![]() ![]() Now that I knew what to look for, I saw another walking along a cliff path I had just traveled down myself. The second was at the top of the lighthouse tower, seemingly looking down at me as I shined my light up towards the roof. The first one darted across the lighthouse window. I noticed a light blinking from a distant cave that I didn’t see on my first trek, but no one was there when I finally made my way over to explore. I heard passages of the narration I didn’t hear the first time, and some details I had gathered before were now missing. The painted markings on the wall were different. There were different objects on the table and floor of the lighthouse. I played through the story a second time. When the screen finally did fade to a gentle black, the voice said two words: “come back…” Thank god I heard the narrator’s voice (mine, ostensibly) recite an end to the tale as I wheeled over the paper boats made from the letters to Esther. Thank god the screen didn’t just cut to black. When the shadow transformed into that of a gull and I unexpectedly soared over the sea, I was hit with a wave of bittersweet relief. I hated seeing my shadow appear on the ground as I rushed downward. I had long realized that would likely be the endgame, but I wanted to complete it (or not) on my own terms. When I reached the end of my first playthrough, and the game took control for my avatar’s climb and subsequent leap from the top of the radio tower, I was terrified. The more recent friend passed away right before I played Dear Esther for the first time. I’ve been touched by suicide twice in my life, both victims succumbing to a fall. Game or none, Dear Esther was a beautiful and poignant experience the first time I played it. This has led many critics to question whether or not it can even be considered a “game.” Again, I’ll bow out of that particular discussion. Unlike Gone Home, there are no puzzles to solve, and one is unable to interact with anything in the environment. Like Gone Home, Dear Esther eschews typical gameplay mechanics and instead relies on the player to explore the environment at their own pace. Playing through Gone Home got me thinking about a game I first played last fall, The Chinese Room’s Dear Esther. ![]() But I’m not here to add yet another piece to the ever-growing list of fantastic criticism on that game. I could stumble blind across these rocks, the edges of these precipices, without fear of missing my step and plummeting down to sea.īesides, I have always considered that if one is to fall, it is critical to keep one’s eyes firmly open.Īlways a day late and a dollar short, I finally played through The Fullbright Company’s Gone Home this weekend. Certainly, the landmarks are now so familiar to me that I have to remind myself to actually see the forms and shapes in front of me. I have lost track of how long I have been here, and how many visits I have made overall. ![]()
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