Dear Esther: Landmark Edition on Steam - User reviews, Price & Information

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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.

Dear Esther: Landmark Edition is a walking simulator, exploration and interactive fiction game developed by The Chinese Room and Robert Briscoe and published by Secret Mode.
Released on February 14th 2017 is available on Windows and MacOS in 5 languages: English, French, German, Spanish - Spain and Russian.

It has received 6,849 reviews of which 5,103 were positive and 1,746 were negative resulting in a rating of 7.3 out of 10. 😊

The game is currently priced at 9.99€ on Steam, but you can find it for 1.00€ on Instant Gaming.

The Steam community has classified Dear Esther: Landmark Edition into these genres:

Walking Simulator Exploration Interactive Fiction Puzzle First-Person Horror Psychological Horror Relaxing Linear Narration Open World Story Rich Atmospheric Casual Mystery Investigation Singleplayer Adventure Indie Short

Media & Screenshots

Get an in-depth look at Dear Esther: Landmark Edition through various videos and screenshots.

Dear Esther: Landmark Edition screenshot
Dear Esther: Landmark Edition screenshot
Dear Esther: Landmark Edition screenshot
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Dear Esther: Landmark Edition screenshot
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Dear Esther: Landmark Edition screenshot
Dear Esther: Landmark Edition screenshot
Dear Esther: Landmark Edition screenshot
Dear Esther: Landmark Edition screenshot

System requirements

These are the minimum specifications needed to play the game. For the best experience, we recommend that you verify them.

Windows
  • OS *: Windows XP/Vista/7/8/8.1/10
  • Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E4600 (2 * 2400), AMD Athlon X2 4200+ (2 * 2200) or equivalent
  • Memory: 2 GB RAM
  • Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce 7600GT (256 MB), AMD Radeon X1600 XT (256 MB)
  • Storage: 2 GB available space
MacOS
  • OS: 10.7.5 - 10.12.1
  • Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo (2 * 2260) or equivalent
  • Memory: 2 GB RAM
  • Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce 9400 (256 MB)
  • Storage: 2 GB available space

User reviews & Ratings

Explore reviews from Steam users sharing their experiences and what they love about the game.

Jan. 2026
Dear Esther, one of the first, if not the first, game that popularized the so-called "walking simulator" genre, for better or worse. You walk around a beautiful environment listening to somebody talking while listening to music, sometimes. There are no challenges, fighting or puzzles, you explore. The island featured here is an hybrid of the real Hebridean islands in Scotland. It's fairly desolate and gloomy so I wouldn't call it conventionally beautiful. It's atmospheric, though. Inside the caves, it becomes more surreal but way more beautiful. The narrator, your character, does an excellent job in terms of diction and restrained emotional delivery. The music is sparse but rather good. The story told is deliberately ambiguous but interesting. What you might not realize is that there are randomized elements, you won't hear or see the same things every playthrough. As an experience and as a pioneer in that type of adventure, it's worth playing. Probably at least twice.
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Jan. 2026
100% Achievement Review: A quick review based on my experience completing all the (available) achievements. [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/45897386/] Feel free to follow my curator for more 100% reviews! Title: Dear Esther Landmark Edition Summary: Interactive story game Personal notes: Dear Esther is a short yet fun and unique game that essentially created the "walking sim" genre. The story itself is very up to interpretation and I honestly think you should experience it first hand instead of listening to my experience with it. That being said you are stuck on this seemingly deserted island covered with mysteries and events from the past. The world and sound design are very well done especially considering this started off as a Half-life 2 mod. I also really like the inclusion of randomly generated events and audio to make each play-through slightly different from the last. This also creates different overall experiences for different players which is pretty cool. The inclusion of a directors commentary option was also a nice touch, hearing the stories of the developers while playing through the game was pretty cool on my second play-through. Achievement wise this game is pretty easy. Most are story related with a couple being a little out of the way. I listed the ones below that might be missed but if you know what you are looking for, such as hidden urns, you can finish this game in a few hours. With all that in mind, Dear Esther is a short unique adventure that I would highly recommend for the price. With that being said I would only recommend it to people who are cool with a slow burn as this game is exactly that. (Be ready to walk) Time it took to complete: 4hrs Most difficult achievement(s): - Seanchaidh (trigger all voice over points) - Tuir (Uncover 4 urns) - Mullach an Eilein (Trigger all director's commentary) Difficulty rating: ★★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆ 2/10 Overall rating: ★★★★★★☆☆☆☆ 6/10
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Dec. 2025
The negative reviews confuse me. It seems like the world has gone mad with unspoken and unmet expectations. The "game" is beautiful for what it is. It has no action button, no jump, no sprint, no crouch. The player doesn't interact with the game, the game interacts with the player. If your mind is closed, how will ideas get in?
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Nov. 2025
So this game is a remake of a remake of a mod for Half Life 2 😵‍💫 But what a mod it was! Not every mod that start a totally new genre of games. And that is what was to be called 'walking simulators'. Some hate them, some love them. I'm more on the love side 💙 So what's the game about? Well you play it and tell me 😄 The game is purposely vague and let the player figure things out for themselves. So it's more of an art-experience then your typical game. And I love it for it because it's still a game whatever people has to say about it. You make inputs and the game reacts, ergo it's a game. And what an experience it is. But I have to warn that it's an melancholic experience. If you listen to the absolutely amazing soundtrack by Jessica Curry (which was her first video game soundtrack) you can hear the morose atmosphere it contains. I'd say if you just like beautiful but sad piano and string music you can just listen to the soundtrack without ever playing the game. It's that good if you like that sort of thing. Just take a listen if you so will 🙂 But you'd miss out on a beautiful game experience and a perfect narration from the actor Nigel Carrington. One of the reasons why I love it it's because it's set on a small island in the Hebrides. And it reminds me so much about my home, for the last 13 years, up here on this island in the Northern Norwegian Sea. It is a majestic and brutal beauty out here with sullen winds as caresses. I played this 10 years ago and I was emotionally moved. I played just recently again and I was moved again. I'd fully recommend this experience. And considering it only takes like an hour to experience it won't keep you for long but maybe some of it's ideas will hold you for some time.
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Nov. 2025
This would have been a great game to play when it was new. Walking sims have come a long way since then but they do have games like Dear Esther to thank for their current success. Worth a play through for the sake of being a piece of video game history.
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Frequently Asked Questions

