Originally announced earlier this year, publisher Curve Digital revealed today that Dear Esther: Landmark Edition will hit Xbox One and PlayStation 4 next month. The Chinese Room developed title will launch on September 20, and will carry a cost of $9.99.
First released commercially for the PC in 2012, Dear Esther was an early success in the genre of walking simulator. In the game, players have little in the way of actual activities to do or goals to accomplish. Instead, the main objective is to explore an island in the Hebrides, while listening to a man read letters to his deceased love. Despite the lack of activity, the game still has a score of 75% on Metacritic.
For the Landmark Edition of the title, The Chinese Room has added graphical and gameplay improvements. The studio is promising that these tweaks will “finesse the experience,” and will make this port the definitive version of Dear Esther. Besides the technical improvements, the re-release will also feature a full Directors’ Commentary. Jessica Curry, Dan Pinchbeck and Rob Briscoe will reveal new information on the title’s development, as well as what they consider its lasting legacy to be.
For our European readers, The Chinese Room will be holding two events later this year to celebrate the release. On September 30, The Scott Room in London will showcase the “Director’s Commentary Directors’ Commentary” event. The panel will see Dan Pinchbeck and Jessica Curry discuss how the title went from Half-Life mod to full-fledged release. You can grab tickets from The Guardian right here.
Following on October 14, The Barbican will host a live performance of the title’s soundtrack. Composer Jessica Curry will lead the performance, which will be accompanied by a live playthrough of the game, complete with narration. Limited tickets for the show are available, and can currently be found here.
While I haven’t had the chance to play Dear Esther, I have played The Chinese Room’s latest effort, Everybody’s Gone To The Rapture. I really enjoyed that experience, but I can certainly understand why the studio’s work may not be for everybody. The gameplay, or lack thereof, is great for storytelling, but not so much for interactivity.
Any console-owning gamers out there interested in grabbing Dear Esther: Landmark Edition when it launches next month? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.
