I love games like Dear Esther. They offer me a rich
narrative in a small package. Games like Dear Esther and Journey offer
the player an immersive experience with a relatively short game time. Dear
Esther in particular is quite ingenious. The way it is constructed is a
series of short voice overs that are semi-randomly pieced together to form a
story. As the player you are stripped down to being aware of having a physical presence
without ever seeing it. You have no voice, no dialogue, you meet no one else.
It is just you and the narrator. The story you get with all of its mystery is extremely
moving. While playing I found myself completely immersed being completely drawn
into the island.
Games like Dear Esther offer an interesting
progression in the way the concept of narrative is handled within videogames.
These games that minimally present a game world. Allow the player to draw out
the story if they ever manage to base on how ambiguous it comes out. Which I
think is a fantastic thing that each play through is different. It provides a
different mood, and experience with very little effort. Personally I think this
progression can only be good.
Any opinions on Dear Esther or any other strongly Narrative based Video games?
Dear Esther is one of my absolute favourite games-- I love the subjective construction of the narrative, and how each playthrough produces different voiceovers and variations in the set pieces. I remember being particularly struck by the fact that, on my first playthrough, the narrator was absolutely adamant that Paul had been drunk, and that he was the one to cause the car crash that killed Esther-- but on my second playthrough, the narrator outright said that any claims he'd made to Paul's guilt were wrong. That the narrator had been the drunk driver.
ReplyDeleteThat evolution of the story from one play to the next was something I found almost haunting; it did a perfect job of framing the narrator's declining mental state. He transitioned from being accusatory and self-righteous in one game to depressed and resigned in the next, having awkward tea in Paul's home as they tried to come to grips with what happened on the M5.
I think the narrator was the one at fault-- and that his madness comes from his inability to deal with that. So now he stalks the rocks, sometimes able to admit what he has done, other times blinding himself to the reality. His plunge from the radio tower is either a way of freeing himself from his subconscious guilt, or a way of repenting for his sins, hence all the biblical quotes and the way it mirrors the fall in the caves. His first fall took Esther away, and now as he repeats it, he will finish the job and remove himself as well.