To celebrate the 10th anniversary of their genre-defining title, UK based developer The Chinese Room along with publishers Secret Mode announced that Dear Esther will be free to download on Steam on February 14th, 2022, and February 15th, 2022.
As an atmospheric walking simulator, Dear Esther sees you explore a remote island somewhere in the outer Hebrides. The title itself received numerous awards after its release in 2012 such as the ‘Excellence in Visual Arts’ award at the 2012 Independent Games Festival, ‘Best Use of Narrative’ at the 2012 Developer Awards, ‘Visual Design’ along with four other awards at The Games Industry Awards (TIGA) and five 2012 BAFTA nominations.
Speaking on the title, founder of The Chinese Room Dan Pinchbeck noted:
“It was a joy working on Dear Esther with such a creative, talented and inspiring group of developers, and we’ve been delighted and humbled by the warmth of the gaming community over the last ten years, we are thrilled to offer Dear Esther to a new generation of players for its tenth anniversary, and I’m personally looking forward to hearing from those players who are able to explore Dear Esther’s island today for the very first time.”
Dear Esther is available for free on February 14th, 2022 and February 15th, 2022 on Steam. The title is also available on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One for €9.99. If you’d like to keep up to date with all of our upcoming reviews, news, and features here at Gaming Sandbox, feel free to follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn. If you’d like to support us financially you can do so by following the link to our Patreon!