While the island’s design often gives the illusion of openness, exploration into areas off the beaten path are rarely, if ever, rewarded by illuminating environmental storytelling.Īnd although the player must proceed along a linear path to progress, unnecessary dead ends and arbitrary bottlenecks end up making this frustratingly difficult. To give a quick run-down, Dear Esther is a first-person walking game in which players proceed around an island, occasionally listening to audio excerpts from the protagonist’s letters to the titular Esther. In fact, it might best be thought of as a case study of what not to do in a post-mechanical game - a sort of martyr of post-mechanical game design. While it should be praised as a pioneer, I would be loathe to hold it up as a model for the genre. Given this rich field of experiments, then, it might be useful to look past their mere experimentation, and glean whatever insights we might from their results. Upon its release in 2012, Dear Esther was considered somewhat shocking, “an experiment with the videogame form,” as one review called it now, only four years later, the “Walking Simulator” tag on Steam yields 157 results. In between the complex interaction of mainstream videogames and the pure passivity of animated film, there’s a lot of space to occupy.ĭevelopers have been toying with these possibilities since the earliest days of computer gaming - William Crowther created the first digital text adventure back in 1976 - but recent years have seen an explosion of games exploring this ‘post-mechanical’ world of design.
It has been suggested that it was Esther's ashes that were mixed into the paint, as it was previously implied that she had been cremated.New Cane and Rinse blog contributor Malcolm Morano considers the pitfalls and merits of ‘post-mechanical’ games including Dear Esther, Virginia, Thirty Flights of Loving and Gone Home Later in the game, the increasingly-delirious narrator mentions mixing phosphorescent paint and ashes and painting symbols on the rocks. Throughout the game, Lewis diagrams of alcohol (ethanol) and dopamine are seen-both of these chemicals affect the brain.Īnother possibility is that the carvings of neurons are relating to the syphilis infection of Donnelly, the cartographer of the island, mentioned by the narrator. Images-alludes to the drunk driving that may have led to the death of Esther. The diagram appears in other parts of the game with Hebrew letters replacing some of the atoms. The complete diagram for Ranitidine, as seen in the room overlooking the cliff in the building on the final ascent to the aerial. The presence of alcohol symbols-particularly juxtaposed with neuron The first instance exists in the light house (shown at left). Some are interwoven with neuron-type images written in luminescent paint. There are chemical compounds throughout the game. Ranitidine is an anti-acid medication used to treat peptic ulcers and acid reflux, possibly a reference to the antacid yogurt sold by Paul. The complete diagram with the actual atom symbols appears near the end of the game when the player ascends the final mountain with the aerial, in the small building in the room overlooking the cliff. This molecular set-up is known as a molecular bridge as the set-up of the carbon rings lets charges transfer across the molecule.Īdditionally, the chemical diagram of " Ranitidine" appears in several places throughout the game with atom symbols replaced with Hebrew numbers. This chemical shows an organic molecule (known as perylene-3,4,9,10-tetracarboxylic acid diimide) that has "R" groups that can be altered to set the fluorescent properties of the dye. The character Paul works at a pharmaceutical company and has a mug with a chemical symbol on it. The very name of Esther is pronounced identically to the chemical group " Ester " which is found throughout biology and organic chemistry. In Hebrew, this can mean the number 21, a recurring theme throughout the game.Ĭhemistry is a frequent theme in the game Dear Esther. Alcohol (ethanol, CH3CH2-OH) seen in the lighthouse at the beginning of Dear Esther.Ī mug of Paul's that has an organic molecule that can act as fluorescent dye with variable "R" fragments that can change the color and properties of the dye.Īn image of the chemical "Dopamine" that is seen throughout the game.Īn unknown chemical diagram, with the chemical symbols replaced with the Hebrew letters Aleph Kaph.
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