Before Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture, The Chinese Room made a name for themselves and the slow paced ambulatory gaming genre as a whole with Dear Esthe. Just as with EGTTR, you’re exploring the world and a narrative embedded within it, as opposed to being an active participant, searching for fragments of letters on this Hebridean island that weave together a story.
Initially a free mod using the Source game engine in 2008, it was remastered and rereleased as a paid PC game in 2012. Now it’s coming to console thanks to Curve Digital, and today’s announcement is of a release on 20th September in the form of Dear Esther: Landmark Edition, which adds a new director’s commentary mode.
That’s the same day as Destiny: Rise of Iron, so I’m sure there’s a few marketing managers breaking into a bit of a sweat over at Activision’s head office.
Source: press release
MrYd
“slow paced ambulatory gaming”?? I think that phrase should be used more often instead of “Wa*king simulator”, which kind of has an amount of negativity attached to it these days.
It’ll at least piss off the gamergate idiots who think these things aren’t a game.
Stefan L
The exact phrase I was tip toeing around and for that exact reason.
TSBonyman
My PS4 (firmware 4.0 beta) has a folder called Ambling Adventures. It’s where i keep all my walking simulators. ;)
Gone Home kept me going i guess but i didn’t feel there was any great payoff in the end so i’m not hugely anticipating Dear Esther, but still a little interested.
Youles
Folders you say? :) :) :)
TSBonyman
Yes… yes i do say. :)
It’s a very slick overhaul with some additional pleasing tweaks and features. Definitely one to look forward to when it goes live for everyone. I’m guessing next week or two.