Home / Games / Dear Esther
Dear Esther
Begin a journey through one of the most original first-person games of recent years.
What players say
Steam review score and the most-helpful voices, which may include critical ones. Score via Steam as of 2026-10-22 · quoted reviews as of 2026-10-15.
“Well there's something you don't see everyday - Dr. Peter Venkman, Ghostbusters THE GOOD Dear Esther is not your ordinary game. In some respects, it is not a game at all. Focusing on environments and atmosphere rather than gameplay and action is a nice way to change the pace,…”
— a player, Steam review · 4 hrs played“As an English major, maybe I am biased. Maybe also I am biased by the facts that my fiance died 12 months ago, that my mother died several months after that, and that my father soon died after her. It has been a rough year. Maybe that's why I love this game, and why I already…”
— a player, Steam review · 7 hrs played“This is a work of art. There is little story, and even less gameplay. You're mostly railroaded along a path, where you will hear and see things. The world is visually appealing, and the voice work is wonderful, but the overall mood may or may not appeal to you. Like any purely…”
— a player, Steam review · 3 hrs playedPlayer activity
Monthly average concurrent players. Live data self-collected from the Steam API · history through 2021-01 via SteamCharts.
Price tracking
US-region pricing (USD), sampled twice daily by our own tracker since 2026-07-11. Steam prices vary by region — always confirm your local price on Steam.
Games like Dear Esther
From our knowledge graph — ranked by shared traits, not a black box. Each card says why it's here.
Dear Esther: Landmark Edition
70.7% · 3,710 reviews
shares Short, Narration, Interactive Fiction, Linear
Gorogoa
95.8% · 5,719 reviews
shares Beautiful, Experimental, Short, Interactive Fiction
Gone Home
77.1% · 14,687 reviews
shares Short, Narration, Emotional, Interactive Fiction
The Plan
91.9% · 12,199 reviews
shares Beautiful, Experimental, Short, Emotional
The Flood
83.1% · 549 reviews
shares Soundtrack, Experimental, Short, Narration
What Comes After
91.8% · 559 reviews
shares Beautiful, Narration, Emotional, Interactive Fiction
Proteus
76.7% · 2,271 reviews
shares Beautiful, Experimental, Short, Great Soundtrack
Frog Detective 1: The Haunted Island
92.4% · 4,599 reviews
shares Soundtrack, Short, Interactive Fiction, Great Soundtrack
Screenshots
Official Steam store screenshots — click any shot to enlarge.
Facts & details
From the Steam store record, snapshot 2026-05-13.
| Genres | Adventure, Casual, Indie |
| Player tags | Walking Simulator · Indie · Exploration · First-Person · Atmospheric · Short · Story Rich · Casual · Adventure · Great Soundtrack · Singleplayer · Narration (SteamSpy community voting) |
| Features | Single-player · Partial Controller Support · Steam Cloud · Family Sharing |
| Languages | English * * |
| Official site | http://www.dear-esther.com |
Minimum system requirements (PC)
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) DirectX®: 9.0c Hard Drive: 2 GB HD space Sound: DirectX 9.0c compatible sound card