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It is also used in several scenarios to explain what the bloody hell is happening with the odd wall etchings that are scattered all over the island. Scripted events take the form of descriptions of the island and its geographic formations. Amusingly enough, I would argue that this sort of textual diarrhea is actually how the story is portrayed to the player.Įvery piece of narration is presented in a surprisingly open manner, through the use of both random and scripted events. It wouldn’t do the game any justice to just spill it onto the page. Plus, to be quite frank, the story is Esther’s key reward. This is one of those things that you need to experience for yourself in order to truly appreciate what the developers have accomplished. However, I am still going to steer clear of discussing the actual plot points. I realize that this is an extremely old game. However, as the actual plotline begins to come into focus, the true meat of the game finally presents itself. It acts more as a way to set the scene and provide context to the weird formations that are scattered about the environment. The narrative starts out rather random and disconnected from the core plot. The story itself plays out via a narrated voiceover, which is activated while traversing the island on which the player is marooned. Yet despite the lack of interactivity, Dear Esther does a fantastic job of fleshing out the unknown, albeit vacant, world in which the player inhabits. It is amazing to consider that a title can sustain itself using sauntering as its only true gameplay component. The disjointed storytelling and exploration mechanics provided an interesting new way to immerse yourself in a storyline, while still maintaining some game-like elements. Upon my first playthrough of Esther back in 2008, my view on games as a narrative medium were dramatically impacted. Walking Simulators are rarely as boring as the name would imply. Dear Esther’s initial release heralded the creation of what many have come to call the “walking simulator.” Don’t worry.
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