Dear Esther coming to consoles next month
The Chinese Room’s first full game, Dear Esther, is finally getting ported to Xbox One and Playstation 4 on September 20. Originally released as a mod for Half-Life 2 in 2008, Dear Esther became a full release for PC in 2012. The Chinese Room then went on to develop Amnesia: A Room for Pigs and the acclaimed Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture last year.
Dear Esther itself received a generally positive reception back in 2012 and became, whether you hate the phrase or not (I do), one of the first “walking simulators”. The game takes place on an empty Hebridean island where you find mysterious messages left from a woman named Esther.
Whether you agree with the use of the term that became associated with it, Dear Esther is still an incredibly important game for its time, both pushing pure narrative in video games and inspiring the better games that followed it.
The port is being handled by Curve Digital who also handled the ports of OlliOlli and The Swapper. The console version, dubbed “Landmark Edition”, also releases with developer commentary and improved gameplay and graphical tweaks.
Dear Esther: Landmark Edition releases September 20 for Xbox One and Playstation 4 for £7.99.
