Game Analysis #2 - Dear Esther
Dear Esther is an experimental
first person adventure game developed by thechineseroom. The game was first
released as a free Source Engine mod but was then entirely remade and
rereleased as a standalone commercial version in February 2012.
Dear Esther is a unique game in
the sense that it doesn’t follow traditional video game conventions. Very
little is asked of the player and the game mainly involves you walking around
an uninhabitated island listening to a series of narrated letters by a man who
is suggested to be Esther's husband who is dead following a fatal car accident.
These voice over sections of the game are triggered when the player embraces
specific areas of the island but are chosen semi-randomly which means that no
two playthroughs of Dear Esther will be entirely the same.
(All screenshots are ones I have taken in game unless stated otherwise)
Structural Framework Analysis
How do the rules and
conditions of the game create conflict?
In Dear Esther, unless the player knows
before hand how the game is played/what it is about then they might be in for a
shock. The rules of the game are that you just walk, explore, listen and learn.
And that’s literally all you can do.
Another form of conflict evoked within
the player by the game is lack of direction, blatant story or character
interaction. You play a silent protagonist who you know nothing about until later in the game. For players
used to games where story is drip fed in an obvious fashion this might cause
conflict, dissatisfaction and separation from what is a clever and unique game.
Are players struggling
against each other, the game or both?
In Dear Esther there is no real
“struggle” and there is definitely no struggle against another player. The game
is purely a single player experience. There are no online functions, no leader
boards, no co op and no multiplayer. Just you and the story. If anything there
is struggle against the game, a struggle to understand what has happened
and why you are there. A struggle to
fully comprehend the narrative and complexity of the story behind the game.
What are the
interactive experiences provided for players in the game?
Interaction in Dear Esther comes in a
variety of different forms. Generally, the game has little next to no
interaction with the game world. Players can’t find “loot” nor are there any
other in game character to interact with. The voice over audio clips of letters
aren’t even triggered when the player interacts with a physical in game letter,
they are triggered randomly throughout the game when the player reaches certain
areas. I guess this is a sort of interaction, the players interact with the
environment, they explore, and this makes the narrated letters occur in game.
An article PC Gamer’s website by Lewis Denby talks about how
Dear Esther was created when Dr Dan Pinchbeck of Portsmouth University wanted
to “see what would happen
were a game focussed purely on storytelling, to the exclusion of more
traditional interactive elements.”. This suggests that the interactivity
was removed from Dear Esther and was replaced by narrative story instead
suggesting “that you could do
more with storytelling in games if you stopped worrying about everything making
sense and adding up, and that when you read a book or watch a film, you are
filling in a lot of those details yourself”.
It could be argued that the game is an “interactive ghost story”, not a
game.
“It’s
important that we all keep pushing at the
potential emotional range of gaming and how subtle we can make a player’s
emotional journey,” he says. “What I hope about Esther is that although it is
fairly dark, there are subtle tones to that: an ebb and flow that makes it an
interesting journey that we can all recognise, rather than just us standing
there hitting the player with the tragedy hammer until they give in.”
Anther
form of interaction between players and Dear Esther is through the way the
player interacts with the environment.
Dear Esther, although not offering genuine interaction between player
and environments, did offer a visually stunning game that players
wanted to become fully immersed within as they explored and progressed. When I
played I often found intriguing little areas of detail that told their own
story. I couldn’t interact with them, touch them or make them do anything. They
were just there for me to “fill in the blanks” which I guess is a genuine form
of personal interaction.
Does interaction
create meaningful play?
Certainly. Especially with Dear Esther
where the purpose is for the player to fill in the “blanks” of narrative and
piece together a story of their own through interaction in its most basic
sense. Interaction between the player and the environment, with no subliminal
messages from other characters or drip fed narrative, creates very personal and
meaningful play.
Aesthetic Framework Analysis
What does the game
look like?
Death Esther is a gorgeous, sandbox
exploration based game set on a mysterious uninhabitated island. The game is
from a first person perspective and there isn’t any form of user interface on
the screen; your view of the island when playing is completely un disturbed
which is great considering it’s the only element the player has to interact
with other than the fairly complex narrative.
The use of colour in the games
environments is very clever. Often the faint orange glow of a candle or green
tint of a cave can be enough to entice the player to go and explore the area.
