February 12, 2013 Eric Swain External Sources

The Original First Person Walker: ‘Dear Esther’

The easiest way to write a weekly column, especially when given the guidelines “whatever you want,” I have found is to introduce some sort of constraint to focus oneself. This month (or thereabouts) I decided to look at a new genre that organically seemed to have come out of nowhere, the FPW (First Person Walker). I wrote about Dear Esther before on what I think it is saying, this week I look at how it is saying what it is saying. Generally, not always, but generally a game delivers its meaning through its interactive elements. | more

October 9, 2012 Eric Swain External Sources

The Haunting of ‘Dear Esther’

I finally get around to writing about Dear Esther, one game in a long list of my to write about backlog. It is a little difficult talking about a game so late that so many others have already discussed. But few seem to have written about the content of the game rather than if it is a video game or not. I figured I would write about it for October, because it is a ghost story. However, in trying to parse through the game’s meaning I felt stuck on what to say about it. So, I went and played it again. | more