Category:Dear Esther

Dear Esther is a first-person video game developed by The Chinese Room for Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X and Linux. First released in 2008 as a free-to-play modification for the Source game engine, the game was entirely redeveloped for a commercial release in 2012. Spurning traditional game design, Dear Esther features virtually no puzzles or tasks. The player's only objective is to explore an unnamed island in the Hebrides, listening to a troubled man read a series of letters to his deceased wife. Details of her mysterious death are revealed as the player moves throughout the island.

While some reviewers challenged the status of Dear Esther as a video game, citing the minimal gameplay as a step away from convention, it received a generally positive critical reception. The commercial success of the game launched The Chinese Room as an established developer. A spiritual successor, titled Everybody's Gone to the Rapture, was released for PlayStation 4 in August 2015.