Difficulty:

Very Easy

Time Spent:

10 Hours or Less

The Bottom Line:

"Don't believe the hype"

This is not a game, for there is no gameplay. Neither is it an interactive story, for there is no interaction. But the experience doesn't really break until you realize that it's not a story either, it's just 2 hours of moody gibberish. The best thing that can be said is that it's open to interpretation.

It's too bad, the moody setting could have been a great addition if only there was some kind of content beneath the surface, like puzzles, or even an exploration aspect beyond following an almost linear path.

It would be hard to argue that "Dear Esther" doesn't achieve it's goal, simply because it seemingly strives for no goal.

The closest thing that "Dear Esther" has to a goal is probably to make the audience reflect upon it, and it may indeed do that better than most video games. But if that is the goal then it's not competing against video games, it's competing against books and non-Hollywood films, and in that company it falls flat.