (which has been said on forums) or it's boring or it's not really a game. But I unlike some am NOT one of those fools who thinks that playing a game which utters a word with more than 3 syllables in it makes me an intellect because that is preposterous. However, I will say that you must have some understanding of the English language to play this. Once again I'm not on the "I'm a brilliant intellectual who wears big glasses (which are just a pair of empty frames) and charge people a fortune to live in my shitty council estate!" group, but I agree that it is going to be difficult to understand for people who don't follow metaphors.

Now before people say "you're directing that to everyone who didn't like it." Like some people have said that's not true either. You see I have my own criticisms about this too and you can really only go in blind into something like this. If you try it and don't like it you shouldn't be shot down for it, I know how some people must feel after spending £10 (or nothing if they got the source mod) for something they do not like.

I got Viewtiful Joe back when it was only 6 months old for £10 and after completing the first level I had a sudden realisation that scared me. I realised that during the time that I spent playing this, I could have invested in a hobby like painting, swimming or self harming and quit the game and threw the console with the game inside it out of the window. Now personally I can't fault anyone for liking that game, but I hated it and feel even now like I wasted £10 which I want back. So I can sympathise with people who have bought this game for £10 and found it to be not their ideal game.

Now before anyone says "hold on, isn't this reviewing the 2008 mod?" "Why didn't you pay for the full game?" "Why did you tell me there were naked women on this page?" I lack the funds to get a credit card and therefore can only review what I got, but from what I've seen of the mod and the game there is little difference, other than the obvious differences like graphics.

As I said before I got off track there, I do have some criticisms about this game, for a start there is the fact that it isn't really a game as I have already established. Also I have found myself getting stuck in the map at times and having to use Noclip to get myself out. Another problem I've had with it is the voice over talking over itself if I walk too far ahead. This cannot always be helped, but it can kill the atmosphere that the game works so hard to create and it's replayable, but you can only really experience it once even if the haunting feeling lasts for days.

So would I recommend this? Yes, but to who? That's a tough question, but I think I can help you out...

Look to your left (or right if you are a smart arse) and look at your games collection, what do you see? If you see CoD, battlefield 3, Turok, Haze and any other high paced action game and you thoroughly enjoy these kinds of games and hammer the buttons on the controller to skip the cut scenes, and then you probably will not like this as a game. If you have a copy of ICO on a pedestal with candles around it covered in incense then you are likely to bloody love it.

If you are truly unsure and own Half Life 2 for PC get the mod before buying the game (like what I did) and see if you like it. If you really loved it then the game version is obviously right up your street and if not... wait why am I telling what to do if you don't like it? I'm not a bloody life coach!