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Dear Esther: Landmark Edition on Steam
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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, MacOS, Steam Deck and Steam Machine.
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 0.99€ on Instant Gaming.
The Steam community has classified Dear Esther: Landmark Edition into these genres:
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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
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User reviews & Ratings
Explore reviews from Steam users sharing their experiences and what they love about the game.
In 2026, Dear Esther is still an excellent nerve-calmer after a long work shift. It still holds me and reminds me why games can be poetry. As a bonus, it runs like a dream on even the most ancient PC. But the achievements? Good God! They turn that meditative walk into a cryptic scavenger hunt. Good luck with those, bros. Still recommended for the atmosphere, the music, and the melancholy.
This isn’t a game. This is a magnificent audiovisual experience. The focus is primarily on the visuals, the atmosphere, and the emotions. It’s more like a work of art that you simply observe and admire. Some people might be confused by the lack of action elements. Those people haven’t understood the concept—this game isn’t meant for them. This is an emotional catharsis, a walk through the landscape carrying the weight of your own thoughts. Visual poetry, verses written by the wind blowing in from the sea, brought to life by the narrator’s voice. I love walking simulators. So I absolutely loved this game. You come to the island to think and relax. Not to fight. For a game released in 2017, it has surprisingly nice graphics. It reminded me of games like Skyrim and similar. The grass moving in the wind looks very lifelike. The moon at night illuminates the sea, and a rocky path winds its way up into the mountains toward the lighthouse. This game isn’t for everyone. I’d recommend it more for sensitive, perceptive, and thoughtful people who love a slow pace, meditation, and aesthetics. For me, it’s an interesting project and a beautiful place where imagination has been given a real presence.
Dear Esther is one of the best walking simulator games I have played. The gameplay is simple but the atmosphere and story kept me interested for all gameplay. The island looks very beautiful, but also dark and gloomy, just like the story. I liked the artistic design the most, especially the cave areas. They looked amazing and gave a strong feeling while exploring. The narration and environment work really well together, and the game slowly pulls you into its mystery. If you like atmospheric story games and relaxing exploration this is a very good experience.
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.
This game is very important to me - it came to me at a time when I needed solace, and something in the story spoke to me at a deep level. Notes: * This is the epitome of "walking simulator." It is closer to a visual novella or digital art than what many would define as a game. This is also an early iteration of the artform, so if you see this and think "Stanley's Parable," you would need to dial it back a few years in terms of features. You will quite literally *only* walk in this game and listen to the soundscape, music, narration, and take in the (now dated) sights. For those unwilling to sit through that, you can watch a playthrough, although that will not net you the full experience, as I will discuss in further notes below: * Randomization - There is some degree of randomization to the narration. There are different voice lines available for most (all?) of the script triggers, as well as some of the props you will find scattered about. For example, at a cliff's bottom, you may find a suitcase, or instead you may find many copies of the same book. I don't expect many people will play through the game several times to experience the differences, but the story makes a lot more sense when you do. * Story/Narration - The story is scattered by the vehicle the story is delivered in. The conceit of the story is a man who has become obsessed after the death of his partner, finding meaning, synchronicity, connections, in everything, for instance, in a specific number, in a chemical diagram, in the electrical circuits of a failing brake mechanism, in the parallels between his experiences and the experiences of an explorer who once explored the island you are now walking as well as between the narrator and the Biblical story of Paul. If that sounds complicated, well yeah, and that's barely a tithe of the connections and synchronicity here. Our narrator is himself nearly out of his mind, talking about other people who were also nearly out of their minds. There's a lot in there, and the game leaves little for you to do but stretch your brain to fill the gaps while taking in the ambience. In this way, the story feels very heartfelt, sincere, it strives to connect the dots of grief in a way that we don't see often in the gaming genre of art. If I recall right, this is writing done by the Chinese Room, very eloquent - if you've played Amnesia: Machine for Pigs, it is a somewhat similar style in terms of writing. * Ambience/music - The soundscape is a highlight of this game. It far surpasses the graphics in 2025, but at any rate Jessica Curry did a fantastic job with the soundtrack, and the sound of wind in your ears, the shore, the occasional bird, it's all quite gorgeous. I still have the soundtrack saved on Spotify 12 years after I first played it. Standout tracks are Twenty One, and I Have Begun My Ascent, as well as Moon in My Palm, and Ascension. This is a very moody sort of game, a bit eerie in places, which is fitting for our grieving protagonist. * Graphics - Yeah, this is pretty dated. You should not go in expecting modern graphics. They weren't necessarily super impressive at the time it was released, I'm afraid. The art design does a lot of heavy lifting though, especially in the final two chapters, the final ascent and the caves are very pretty even today, and enjoyable to look at even though the textures are not up to today's standards. This is an unfortunate reality of digital art, but the nice thing is that you can play it with a much nicer framerate than you once could, which is nice. I say that with no disrespect to the artwork, to be clear - someone clearly spent a lot of effort on it, and for what this is trying to do, it does still hold up, it's just that someday I'd like to see a true remaster in a superior engine for more fidelity. * Length - Can be completed in around 45 minutes - 2 hours max. Can be replayed as I mentioned. Many may play once and be done. Others may revisit from time to time as I do. Keep in mind that for what this game is, a longer game would likely outstay its welcome. This is short, and should be. * Conclusions: I tend to play this game as a bit of a "spiritual refresher." When I am run-down in life and struggling, sometimes it helps to boot this up and run through it, maybe once every year or so. I feel that there is something sincere here to enjoy, and that others may identify with it as deeply as I do. I would only recommend it to the kind of person who enjoys this kind of thing, but for myself, and people similar to myself, I think it is a very worthwhile bit of art to appreciate, and I hope others do find some appreciation for it in the coming years. Cheers! <3
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Frequently Asked Questions
Dear Esther: Landmark Edition is currently priced at 9.99€ on Steam.
No, Dear Esther: Landmark Edition is currently not on sale. You can purchase it for 9.99€ on Steam.
Yes, 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.
Yes, Dear Esther: Landmark Edition is playable and fully supported on Windows.
Yes, Dear Esther: Landmark Edition is playable and fully supported on MacOS.
No, Dear Esther: Landmark Edition is not playable on Linux.
Yes, Dear Esther: Landmark Edition is playable and fully supported on Steam Deck.
Yes, Dear Esther: Landmark Edition is playable and fully supported on Steam Machine.
No, Dear Esther: Landmark Edition does not support VR.
Dear Esther: Landmark Edition is a single-player game.
No, Dear Esther: Landmark Edition does not currently offer any DLC.
No, Dear Esther: Landmark Edition does not support mods via Steam Workshop.
Yes, Dear Esther: Landmark Edition supports Remote Play on TV. Discover more about Steam Remote Play.
Yes, 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.
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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 | 28 September 2026 06:24 UTC |
|---|---|
| SteamSpy data | 13 October 2026 15:14 UTC |
| Steam price | 26 October 2026 20:02 UTC |
| Steam reviews | 21 October 2026 10:11 UTC |
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
Game modes
Features
Online players
5
Developer
The Chinese Room,
Robert Briscoe
Publisher
Secret Mode
Release
14 Feb 2017
Platforms
Remote Play
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