It's funny how almost every review (or the reader comments below) have some very similar discussion about is it a game or not as we had in this thread.

The question that I personally find much more interesting is, if DE should/could have been more interactive (gameplay based) or shouldn't/couldn't?

What's funny is IGN's professional opinion about Dear Esther:

No, IGN, I really don't.

lol fps !

Well, I just finished it, and I must say, that's a beautifully illustrated piece of fiction. A journey, really.

At first I felt disconnected from the world, which in the beginning feels like a better HL2-level. The caves, however... those a worth paying ten bucks for.

If they made it interactive, it would have been something different entirely. As of now, it's a static world, which fits the mood of the story of Dear Esther. I somehow feel that adding puzzles would have.. cheapened the experience.

But maybe I'm wrong, and instead I would have identified with the protagonist more if there were something else to do than just walk around.

Well, it is a First Person Something...

What, if there was interactivity without puzzles?

Like clicking objects and triggering certain monologues? This already happens to some extent. Maybe like picking up stones and throwing them into the sea? That'd be nice, but gimmicky.

I don't know. Depending on the implementation it might have been a cool thing, but I feel like Dear Esther as it is now serves its purpose of getting the story and the atmosphere across just fine.

EDIT: Alec from RPS said what I would have said if I were any good at expressing myself.

While this pseudo intellectual piece of software getting higher ratings than MYST V on gaming sites,succeeding to seize idiocracy among the gamers.

So you played it, Gabe?

Personally I became too critical of Steam recently to be ready to toss out so much money for just a service. I liked the mod, like I mentioned before, but not without reservations.

What a lovely experience this was - and no, it's not a game. It's an atmospheric pool that you slowly sink into and let your emotions come to the fore.

Easily worth the asking price - you can spend $10 on a 1.5 hour film that you'll probably forget within a few days, or you can immerse yourself in this 'game' for about 1.5 hours and experience something quite different and long lasting ......

Well, that certainly is a much more concrete and helpful term! ;)
A commenter on RPS described it as a digital installation art.
Me? I'm content with game, to be honest.

Spoiler question:

Spoiler:

Did anyone else notice the figure standing atop one of the cliff edges near the end of the game? (you need to look up while on the beach).

Great experience - beautiful, creepy, haunting and also uplifting.

I for one am thrilled to see Dear Esther be a success. I don't care about semantical arguments over what is and is not a game. For me, it's either an exploration game or a game-like story experience, putting it into a box is irrelevant.

I think it bodes well for adventure gaming in general. This, plus the Double Fine thing recently, gives me hope.

It seems that the devs didn't expect the amount of interest that Dear Esther has garnered - as of a few minutes ago, if you navigate to the home page:

http://dear-esther.com/

you get a 'Bandwidth Limit Exceeded' error!


Oops.

Edit: Back up again. :)

I think that's a great description of what DE is. I think people criticizing what other people felt (or didn't feel) should analyze what this game is more closely. It's a sandbox for YOUR OWN emotions. You take out of it in great part what you put into it. In an interview with the author I linked to earlier he said people were willing to fight to death over perceived meanings he never considered imbuing DE with. And he was delighted by that.

So no, it's not a game that you can attach a clear value to (or clear meaning). For everyone the experience is very personal and unique rather than based on some canons of beauty. It depends also on the amounts of skepticism and the trust in the designer you have. The single constant for every player is perhaps that the setting and music were chosen to trigger the feeling of melancholy rather than euphoria.

Or you can end up feeling like a fool who has given into hype. There are those 2 possible outcomes.

I wonder it takes much interest as an old half life mod?

Just finished this and need to tell others about it. If you are an adventure game fan with a willingness to take part in something a bit high-concept, do yourself a favor and pay $10 for this 1.5 hour experience. Yeah, it's not a "game" per se in that there aren't puzzles, there is no skill needed, and there are no trappings like a jump button or UI. What there is is a beautiful environment to explore while you piece together events being described by poetic narration. You see evidence of the story and what happened along your journey, but this isn't a straightforward tale.

Then again, since when wasn't exploration a gameplay element that stands as its own reward? Isn't that a core part of the adventure gaming experience? Yeah, you aren't picking up things and placing them into inventory, but if you remove the trappings of a typical Myst-like adventure game, including the puzzles, you will find something similar to this.

If you can't handle an experience that's worthy on its own terms, and need inventory, puzzles, and/or more concrete gameplay elements, this isn't for you. I know, however, that many adventure gamers will love this experience. Highly recommended.

I think the important thing that comes out of Dear Esther is the recognition that, in a game, we actually construct our own world. The narrative experience that come out of a game doesn't need to come from cinematic cutsenes, plot twists or extended dialogues, because we put together all of the information we are receiving and this includes the scenery, the atmosphere, symbolism and patterns in the environment, as well as verbal and written narrative. The game-world does not consist of what the 3D designers have programmed into the game - the player is not separate from the game-world but very much part of it. When you analyse the game you can easily say "well, so what? it's just a bunch of seaside scenes and cave with a few monologues placed over the top". The experience betrays much more. In this way it follows the tradition of games like The Path, and I hope this tradition continues to develop.

Can't handle it? That's rather a derogatory remark. Perhaps some few of us are not interested in buying a 'gameplay element' and would rather buy a game, passé trappings and all, rather than an 'experience' that requires nothing more of you than to wander around listening to someone ooze poetic rhetoric.