Dear Esther
I first became aware of Dear Esther on the day it was released, as news
passed that it recouped its Indie Fund investment in a mere six hours.
Somehow, I entirely missed word of the game prior to that, but as I read
more, I knew I had to play it. While it will take multiple
playthroughs to obtain the game's full experience (due to
semi-randomized dialogue), I came away a bit underwhelmed by the game. I
normally eat up intentionally vague/confusing dialogue-based stories,
but this story seems a bit more pedestrian than most (even if the
vagueness fully makes sense within the story). But this in no way takes
away from the game's other draw; its relentlessly gorgeous handcrafted
visuals, with each frame packed in detail.