Dear Esther

I'm pretty late to the party on this one (version 1.1 was released early this year) but I cannot recommend Dear Esther highly enough.
Created as a research piece by Dan Pinchbeck, it is less a game (there is no real gameplay, just moving through the world) than an experiment with narrative and storytelling.
As the player explores the environment the narrators exposition is gradually unfolded from a tree of dialogue that presents the story differently with each play-through (well, for the first three times anyway!). The non-linear narrative and presentation add to the power of the story and a very real sense of anxiety, fear, loss and despair is perfectly conveyed.
As the narrative approaches climax and begins to decay - reflected by the increasingly surreal images, ideas and soundtrack - it becomes clear that in a very short space of time (40 minutes-ish go-to-wow) the player/participant has, through the seemingly passive act of controlling movement and viewpoint, become far more involved than would be possible in a more conventional literary medium. The psychosis of the protagonist becomes almost tangible within the players psyche; insanity is simulated with surprising acumen.
The fear created by the final scene is the real deal, crafted from suspense and trepidation rather than cheap ghost-train style fright tricks (of which there are none) and conclusion is elusive at best. The player is left not fulfilled but engaged, forced into placing a personal interpretation on what cannot ever be a closed narrative and left with the distinct impression that for a short time the fourth wall has been blurred out of existence.
The question, then, is not whether Dear Esther is a piece of art but whether its influence will be lost in an industry that spectacularly delivers to the base urges of the 18-35 male demographic. At the very least this experiment is a window onto where our interactive media could (should) be headed; a place where emotional interaction and exchange is far more sophisticated than the violent dynamic that currently pervades and defines an entire industry.



Here is the first three minutes, just to give you a taste - although I would recommend jumping straight into it without spoilers for best effect!





Best consumed alone, in darkness, wearing headphones.


Dear Esther is a free "mod" or modification created by Dan Pinchbeck and constructed using publicly available tools for Half Life 2. You must have a copy of HL2 to be able to play.


A few links:

Official download

Here is a better article on Dear Ester.

A 3rd party remake of Dear Ester is already in progress...

Blurb Blurb... No sincerity or danger today, t'anks!

Wow. My eyes: they burn!


I have to admit I am not an Animal Collective fan; I guess that up to - uh, I dunno, this morning sometime - I must have had my massive, studio sized mixing board tuned to the exact frequency of suck. But whatever I did to my dials and whidgets and MULTITUDE of sliders last night (isn't it funny how the times we don't remember can often be the most productive) I am now sure that Merriweather Post Pavilion is fucking amazing.



*Fires up time machine*

Black Monk Time is a bit of a rarity in the sense that five American soldiers stationed in West-Germany managed to produce an early Vietnam era anti-war album that purportedly stands as one of the founding documents of Krautrock. Angry and inspired and without tolerance for the glorification of slaughter that seems to be the eternal media legacy of every foreign policy interaction enacted by the US since 1941.
But still, c'mon guys, you won the war (and you insist on reminding me of that one moment of glory over and over AND OVER AGAIN), let them found their own damn genre.

Both these albums seem to encapsulate an alienating sense of weirdness which becomes their most salacious asset - just as long as it can be remembered that idiosyncrasies are nothing without strong song writing.


Letterman strikes again! The Ed Sullivan Theater seems to lean itself to memorable performances, as Youtube can attest. Bat For Lashes serves to remind me that I don't have to automatically despise tambourine-welding, overly made-up, neck-tutu clad English lasses. I like suprises!





This is the first few seconds of one of my favorite songs of all time.

Gotta love the interweb.