What are the possible
visual influences and intertextual references?
On the FAQ’s pages of the official Dear
Esther website there is a question
asking about the inspired behind Dear Esther. It’s apparent that more
writing/writers influenced the game as opposed to visual influences.
Q.
Which authors (novels, movies) inspired the script of Dear Esther?
A.
Dan (DE’s writer): “To be honest, most of my inspiration came from games. I did
a doctorate in FPS games and this led to the questions that inspired Esther.
But I guess in terms of authors I most identify with: Boris & Arkady Strugatsky,
William Burroughs, Philip K. Dick, Margaret Atwood, Andrew Greig (if you haven’t read
“That Summer” you haven’t lived), J.G. Ballard, Angela Carter, Sebastian Faulks (particularly Human
Traces)… I love Soviet-era Russian sci-fi too: Kiri Bulychev and
Dmitri Bilenkin are fantastic. Although they haven’t made it into our games
yet, I’m a massive fan of good steampunkers too: G. W. Dahlquist and Stephen Hunt are superstars and I want to make a
full-on Victoriana steampunk shooter before I die.”
I found this article on ROCK, PAPER, SHOTGUN where an interview
between Alec Meer, a write for the website, and Robert Briscoe, the lead artist
for Dear Esther. He states in a question put to him by Meer concerning visual
influences behind the game that he felt very inspired by Stalker, a 1979 science fiction film directed by
Andrei Tarkovsky.
>> video reference, credit goes to bioreflex <<
Briscoe explains that it was “how
his meticulous attention to detail helped create a such a
great atmosphere” that influenced him
visually when designing the landscapes and environments in Dear Esther.
What other aesthetic
qualities does the game present, movement, sound?
Dear Esther provides the player with
very basic movements because there is no need for fast sprints, melee attacks,
blocks, cover or mechanics to fire weaponry. Sound is presented via the cold,
eerie winds that blast past you whilst outside on the island as well as the
sound of the sea which can almost always be hear. Ambient sounds of the island seem to pull
focus over actual music. Sometimes there is music that will play in the forms
of flashbacks or when you reach specific parts of the game.
>> video reference, credit goes to Aenrel <<
Contextual Framework Analysis
Consider the game in
terms of context, origin, year of manufacture, company, target audience, does
the game contain any persuasive purpose, what would make the game more
effective and what potentials does the game point to?
Dear Esther's origin was a Source
engine mod created in 2008. While the ideas were still the same the overall
aesthetics of the game were incredibly different. The capabilities of the
engine were limited and, compared to the re released version, the overall look
of the game was a lot more vacant and empty. Players still rated the game for
its experience however.
>> video reference, credit goes to HL2Life <<
The re released version of Dear Esther
came out 2012 and was a massive improvement over its origin version.
Thechineseroom, originally a mod team, branched out to make Dear Esther but
before this they worked on Korsakovia, a single player mode for Valves
Half-Life2. In Korsakovia, the player travels through the delusions of
Christopher who suffers from Korsakoff’s syndrome. Hearing voices of a doctor,
the player must try to figure out what is wrong with Christopher.
Despite the game starting almost
identically to Dear Esther (player chooses start and is immediately in game).
You are forced to listen to a woman addressing you directly before you are
thrown into the game. Korsakovia is also a first person game like Dear Esther
but the games aesthetics are very different. Korsakovia is very dark and grungy
with basic textures and models compared to the stand alone version of Dear
Esther (which is understandable, considering this is a mod). Similarly to Dear
Esther, the game has a voice over which helps the player understand the games
narrative.
Dear Esther’s target audience would
have been those who were fans of the original Korsakovia mod and original Dear
Esther mod. However with the apparent change in gameplay style from emphasis on
play to direct emphasis on narrative, it would seem apparent that the target
audience were those who wanted a change in pace and gameplay. Gamers looking
for something very different with a narrative driven experience where they
would have to use their imagination to fill in holes and fully comprehend
what's occurring.
The game persuades the player to
consider play in a different style. It challenges them to be open minded
regarding the content and the way its delivered. I don’t think, for this type
of experience, if could be any more effective.
Dear Esther has the potential to influence the way in which we play
games and how narrative driven play can be used for greater effect. It suggests
that we don’t need fancy mechanics, over complicated characters and convoluted
plot to produce an experience worth playing through.