Dear Esther: Landmark Edition is currently priced at 9.99€ on Steam.

Dear Esther: Landmark Edition is currently not on sale. You can purchase it for 9.99€ on Steam.

Dear Esther: Landmark Edition received 5,103 positive votes out of a total of 6,849 achieving a rating of 7.28.
😊

Dear Esther: Landmark Edition was developed by The Chinese Room and Robert Briscoe and published by Secret Mode.

Dear Esther: Landmark Edition is playable and fully supported on Windows.

Dear Esther: Landmark Edition is playable and fully supported on MacOS.

Dear Esther: Landmark Edition is not playable on Linux.

Dear Esther: Landmark Edition is a single-player game.

Dear Esther: Landmark Edition does not currently offer any DLC.

Dear Esther: Landmark Edition does not support mods via Steam Workshop.

Dear Esther: Landmark Edition supports Remote Play on TV. Discover more about Steam Remote Play.

Dear Esther: Landmark Edition is enabled for Steam Family Sharing. This means you can share the game with authorized users from your Steam Library, allowing them to play it on their own accounts. For more details on how the feature works, you can read the original Steam Family Sharing announcement or visit the Steam Family Sharing user guide and FAQ page.

You can find solutions or submit a support ticket by visiting the Steam Support page for Dear Esther: Landmark Edition.

Data sources

The information presented on this page is sourced from reliable APIs to ensure accuracy and relevance. We utilize the Steam API to gather data on game details, including titles, descriptions, prices, and user reviews. This allows us to provide you with the most up-to-date information directly from the Steam platform.

Additionally, we incorporate data from the SteamSpy API, which offers insights into game sales and player statistics. This helps us present a comprehensive view of each game's popularity and performance within the gaming community.

Last Updates
Steam data 04 March 2026 18:20
SteamSpy data 10 March 2026 03:55
Steam price 15 March 2026 04:43
Steam reviews 13 March 2026 23:59

If you'd like to dive deeper into the details about Dear Esther: Landmark Edition, we invite you to check out a few dedicated websites that offer extensive information and insights. These platforms provide valuable data, analysis, and user-generated reports to enhance your understanding of the game and its performance.

  • SteamDB - A comprehensive database of everything on Steam about Dear Esther: Landmark Edition
  • SteamCharts - Analysis of Dear Esther: Landmark Edition concurrent players on Steam
  • ProtonDB - Crowdsourced reports on Linux and Steam Deck Dear Esther: Landmark Edition compatibility
Dear Esther: Landmark Edition
9.99€ Visit Store 🔥 Deal -90% 9.99€ 1.00€ Buy Now
Rating
7.3
5,103
1,746
Game modes
Features
Online players
2
Developer
The Chinese Room, Robert Briscoe
Publisher
Secret Mode
Release 14 Feb 2017
Platforms
Remote Play
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