Dear Esther

Feb 14, 2012
Developer: The Chinese Room
Platforms: Linux
1 Review

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About Dear Esther

Two years in the making, the highly anticipated Indie remake of the cult mod Dear Esther arrives on PC. Dear Esther immerses you in a stunningly realised world, a remote and desolate island somewhere in the outer Hebrides. As you step forwards, a voice begins to read fragments of a letter: "Dear Esther..." - and so begins a journey through one of the most original first-person games of recent years. Abandoning traditional gameplay for a pure story-driven experience, Dear Esther fuses its beautiful environments with a breathtaking soundtrack to tell a powerful story of love, loss, guilt and redemption.

Released: Feb 14, 2012
Developer: The Chinese Room
Publisher: The Chinese Room

What games are like Dear Esther?

Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs

Puzzle

Everybody's Gone to the Rapture

Can my PC run Dear Esther?

Dear Esther needs at least DirectX 9 compliant video card with Shader model 3.0 support. NVidia 7600, ATI X1600 or better (Pre-Sandybridge Intel graphics chipsets not yet supported) and 1GB XP / 2GB Vista RAM.

Minimum

OS: Microsoft Windows XP / Vista / Vista64
Processor: Intel core 2 duo 2.4GHz or higher
Memory: 1GB XP / 2GB Vista
Graphics: DirectX 9 compliant video card with Shader model 3.0 support. NVidia 7600, ATI X1600 or better (Pre-Sandybridge Intel graphics chipsets not yet supported)

Is Dear Esther worth buying?

Steam

75% positive

'Mostly Positive', 6,117 reviews

Metacritic

Critics (IGDB)

72/100

4 critics

What Steam players say about Dear Esther54/100

Steam community summary by CriticalPixel

Be the first to review Dear Esther

What is Dear Esther about?

“A deserted island…a lost man…memories of a fatal crash…a book written by a dying explorer.” Dear Esther is a ghost story, told using first-person gaming technologies. Rather than traditional game-play the focus here is on exploration, uncovering the mystery of the island, of who you are and why you are here. Fragments of story are randomly uncovered when exploring the various locations of the island, making every each journey a unique experience. Forget the normal rules of play; if nothing seems real here, it’s because it may just be all a delusion. What is the significance of the aerial -- What happened on the motorway -- is the island real or imagined -- who is Esther and why has she chosen to summon you here? The answers are out there, on the lost beach, the windswept cliffs and buried in the darkness of the tunnels beneath the island… Or then again, they may just not be, after all…

Walking SimulatorIndieExplorationFirst-PersonAtmosphericShortStory RichCasual

Game modes: Single player

Quick answers

What is the cheapest place to buy Dear Esther?

Right now the lowest price for Dear Esther we're tracking is $2.04 at Gamivo. We compare 2 stores and prices refresh every few minutes.

What is the lowest price Dear Esther has ever been?

The lowest price we've recorded for Dear Esther is $1.43 at Gamivo on August 19, 2026. The current best price is about 43% above that low.

Is Dear Esther worth buying?

75% of 6,117 Steam user reviews for Dear Esther are positive ("Mostly Positive"). It also holds a Metacritic score of 75. The Steam community summary on this page sums up what those players say.

Can my PC run Dear Esther?

The minimum system requirements for Dear Esther are — OS: Microsoft Windows XP / Vista / Vista64; CPU: Intel core 2 duo 2.4GHz or higher; GPU: DirectX 9 compliant video card with Shader model 3.0 support. NVidia 7600, ATI X1600 or better (Pre-Sandybridge Intel graphics chipsets not yet supported); RAM: 1GB XP / 2GB Vista. See the full minimum and recommended specs in the system requirements section on this page.

When was Dear Esther released?

Dear Esther released on February 14, 2012, developed by The Chinese Room and published by The Chinese Room.

What platforms is Dear Esther available on?

Dear Esther is available on Linux, PC (Microsoft Windows), Mac. It supports single player.

When do Dear Esther prices drop?

Dear Esther last hit a new low of $1.43 on August 19, 2026 at Gamivo. Current best price is $2.04. Prices on this page refresh every few minutes, so check back around seasonal sales for new lows.