Dear Esther is finally ready to make its console debut next month, with a Landmark Edition set to hit Xbox One and PlayStation 4 (PS4) on Sept. 20.
Indie developer The Chinese Room made waves with Dear Esther from the very beginning, launching it as a Half-Life 2 mod back in 2008. The first-person narrative then evolved into a stand-alone game in 2012 and made even bigger waves, selling enough copies to make up for the development costs in just a few short hours on Steam.
Now, Dear Esther: Landmark Edition is ready to hit the Xbox One and PS4 in less than a month, and it has some neat treats in tow. More specifically, the game will rock remastered audio, larger subtitles and a crosshair, among the highlights.
Moreover, the port will feature a new commentary track with developers Rob Briscoe, Jessica Curry and Dan Pinchbeck, detailing the game's development process and its role on the larger gaming scene.
Dear Esther: Landmark Edition will launch at $9.99/ £7.99/ €9.99 for the PS4 and Xbox One, with a release on PC and Mac set to arrive later on. The Chinese Room offers no exact time frame for the PC and Mac version of Dear Esther: Landmark Edition, but says it will land "in a few months," sporting the same content as the console version.
For those unfamiliar with the title, Dear Esther sets itself apart because it brings a different approach to interactive narrative games, focusing on the story, emotional drama and experience rather than the regular game mechanics. Players will be exploring a remote island assuming the role of a troubled man trying to figure out how his wife died. The island is scattered with pieces of the puzzle, weaving a complex story for the events leading to Esther's death.
Dear Esther was a massive hit particularly because of its narrative, which made it stand out from the crowd, and heralded a new era for indie game development. The Chinese Room more recently released Everybody's Gone to the Rapture, which was one of the top indie games of 2015.
Nevertheless, Dear Esther is still a highly acclaimed and beloved title.
For those who want to get deeper into the Dear Esther universe, two events are in the cards. The first one will take place on Sept. 30 in London, where The Guardian's Jordan Erica Webber and Keith Stuart will discuss the game with developer Dan Pinchbeck. Tickets for the event are already available.
The following month, on Oct. 14, "Dear Esther Live at the Barbican" in London will entail a live playthrough of the game, featuring live narration, piano and a string quartet. Tickets for this event are also on sale.
In the meantime, check out the Dear Esther: Landmark Edition teaser below.
