Dear Esther: Pretty game, but also underwhelming.

[Non-$ensoi]

I played Dear Esther. It was an innovative way telling a story. Also the graphics and sound were good. But for the gameplay, Dear Esther is not impressive. The whole story can be made in form of short story or a movie. There was no interaction in the game except for moving and looking around. Does anybody else feel the same?

[DevenderD]

Interaction in game doesn’t always mean that one has to be able to touch environmental objects physically using character. Walking around the environment, stopping and looking around also counts as an interaction. The developers tried to present a new way in which a story can be told. Presenting it in movie would be boring as one would have to watch what is shown and how it is shown.

[Jung]

The story could have made in a form of novel. But again it would have increased the length of story by adding the description of environment in which the events take place. Presenting the same in form of game allows experiencing the environment by seeing and hearing instead of making them dependant on their imagination.

[DougWison]

Calling the game as a new way of presenting an art is wrong. If someone has a story to tell, it should be told straightaway. There is no fun in giving listeners cryptic messages, poems or diagrams to unveil the events of the story. I think that the cryptic messages, poems and diagrams were in the game to create the illusion of intellectualism. But the same story could have been told in much simpler way.