“Dear Esther” is an adventure game developed by The Chinese Room in 2012, and arguably the original walking game that started the genre. With its focus on narrative depth and environmental storytelling, Dear Esther appeals to children and adults alike, targeting a wider audience due to its lower demand of player sk
ill and competitiveness. Having an online medium accessible through a wide range of platforms (from phones to play stations), Dear Esther leverages its adaptability to appeal to users looking for escapism and artistic expression, rather than the level of challenge or competition. Therefore, the audience is most likely to be made up of individual players and smaller groups, looking to be immersed into the magic circle that Dear Esther very successfully creates. “Walking” enables Dear Esther to achieve immersive spatial storytelling, using formal elements such as players, resources, rules, and objective, as well as a combination of multiple mechanics and aesthetics, to transport the players into the alternate dimension it creates.
As mentioned above, in Dear Esther, walking is an integral part of the game’s aesthetic, which is made up of a combination between sensation, fantasy, and narrative. The mechanics that enable such a combination of aesthetics, shifting the game’s focus away from challenge and competition, are the vast landscape designs that are made accessible through the act of “walking”. Therefore, here, walking as a game mechanics also play into the objective of the game, which is spatial and narrative exploration. Player’s actions in the game are limited by the rules to walking, only allowing to move around the space and observe. Through this limitation, Dear Esther gather’s the players’ focus on only the one action possible, walking, highlighting its importance in the unraveling storyline. In doing so, the game manages to im
merse the users into the storyline in depth without overwhelming them or distracting them, achieving almost a “zen” state of being, where the forced lack of choice intensifies the experience of immersion, keeping both the narrative, and the emotions triggered by the said narrative, realistic. This engages the players more deeply and achieves exactly what Dear Esther set off to accomplish: to create a fully immersive, fun storytelling experience through walking.
Moreover, the action of walking, along with the special terrains, such as the inside of sheds or caves, expressed impressively through the game’s visuals and audio are resources that Dear Esther effectively uses to create an atmosphere of mystery. There is much to explore, yet the element of mystery gets the play
ers hooked into the game, encouraging to explore the boundaries and the rules of the world- what they can and cannot do to uncover more of the story. Although Dear Esther is not a puzzle game, the vagueness of the rules and boundaries, when combined with the resources above, empower the players to explore and discover, mentally piecing together a concept and a story- this adds a small puzzle component into the game that perhaps also satisfy the players and keep them engages. As the player gets deeper into the storyline, the more they want to explore as they can feel the puzzle coming together. Only through their role as a “walker” are the players able to piece these pieces and explore all the potential choices/experiences the game has to offer- including but not limited to mistakenly drowning in the water (navigating the game was a bit difficult in the beginning :)).
Therefore, as we can see in the arguments above, wa
lking plays an integral part in the spatial storytelling of Dear Esther, helping build and effectively deliver an alternate physical and narration dimension. The immersive experience achieved through the aesthetic, mechanics, and formal elements such as players, resources, rules, and objective of the game combines with walking to create a mentally and emotionally satiating experience for the players, able to transport them into the magic circle without needing the elements of challenge or competition.
